David's World

May 11, 2006

Martins Tunde, Joy Ray and friends: Greed and Gullibility.

Ever done business with Mr. Martins Tunde ("Manager of Remitant Department LEAD MERCHANT BANK NIGERIA PLC")? He's got millions to bring out of his country, and you're his man!
His friend, Mrs Joy Ray from Libya, almost made me cry: "As you read this, I do not want you to feel sorry for me, because I believe everyone will die someday." But I'm sure that Joy has a lucrative heritage to leave for us.

If you have an e-mail account or two, you will probably have received interesting offers from Tunde, Ray and colleagues, you will have received such offers, which aim to get you involved in a fake transaction, leading you to wire advance fees to Nigera or elsewhere. Jane Austen could have written a novel: Greed and Gullibility.

Indeed, what's really interesting about it is the sheer gullibility of the victims. Otherwise intelligent people get entangled in the Nigerian fishing nets, thanks to their own greed. The New Yorker has a well-researched piece about a very Christian American with a PhD, who ended up losing hundreds of thausands of dollars over the years and got a prison sentence himself - and isn't any wiser. Others seem to be smarter - and scam the scammers.

By the way: the e-mail fraud schemes are known as 419 scams, after the applicable section in Nigeria's code. Yes, there are laws in Nigera.