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This spoof, engineered by John Walkenbach of San Diego, is an ideal way to relieve some of the frustrations of dealing with continual flow of Nigerian scam e-mail.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Web site spoofing Nigerian scam is hilarious, but the scam itself is far from funny


Oct. 5, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   Internet scams aren't funny, but sometimes laughter soothes our wounds better than tears. That's the idea behind one of the best Web spoofs I have ever seen. It's "The 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference" at http://j-walk.com/other/conf.
   This spoof, engineered by John Walkenbach of San Diego, is an ideal way to relieve some of the frustrations of dealing with continual flow of Nigerian scam e-mail. It's the perfect spoof, believable in nearly every way until you read the notice at the bottom of the Web page.
   The premise of most Nigerian scams is an old confidence-game ruse: A rich person in Nigeria needs help getting his legitimately earned money away from the clutches of the new government, and he's appealing to you as a trustworthy citizen to provide a bank account for the transfer. To show your own good faith, you're expected to put up some of your own money, and you'll be rewarded with millions of dollars in payment.
   (There are many variations; this is just one possible scenario.)
   As you should suspect, you never get the millions, and the money you send in good faith disappears forever.
   This scam has been around for years -- I first encountered it in the mid-90s, and checks I did at that time showed that it was an old scam even then -- and is often referred to as the "419 scam," named for the section of the Nigerian criminal code that is violated by these scammers.
   You'll even find entire Web sites that try to counter the scam. The best is http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal, which has explicit explanations of how the scam works. It also has links to other sites that follow Nigerian scam developments.
   The U.S. State Department takes the Nigerian scam very seriously. An "information sheet" updated last week (http://travel.state.gov/nigeria.html) warns that Americans could be in physical danger if they go to Nigeria as unwitting victims of Nigerian scammers.
   "Nigerian-operated scams are infamous for their cleverness and ingenuity," the State Department says. "These scams target foreigners worldwide, posing risks of both financial loss and personal danger to their victims."
   The warning added that "a major and continuing problem is the commercial scam or sting that targets foreigners, including many U.S. citizens. Such scams may involve U.S. citizens in illegal activity, resulting in arrest, extortion or bodily harm."
   The U.S. Secret Service has issued its own warning, at www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml. The Secret Service says its Financial Crimes Division gets about 100 telephone calls a day from victims or potential victims and receives as many as 500 pieces of related correspondence each day.