A shame. I really enjoyed the chat with him (some parts have been edited out for length) - and at some point when he was telling me about life over there (wherever there actually was) I felt sorry for him - he was very, very good at his job and had a good sense of humour about him.
This reminds me of some of the kids I knew i college - nice guys, personable, not too sharp, now making good salaries in sales or management. Would these guys turn to "crime" if it didn't involve violence or threats, just persuasion, and it was their only chance at making money? Sure, why not...
These 419 scammers operate in the culture that is very tolerant to scammers.
That's another reason why they chose such a bad line of business.
BTW, I don't think scammers are making big $$$. Scam doesn't pay well in long term.
-most of them make nothing by U.S. standards ,but are rolling in dough by local standards. Many times the scamming 14 year old, makes more cash than his father.
-The big guys who recruit the teenagers, and provide computers + internet access, are rolling in dough even by U.S. standards.
Most of these kids use net cafes by the hour or quarter hour, so if they don't achieve a net-positive scam, they take a loss. Not sure the 'big guys' are making money from crime, just operating an internet access business.
Somebody should offer this guy a job. I'm not dealing in an english-language market, but I'd bet he could make more money (for him and his employer) selling some product then scamming. He's bright enough, with social skills and decent english. And he's not shy to talk to strangers.
Didn't you read? He's already "selling" "products" to his "clients"!
Seriously, I'm impressed at the extensive amount of self-bullshitting that can go on in the head of a scammer to allow them to maintain some sort of self-esteem.
Did you ever play a "free" mp3? It's exactly the same kind of bullshit. From a wiring standpoint, at least. In his culture the "clients" are about as abstract and rich as RIAA is for you and me.
I am sorry for the people who transferred their savings to those scammers. What astonishes me is how many people are willing to perform illegal things (because what those scammers are offering always requires to do something illegal).
I'm not sorry for them. I realize this is probably going to be an unpopular view, but: the 419 (and similar) scams take advantage not just of technical illiteracy, general illiteracy, ignorance, and desperation, but greed also. Anybody that falls for one of these scams has had numerous opportunities in their life to protect themselves from it, either by getting an education or by not letting their greed overtake their common sense.
Not sure why that would be so. If I recieve about 10 million USD in my account and move 8m of those into another; and then pay income tax on the 2m, would I not be ok?
A concern could exist in case the money in question was involved in funding nefarious activities, but that's not always the case with the story presented by these people
It's still money laundering, I believe. Remember, possibly laundered money, like possible drug money, is guilty until proven innocent, and since they sometimes literally bring cases against the money rather than any person, there's little pretense of upholding the money holder's (whether they're legally the "owner" is often at question and depends on jurisdiction) rights.
The scam uses email, so there is a very low cost to send. Newspapers have estimated that good scammers can get a response rate of .1% to .2%, which is pretty low.
And some people have this expectation that they can get rich quickly with little work. I know people like that. So breaking a law in a way that doesn't appear to hurt anyone just helps convince those people that there is a good reason for being offered so much money for so little work.
The funniest story I've heard regarding these scammers was the one about the guy eating the usb drive when law enforcement came into the hot spot cafe.
This reminds me of some of the kids I knew i college - nice guys, personable, not too sharp, now making good salaries in sales or management. Would these guys turn to "crime" if it didn't involve violence or threats, just persuasion, and it was their only chance at making money? Sure, why not...