Anyone hear of this?

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 27

I saw this on the bbc a little while ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7304028.stm

At first it made me laugh, but then I realized what a f* up problem this all is. I've seen plenty of scammers trying to justify what they are doing by claiming that they are trying to take back compensation from the evil white western monsters that stole africa's resources, etc. But here they are, effectively taking from themselves and sabotaging their country's future.

Just thought that this was an enlightening article relevant to this forum.

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:15 pm

Very enlightning indeed. The corruption doesn't make for honest citizens.

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:26 pm

I think this article should be added to the Ethics page.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:42 am

Well, corruption is everywhere, I guess some people are better at covering up than others. Nigeria is a sad kind of place is some ways, but it's actually nice in others. The media tends to focus on certain things. Anyway, I was born in Nigeria and spent some of my early years living there. The people were nice and everyone looked out for each other. We were the only white people around but nobody had a problem with us, for the most part. I guess what I am saying is that its not healthy to focus only on the ugly details.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Mar 2008 Posts: 27

I had the impression that rather than corruption, it seemed that public officials were victims of scams themselves.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:58 pm

Ex. wrote:

I think this article should be added to the Ethics page.

Best not, since the impression that would give is that the citizens of a country with a corrupt government are fair game for baiting. I see where you're coming from, but the article doesn't back up the ethics argument, which is designed to debunk allegations that scambaiting is cruel to innocent people, and possibly racist, etc.

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:13 pm

More information on corruption in Africa (and elsewhere) is provided by Transparency International: http://www.transparency.org/

In 2007, Nigeria ranked 147th out of 179 countries worldwide on TI's Corruption Perceptions Index.