Compromised Keylogger-aaS exposes network of Nigerian 419 scammers

I'm a Nigerian studying for a PhD in the UK.

Confidence scams have always been a problem even for other Nigerians. We tend to be very suspicious of people on average.

A couple of years back my father, who teaches at a Nigerian university, got a call from his head of department who was in Europe at the time. He needed help clearing some important items that were being held by customs who were demanding payment to release a moderately valuable shipment into the country while he was away.

My dad was put in contact with an agent who requested some money to sort things out. At first, it was a token amount, but things escalated gradually to the point where he was considering "borrowing" money from both my sister and myself (we were both on scholarships while at university). My sister was home at the time and grew suspicious from the outset but my dad was totally convinced that the voice was authentic and that the caller simply knew too much. It was actually offensive for my sister to presume that he was that naive.

Fortunately, he fought the need to save face by not disappointing his boss in a crisis and told the agent that he couldn't send any more money. The numbers were disconnected immediately afterwards and his Head of department had no idea what he was talking about when he eventually returned. He didn't push the matter any further as it would be embarrassing to admit that he was conned.

This was a well calibrated psychological attack designed to take advantage of his personality and reputation as a man that can be relied on. It also preyed on his need to maintain his social standing among his peers. He had nothing to gain from this other than gratitude and an appeal to greed would have set off red flags immediately.

My conclusion was that this was probably engineered by some students who knew them both fairly well.

419 scams are fairly common in Nigeria and you become a target if you are perceived to be wealthy or recently come into some money. The "Yahoo boys" are ridiculous though because they are fairly easy to spot and are only marginally literate. It is part of a foreign condescending attitude to assume that that level of poor presentation is an acceptable standard for an educated Nigerian. Most of us think people who are scammed are suckers but it's an evolutionary game and some of the scammers are really efficient predators.

“Another level of this is referred to as ‘Yahoo Plus Plus,’ which…. involves the use of human parts and may need kidnapping other human beings for rituals, which is not necessary in ‘‘Yahoo Plus.’’ In Yahoo Plus Plus, the use of things such as their finger nails, rings, carrying of corpses, making incision on their body, sleeping in the cemetery, citing of incantation, using of their fingers for rituals, and having sex with ghosts are common. A few of the informants, however, denied that they use voodoo in the business, whereas others affirmed their use of voodoo.”

I wonder what Yahoo's stance on Yahoo Plus Plus is.

A comment on the article from the site:

  Chris Thomas
  September 9, 2013 at 5:44 am
  A wonderful insight about some aspects of male African culture. Phew!

As someone whose parents & wife were born & raised in Lagos, Nigeria... I just want to say 419scams are not at all part of the the "male African culture"(whatever that means). They are just scammers, like scammers you'd find anywhere else.