

Compromised Keylogger-aaS exposes network of Nigerian 419 scammers - pain_perdu
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/09/spy-service-exposes-nigerian-yahoo-boys/

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gmt2027
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.

~~~
jlgreco
> _" 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."_

My understanding is that the poor grammar in classic 419 spam emails is at
least sometimes intentional. Only stupid uninformed people will fall for
something that has all the traditional hallmarks of a scam (spelling errors,
ALL CAPS, poor grammar), and those are the only people that the scammers want
to invest time in.

~~~
jacquesm
That's also why there are many references to religion in those texts.
Religious people have self-selected for being gullible and acting on belief
rather than on facts and so are presumably easier to prey on. For the scammers
this is part of their cost/benefit analysis, if they have lower hanging fruit
to pluck they'll definitely concentrate their efforts there.

~~~
philhippus
Indeed, "God will oversee this transaction and make sure everything goes
smoothly for us faithful." Ka-Ching.

------
Kiro
“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.

------
smtddr
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.

~~~
vidarh
I think in general if anyone mentions "African culture" as if it's one single
thing, you can safely assume they don't have a clue.

