Earlier this week, I wrote about an online data theft service that got hacked. That compromise exposed a user base of mostly young Nigerian men apparently engaged in an array of cybercrime activities — from online dating scams to 419 schemes. It turned out that many of these guys signed up for the data theft service using the same email address they used to register their Facebook accounts. Today’s post looks at the social networks between and among these individuals.
Of the nearly 3,000 BestRecovery users, about 280 of them had Facebook accounts tied to their BestRecovery email addresses. George Mason University associate professor Damon McCoy and several of his grad students volunteered to scrape those profiles that were open and map their social networks to see if there were any obvious or discernible patterns in the data.
The raw data itself — which ranked the BestRecovery users on number of connections they had to other users — was potentially useful, but difficult to parse into meaningful chunks. Oddly enough, as I was poring over that data I heard from Chris Ahlberg, the CEO of Recorded Future Inc., a Cambridge, Mass. software company that specializes in Web intelligence and predictive analytics. Ahlberg was writing to say that he enjoyed the blog — particularly the posts with data-intensive analyses — and that he’d be delighted to collaborate on a data-rich research project at some point. I told him his timing couldn’t have been more serendipitous.
Ahlberg and his team took the raw scraped data sets from the Facebook accounts and ran it through their cyber intelligence applications. In short order, they produced some very compelling and beautiful graphs, shown below.
Staffan Truvé, Recorded Future’s chief technology officer noted that — with few exceptions — the BestRecovery users largely appear to belong to one of two very separate social networks.
RecordedFuture’s rendering of the Facebook profiles shows fairly two tight-knit social networks.
“There appears to be two fairly separate, quite tightly knit networks, each with a few central leaders, and also with just a few individuals being the bridge between the two networks — and that those middlemen are themselves not connected,” said Staffan Truvé, Recorded Future’s chief technology officer.
I noted in my previous story that a majority of the BestRecovery keylog service users who had Facebook pages that reported a location listed either somewhere in Nigeria (usually Lagos), or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Not surprisingly, those two geographic groups are generally represented by these two globs of Facebook users (with several exceptions of users who are from Nigeria but living in Kuala Lumpur and vice versa).
Here’s a closer look at the most influential/connected members at the center of Cluster 1 (upper in the diagram above)
Now, let’s have a look at the big men from Cluster 2 (bottom right in the first image in this blog post). Red yellow and red indicate a higher number of contacts within this group:
Here’s a closeup of the handful of middlemen who bridge these two social clusters:
The Facebook profiles of most of the top guys in those clusters can be be seen in this photo montage that I put together for the previous post in this series.
By the way, if anyone is interested in the email addresses used by these Facebook profiles and customers of the BestRecovery keylogger service, they’re available here.
Is it possible to determine the role of the middlemen? Are they connected to both groups by happenstance and those groups do 419 stuff independently of each other or are these two branches of same organization and middlemen oversee them for some high(er) level crooks?
Brian, this graphic connection engine is very helpful. Is this NodeXL? Amazing!
Yes it is NodeXL, very useful program!
It certainly is. If I remember correctly, you can attach photos to these nodes and show them as popups with a mouse over. Isn’t there a mashup of this with a program that shows connections between people?
I’ve been reading your blogs semi constantly since 2011(i’m sure you can confirm that somehow) and this week’s piece about our Great Nation Nigeria, is well largely correct in terms of ‘yahoo yahoo’ boys but you sound a bit hateful…and by the way i got this weird error while trying to access your blog this morning(seems like you are so afraid of us that you had to do some of your security stunts on any IP to your blog from Nigeria, sorry bro if ‘yahoo yahoo’ boys want to come after you, like many russians are already doing(i suppose, cos you seem to hate that country too) it wont be by some security stunt0…you go don fall maga finish before you know…lol
oliverdejohnson the difference between Russians and ex-USSR criminals is they have the brains, money and connections to be able to carry out a wide range of stunts, both online and physical.
Nigerian 419 scammers on the other hand are thick as pig sh*t which is why they rely solely on social scams rather than technological hacks etc.
The point is made because the 419 scam has been around since the 80’s/90’s in letter form and not changed in the slightest, only by way of changing from snail mail to email. This shows a complete lack of technical skills, or at the very least any mid to high end computer skills that could somehow threaten Krebs or others.
Unless Krebs visits Nigeria directly then I would kind of think he has nothing to worry about from “yahoo yahoo” boys. I’m not sure the US is known for a large Nigerian community and even in countries such as the UK/Netherlands which has Nigerian connections for 419 boys their reach and influence physically is very small because the communities are far too scattered.
In summary, 419 emails 8 times out of 10 are posted from Nigerian IP addresses which goes to show their knowledge of even basic proxies is nil.
Nigerian scammers are in technological terms very low down the scale, they rely only on the gullibility of westerners who are persuaded by the promise of large cash sums.
Don’t overstate the physical or online reach of Nigerian scum, because when it boils down to it they are uneducated village idiots.
If you were claiming to be a Nigerian prince, wouldn’t you _Want_ your ip to suggest you are actually in Nigeria?
Excellent point Jeff.
I suspect Mugu has trouble communicating effectively so feels he must blurt out abuse to get a point across. – then again, I’m not sure he had a point.
Manga, blurt out abuse? Hardly. Do you take offence to my name calling of 419 scum?.. I have a feeling the only people who take offence to name calling of 419 types are the types who are in to 419 scams, surely?
Somewhat true Jeff, but when they’re also claiming to be chinese this and that and wealthy south africans etc etc, the Nigerian IP lets them down 😉
I’m not justifying ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ in anyway neither am i saying ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys are *super geeky nerds*…i’m merely calling for some balance( for example, it is well known that there are serious efforts by the Nigerian Govt and law enforcement to curb this menance and many have even yielded great results)…Brian missed to include that and instead painted lots of hateful pictures(especially in the first post) like Nigeria is a safe haven of some sorts to these criminals
Until they do, Nigeria will always remain a country that I block from having any Internet contact. Blocking the country is something I was instructed to do at the beginning of the 419 scams. If you find lists of recommended countries to block, Nigeria is always among them.
like seriously? i tell you bro you are missing a lot.Fact is, Nigeria is and remains a big opportunity for discerning businesses….besides if you do your homework you shouldnt have difficulty in protecting yourself from the ‘badt guys’ as they, luckily for us all, simply do not posses enough skill to pull serious stunts…only laughable scams(that are surprisingly effective)
Maybe, maybe not. Yes, I realize that not every Nigerian is bad, and the majority is not perpetrating these scams. However, that is part of the fallout from such scams and other exploits done on the Internet. When it becomes a widespread issue, it sort of becomes attached to the country where they crooks initiate their deceit. While I may miss out on something, the overriding factor is to be safe on the Internet.
“While I may miss out on something, the overriding factor is to be safe on the Internet.”…..
your business school professors must have done an incredibly bad job…
No, they did a really good job. My common sense is good as well! With the “Yahoo Boys” in action, most news about Nigeria is pretty negative. I feel so sorry for those “poor princes” that need so much help. Hence the block and no real need to remove it!
rotflmao……
Best comment I’ve come across on any blog in a very long time!!!
Oh, were you one of those published profiles? lol if you want to play gangster then dont go get butthurt and cry about it when your dirty laundry is exposed and laughed out by the entire world lol
Krebs doesn’t sound hateful at all. It sounds like you are simply hypersensitive and trying to play down the crimes being commited for some reason. Is your life style funded by these crimes?
I’m sure Krebs isn’t hateful at all – but I am – I hate crooks from all walks of life and it doesn’t matter what part of the world they come from; a crook is a crook.
I have no disdain for any country or peoples, I like them all – but I do hate crooks.
As for “Great Nation Nigeria,” you do have a point that is proven by Google. A search on “Nigerian scams” gives “About 2,580,000 results.” A search on “Nigerian FBI” gives “About 4,830,000 results.” A search on “Nigerian fraud” gives “About 14,900,000 results.” The sum of those three numbers tops twenty-two million, a “Great” number. The percentage of duplicate entries has not been determined. Going through just those could keep a person busy for a while. The following is the CIA’s opinion of Nigeria: “Oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and poor macroeconomic management”.
How highly do u take the CIA’s opinion of any country?
Only if you working for them .
Lol .
Huston we have a problem .
HA! HA! I love your moniker dude! 😀
Sorry about the late reply.
It’s not the CIA’s “opinion” of Nigeria. It’s a synopsis of data in the CIA’s World Fact Book (http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/). It’s not data from spying, either. The WFB is compiled from publicly available information, all sorted in an easy to use format, for anyone on the Web to use. As near as I can tell it includes every country on Earth, including some you never heard of.
You should try the WFB; it’s a terrific resource.
I don’t suspect that Brian hates either Russians or Nigerians just because he engages in the kind of research that he does. Now that wouldn’t mean that some folks may be ticked at him, but then the reverse is also likely so, namely, folks who get suckered out of their funds could possibly ‘hate’ those who do this to them.
I must suspect that it is certainly possible that all of this is merely economic, where those who may not have wealth feel that their activities are justified as a means of ‘social re-balancing’ or possibly ‘redistribution of existing wealth.’
Bruce +1 for ‘social re-balancing’….i think that essentially captures it, if you look at it from a certain angle…lol
‘Social redistribution’ – yahoo lads will attempt to justify theft to themselves in as many ways as any other criminal. It doesn’t stand up, of course, it’s self-rationalisation.
We’re not talking poor village farmers kids in mud huts – time online costs real money, if you’re broke and struggling, you don’t spend days sitting in cyber cafe’s, you work. Scamming is just seen as an easier/lazier option.
This isn’t ‘payback for slavery’ as some lads will claim. There was an active slave trade in West Africa long before white faces arrived on ships. It’s not racial payback either, as scammers target anyone and everyone without even knowing their race, country or creed.
I just wanted to clarify a couple of myths these crooks built around themselves to try to excuse themselves. Don’t buy it.
Cliff, you know — or should know — that the chattel slavery brought by whites was orders of magnitude more degrading and more extensive than the slavery that was already existing. And slavery was not the last of the wrongs done by whites to Africa (check out colonialism).
I agree, injustices have been done throughout the history of man. Any slavery or indenture is heinous, clearly. Slavery has been illegal in England since the 1770’s, although I don’t think we can claim anything like innocence in the trade. But it doesn’t work as an excuse for scamming and theft in the 21st century. Especially when it is completely untargetted, with all races and countries being fair game for the thieves. That’s my only point.
Colonists did good and bad, absolutely. When the Romans colonised Europe a couple of thousand years ago, they left good things as well.
I guess I should know better than to try an post here by now.
Muga may be correct about the technical stuff but hoods and criminals are everywhere and where they aren’t there bucks can be. I say this because I know this is a private conversation that won’t get posted.
Real fascinating stuff
Actually most of the 419 spam that makes it to people’s inbox (which is a very tiny fraction of the amount sent) does not come from a Nigerian IP address. The reason is that there just aren’t that many IP addresses allocated to Nigeria, and the malicious ones are already blacklisted. My employer, the messaging security company Cloudmark, is currently blacklisting 88,000 IP addresses in Nigeria – that’s about 6% of the total Nigerian IP address space. (Bad as this is, Romania and Belarus are in worse shape, 23% of their address space is blacklisted, and Panama is at 13%.) Even if 419 spam comes from an IP address with good reputation it is still subject to content based filtering, and that catches almost all of the rest.
Nigerian spam does provide some of the more amusing content, though, including the Director of the FBI who was using a Yahoo! Mail account and the United Nations fund to reimburse victims of Internet scams. Now that’s targeted marketing 🙂
(Views expressed are my own and not those of my employer.)
You’re quite right Andrew, and it tallies with the fact that the scammers use appropriated servers around the world as bulk mailers for the initial ‘formats’. When you look at the ‘reply-to’ addresses and get into email conversations, you find a much higher rate of resolution to Nigeria. 80-85% is the right ballpark.
“Nigerian spam does provide some of the more amusing content, though, including the Director of the FBI who was using a Yahoo! Mail account and the United Nations fund to reimburse victims of Internet scams. Now that’s targeted marketing “…..well said.
well said bro,you are spot on.seeing that this is the case, should you still have reasons to block(blacklist) Nigerian IP addresses?
Yes, because apologists like you prove that blocking an entire country or at least the sinfully-compliant ISPs is necassary to make a living. The scammers might paint themselves as playful jesters just looking for some fun but everyone else (especially their victims who are admittedly hard to be sympathetic with, but I digress) sees them for the ravenous depraved wolves they are. I wonder if you aren’t one of them?
why should i try to justify myself to you?I have better use of my time….
Blocking the whole country is a great idea.. Why would I or my company want any contact whatsoever with them, if necessary contacts can be manually whitelisted as it isn’t very likely more than one or two will ever be required in decades of business and so far none at all personally.
I’ve been blocking the entire IP range for Nigeria for years. Sure keeps things clean at the office. Good job on the additional research Brian, and thanks a ton for the list of addresses, I’m sure they will get put to good use.
Personally my employer and my personal web server requires zero contact with Nigeria and other criminal hotbeds, and by blocking access from those addresses I cut out a lot (though not all) of the criminal element from reaching systems I’m responsible for maintaining.
Very, very, very few people are running multinational corporations from their grandmother’s home, and therefore need her and grandpa to be capable of contacting a Nigerian, etc. IP at a moment’s notice. Most elderly people, on the other hand, would greatly benefit from the decreased communication with criminals.
I thought we were in the 21st century? is there still such a thing as ‘multinational corporations’?…
Thanks to the “Yahoo Boys,” THAT IS the 21st century for most Americans. No need to open yourself to the risk.
From Wikipedia:
“A multinational corporation (MNC) or multinational enterprise (MNE) is a corporation that is registered in more than one country or that has operations in more than one country.”
You think that foreign companies are rushing to open operations in Nigeria, but argue that multinational companies don’t exist anymore? You do realize the two things you said are polar opposites from each other, right?
i shook my head in disgust after i read your comment…you seem to forget that you multinational companies scramble to open African branches and these branches are mainly located in lasgidi in naija….you just don’t know opportunities you are missing by blocking out naija IP addresses
no matter the victimization, i rep naija tru and tru
And what opportunities would those be exactly, I see none at all.
I shake my head in disgust because you believe someone’s grandmother is going to be a multinational corporation.
Please take a moment to actually read and comprehend what is written before letting your knee jerk.
1. From the email address list there are word associations among some of them that could be used for “Web intelligence”.
2. Some of the lines are not email addresses. I suppose they are false inputs that were input by customers that way.
heh.. yet again Brian you’ve obviously “touched” a nerve.. outstanding job sir..
Since the Yahoo Boys use keylogging spyware, would Keyscrambler be a good idea?
In reference to your question about Keyscrambler – It would certainly help – although it flunks some of the AKLT tests, it is still better than nothing. During SSL sessions, Trusteer passes all these same tests with flying colors. Since I’m not always in an SSL session I use Keyscrambler also.
Judging from the times I’ve seen malware attack it, I suspect it is quite effective most of the time. Fortunately I’ve always noticed the side effects from malware attack – these have been less and less successful now. MBAM is probably another factor in that success; as they block the attacking IP automatically. Many types of spyware/malware need help from their minions in the cloud – fortunately they can be defeated. A blended defense is always the answer.
Sue Krebs . Lawyers are not cheap this days .That will teach him , how hot to be homophobic maniac : )
p.s Kukluksklan.
Hello Brian:
Trying to understand your data.
So, we have 280 users with ‘African sounding names’ on Facebook. This 9.3% account for ‘mostly young Nigerian men’?
so much for stupid data.
Guyz dere are gud guyz in nigeria. Nt all of us are scammers. Nigeria will rule d world one day. Want to study in us anybody to help
I hope the good guys win in Nigeria; God willing and the creek don’t rise! 🙂
Americans are very quick in exposing other people’s wound while covering their own yansh with their hypocritical i-am-holier-than-thou stance….will you ever make america look this bad?…posts like this only serves to dent the already dented Nigerian image further, thereby giving honest Nigerians like me little or no chance to stand out of the rubble…if you where this resourceful, why haven’t you used this so-called software of yours to connect the drug cabal and drug flow in you so-called holy america…i don’t hate you, i don’t hate america, i just wish america and her propaganda will give Nigeria and good Nigerians breathing space and a hope of a better tomorrow. i am not in support of internet scam though, but it just saddens me how fast america and Americans are fast to crucify Nigeria and Nigerians which is a sad turn of event in recent years both economically and socially
i remain yours truly NAIJAPUNIDIT and AMEBO general of the federal republic of nigeria
Err, because the site is about cyber crime and not drugs?
I don’t believe for a second that you’re a general since your post lacks the Red Seal of Truth…..
Be nice to him or he give your name to the guy next to him, Robert Mueller.
I run an ISP company in Nigeria and coming to think of it this research is very useful to me. The people who perpetrate these acts are not usually the smartest of individuals and they justify their crimes by social imbalance which is abusive to the concept of social imbalance. Yeah white people enslaved us. White people steal from Africa. White people stop us from developing but by looking at this research, Is the best way to earn a living off someones hard earned money then blowing it on nights on champagne and women. I think Nigerians should stop protecting evil and being over-sensitive about these crimes and begin to do away with this yahoo business. Its gone on for too long and it has ruined Nigeria’s reputation as an internet safe zone.
@Tolu B, did they ever tell you White people stole from us, you are indirectly saying nigerans are racist. Please mind what you put on the internet for the whole world to see.
lindaikeji.blogspot.com posts this in Nigeria and all a sudden, everyone is here to drop a point! Most of the people i know who do dumps and all are whites….inside America! Infact 70% of credit card fraudsters are white fellas!
All the bank login and credit card info stolen have to pass through a mule who is obviously hoping for something ($$) too!
$1500 only can come in one name to Nigeria via WU while $5k can go to Russia via WU and Romania and other hot zones. We all know Russia ‘steals’ more money while Nigeria ‘persuades’ for money so Russia will get more incoming than Nigeria!
Siphoning of funds through banker known generally amongst criminals as “wire wire’ never ever comes to Nigeria and the countries neckdeep in this never gets mentioned!
Linda Ikeji….you are about to get traffic. Thank me later
I will like to posit that regardless of the fact that most crime professionals have associated internet crimes to Nigeria and a couple of other west African countries ,that does not justify that every Nigerian is a criminal or is associated to this criminal acts ,this infamous news and statements are gradually becoming a very monumental problem to honest Nigerians with Good intentions ,both socially,economically and otherwise .blocking of Nigerian IPs and limiting Nigerians access to some sites on the internet is not hardly different from a person that cuts his head off in trying to find solution for his Headache ,we still have Honest Nigerians who detest these acts moreover because many hypothetically claim that Mark Zibberman murdered trayvon martins shouldn’t mean that every other person should treat Him or whites as murderers ___in the 1980s and early 90s about 18percent of global cyber crime was from America , nobody picked this up as a weapon to paint America black and red ,so why is it like the 21st century where we boast of developments,global transparency and other things? _____this is a good write up and an eye opener and if I may add regardless of how primitive or old some of you may label these scammers formats and mails ,only God can save you from evil people , mounting your guard is good ,but through my research I am aware that people that are not shallowly into internet scams have a software that generates american IPs for them and with that they can get access to any site they want by simply running an IP software or changing the IP address of their browser to the one they generated .
Rachel Jeantel testified that Travon call Zimmerman a “Creepy Assed Cracker”, and then attacked him moments later. And you think only “white” people is prejudiced? Zimmerman is Latino! So maybe you should just call all people essentially racist – that would probably be more accurate – but would be very sad.
The Lord will visit vengeance on those that hate some day. Don’t hold your breath – ’cause he is biding his time!
The intriguing part is countries like Russia, USA, China, Britain, Germany, Brazil, Spain, India, France, Turkey top the Cybercrime list yet Nigeria remains the most-victimised. .Crappy journalism!
That’s the painful part ,that’s why some scholars still claim that Racism will never cease to exist as long as human beings exist , Most westerners are egoistic they prefer talking about African flaws and shortcomings .even though in some cases their is worst than the one of the people they make infamous , this is just a proportion of the racial mentality that the westerners are living it , and as a matter of fact it is making some intelligent and moral people become criminals , it is intelligent people that mastermind most of these activities, you go to school they teach you about the wrong impression and misconceptions that the europeans used on Africans , you still many of such on the internet and international TV stations , when you try to make some international contacts , the moment some unlearned people hear you are from Nigeria or some other country that has also been victimized , they turn down your job/contract application,entry,offer , and for no reason detest you , these and some other racial and wrong impression reasons is making people go outlaw to survive ,only God can deliver us
What’s really interesting is volume of legitimate traffic vs. volume of criminal traffic. In Nigeria the ratio is quite high, while in most of the other countries you mention the ratio is quite low.
I have absolutely nobody in Nigeria I need to communicate with, nor does anyone in my family need to contact someone living there. It’s not racism, it’s just reality. Why would I want to have an open avenue of communication for traffic that doesn’t exist, thereby allowing the deluge of 419 emails that hit the server on a daily basis to get through?
BTW, I block traffic to/from Russia for the same reasons and, last time I checked, the average Russian was of Caucasian descent (thanks, in no small part, to decades of “encouragement” getting others to leave).
hello !!!!! We are the original American, when are all you visitors going to go back home.
– Article contains just data. Nothing malicious or racist about it.
– I went through the slide show and am quite confident (95%) that those guys are unfortunately my fellow Nigerians.
– He shouldn’t be congratulating the Nigerian govt for doing a so far shoddy job of shutting 419 down. Its like saying “You should congratulate the contractor on the 20 story building contract…at least he built it up to the 5th floor (in almost 10yrs and counting)”
– “White people stole from us…” and all that crap is too old to still be thrown around as an excuse for everything that is wrong with Nigeria/Africa. Self-determination (independence) comes with a heavy dose of “self” responsibility.
– The world know that yahoo boys are a fraction of Nigeria’s population, but when objective posts like these are attacked left right and center by Nigerian apologists it gives the impression that its something we condone
– Anger at the side-effects of such articles should be directed to these miscreants not to people who are airing our dirty laundry. If we wash our laundry, guess what?….there’d be nothing left to air. Same applies to foreign media is always portraying Africa negatively. Look at the map here (http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty) and tell me why the foreign media should come to Africa and ignore the elephant in the room.
– People who fall for some of these scams (not all) are greedy and deserve it from an ethical point of view. 419 guys on the other hand are criminals and deserve to go to jail. Making excuses for 419 guys based on this is like saying to a judge “but he spat on me before I shot him…aren’t we even?”
– Re-balancing/re-distribution is the worst rationalization ever. Here’s an analogous idea! Why don’t we all become criminals and strive to build the best communist utopia?
Everything about this is right and all but to actually get to the real perpetrators and ‘miscreants’ I think Brian needs more researching and help. This is actually scratching the surface, am sure soon Mr. Krebs will realize that these “yahoo boys” are not as stupid as perceived. Nigerian Gov’t got an aid from the US Gov’t on this a while back in 2008, It all didn’t end well. Coming from a Nigerian, war against these Nigerian cyber criminals hasn’t even begun yet. You need to start putting more effort into this and stop thinking of them as ‘idiots’.. They know what they’re doing and are in fact getting much better in it by the day.. #JustSaying!! (Another Nigerian in his country’s best interest)..
Where is Kreps ?? Not a single word from him .Must be to busy building a nuclear bunker for him self sneaky **** . lol
In my earlier years, I used to dump certain types of forum where these guys would persistently beg for things, like credit cards & opt-in lists.
They are all basic users. You rarely find any of them with any ability, the fact they use the same e-mail accounts and passwords for business and pleasure (including personal correspondance), it is absolutely amazing.
One thing I was VERY impressed by was the links they had in the UK, for drops. They are very well organised, even if unskilled.
I am amazed how supposedly sophisticated people can get scammed by half educated nonentities. As a Nigerian, I like to say that if anyone get scammed it is because they have become so greedy that it makes them gullible. Nevertheless, majority of those that get scammed are old people, separated, widowed, divorced and gullible etc. looking for love online. My advise, if you have a measure that blocks IP’s good. Otherwise when you get unsolicited emails from unknown parties, simply do what i do, delete and move to the next mail. But please desist from labeling an entire people as the western world does Nigerians. It does no one any good and it is prejudicial.
What’s this about Mr Krebs being racist? What a load of crap, he just goes to where the story goes, and if the stories sounds like its related to Nigeria, then so be it. Actually the 419 scams are even earlier than the 1980’s, even in the 70’s this was a recognized problem.
As for the rationalization that white people stole from the African’s while this is without question, we are still dealing with criminals who will rationalize any behavior regardless of how damaging it is to victims.
Its obvious that not all Nigerians are criminals, but its stupid to believe we shouldn’t take protective measures against them in order to protect us. ‘While the chances of getting robbed by a criminal are low, you should decided to leave you door unlocked.’
Well said!
The fact that most people who are scammed out of their savings are older, widowed, lonely people says it all. Those with a truly good heart and have empathy for the poor?
To label these people as “greedy” and therefore “billable” makes no sense whatsoever. It is what every Judge in the US would refer to as “blaming the victim”. It is time to connect the dots and expose the thieves and liars in the midst of the “good” people of Nigeria in criminal court and make restitution to the victims of these destructive crimes. Nothing would help the poor of Nigeria more than bringing down this criminal enterprise…before all aid and all communications are cut off. How much of the stolen money from poor widows is going to the poor of Nigeria? The lavish lifestyle they have and the victimizing they engage in of Nigerian women says it all. They are also stealing progress and a good life from their own people, while blaming history and making up excuses for their actions.
Voodoo is not a religion. It is an evil cult.
typo: “billable” was “gullible”.
I second that notion! 🙂
all this bullshit has to stop. 419 here and 419 there, yahoo boys need to stop this shits and get a good life and job. not all Nigerian or westerners are 419, to me all countries worldwide are 419 and fraudsters.
1. who coded ip software’s and for what purpose? tor ?
2. to what TRUE purpose is bestrecovery coded for? and by whom ? a Nigerian ?
the only way not to get your house burnt is don’t take fire inside your bedroom
“To replace the current system, the group proposes creating a more centralized WHOIS lookup system that is closed by default.”.
… and of course for security folks to do they jobs, conducting lookups or getting information on a specific domain or IP, you’ll need to have a subscription… for a “small fee”, of course.
..sorry, wrong place.
This is what you get for a “WWW” that allows for free entry and exit. We need a restricted internet system that vets all this scammers and fraudsters and their like. A more ethically inclined web.
I’ve been dealing with 419 scams for most of my career and I think Mr. Oliverdejohnson lives in firm denial. The “great” nation of Nigeria could easily get serious and make sure that the scammers and fraudsters are brought to justice. However most of the government is on the take and can’t afford to sever the ties with the various gangs. Nothing hateful about it. When a physician says you are ill, do you call him hateful? There are enough educated Nigerians (including the dean of my university) but for every successful one there are 10 lazy fraudsters taking advantage of the gullibility of old or naive people.