Has anyone tried....

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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:27 am

Mass mailings of news articles saying something like "Western union linked to massive plauge in West Africa"

"American money sent via wire transfer found to give exploding bone syndrom in Russia"

Or am I just thinking of a silly idea that will never work? Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:42 am

The idae is brilliant IMHO. Just for the fun. You could make up a fake wiki entry at uncyclopedia (its okay for those running the site, as long as it is funny Wink

) and a nice post to a bogus forum. Then you include the linkys to your ASEM to give evidence of your story (same as NofK lads do with airplane accidents).

This would have the nice side effect to attract more lads to the bogus forum(s) where they find lots of vital traps and catcher e-mail addys.

You may want to write a lengthly and informative article now, about how exactly bone desease spreads via wire transfers and why Western Union, using 10 digits MTCN, is even more dangerous than Money Gram, using only 8 digits in their tracking numbers Laughing

PS.: If you mind registering at uncyclopedia or any bogus forum, I could do it for you.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:58 am

Can i be a grumpy old spoilsport vampire and bring up the Inncocent Third Party Rule?

You / we could have a hell of a lawsuit on our hands if we killed WU's business as the rumour spread over the internet... Twisted Evil

I'll leave this open for now, but predict the jangling of tiny keys soon....

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:47 pm

The core of the idea is a good one - we just need to make sure that a significant number of uninvolved people are not upset or inconvenienced.

perhaps drop in a few lad-to-lad emails into the system along the lines of

Quote:

abeg b careful broda, western union don take am finga prints off form wey collect am dolla.

then look out for reports of sweaty-handed lads wearing gloves to WU.[/quote]

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:53 pm

@Roycropper
It has been discussed before if WU is really an ITP (earning their share of the scams) Wink

. But then we can allways keep the text about money transfers w/o using the brand name. Plus, if the text is clearly satirical, no law will be violated. Clearly satirical may then be not clearly satirical enough for some handselected pinhead lads Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:35 pm

Can you imagine the father of a sick kid, beating up a WU clerk(neighbor) as he thinks he did give the illness to his kid? Rolling Eyes

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:33 pm

such leaps of faith seem not uncommon in certain countries. It could happen.

best to stick to something that will only affect fraudsters.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:08 pm

To bad..

Still It would be funny..

Scammers showing up in Hazmat suits.. Cool

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:12 am

~ Nailgunner,

This is Brilliant misinformation spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt. This would be great, great folklore for lads, and of course the fact WU and MG would refute it would make it all the more convincing. Genius.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:16 am

That can be expanded..

Saying WU is investigating all transfers with INTERPOL. Very Happy

They are only targeting the RECIEVERS of cash.... Laughing

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 107

That sounds somewhat like the headlines of the "local newspaper" in sim city... "Hosenstallventilator Ursache für Kolchose" (~ "zipper ventilator causes kolkhoz").

I like the idea Smile

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:41 am

ezilja.fallut wrote:

Mass mailings....

To be effective you would have to reach 90% of lads in a matter of days. Don't see how this would be possible without breaking either your ISP terms and conditions or involving viruses and other nasties with are plainly off limits.

And as RC says what about the ITP's who rely on WU etc for legitimate business or family support? I know a couple of honest families from the Ivory Coast and Congo who send funds to family back home via WU.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:55 am

Quote:

It has been discussed before if WU is really an ITP

Of course Western Union is an ITP. They've been around much longer than the scammers who use them, and all but a tiny fraction of their transfers are legit and even necessary.

It's because they offer such a good service that Lads find them valuable, and WU does make some efforts to inform people about fraud. We always think they could do more, but that's a view from our own unique perspective.

It's ludicrous to blame WU when a victim sends money freely to a scammer. And it's not a good idea to libel WU ("WU causes massive plague") in pursuit of a modality. Confused

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:55 am

Of course WU is ITP, but they could do more to protect victims IMHO. bill2's comment is the one that worries me most - it sounds only too plausible.

So if we find a way to do this in a sensible way, we should include comments on it, that only money sent from dumb American and Europeans spread the desease while family money exchange is safe. Perhaps there are some "evil racist chauvinist kkk people trying to kill africans by sendind money transfers to unknown people and advance fee fraudsters in west africa in a wicked way, that speads the dagerous hosenstallventilatorkolchose among so many citicens in the big cities like Lagos, Accra and Abidjan". Confused

Yes, we must take care not to harm ITP, but it would be a pitty to through out the baby with the bath water and abandon such a good idea alltogether.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:07 pm

I think it would be more beneficial to start the rumor that WU/MG have started to investigate ALL transfers to [insert your lad's nation here] due to the high amount of advanced fee fraud emanating from the country.

This would make the lads sweat. Also we could say that WU/MG/Interpol is taking finger prints off the documents to compile a data base and if your finger prints show up under more than one name of the receiver you are going to be in trouble.

This I think avoids the ITP rule that Bill2's comment would implicate.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:03 pm

yeah, and 57 men have allready sent to prison as a first success and the government is concerned that they might need to build more jailhouses, but whitehouse and the UN have promised to give financial support to the poor punishment system in this country. Phonelines and e-mails may now be tapped due to anti-trro fight and hence this was possible in the first place. A major strike against organised crime bla bla bla

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 5:53 pm

The only problem I see with that is they ALREADY do somethig illegal. Why would that stop them now?

The disease avenu is more than "The law is gonna get you".

Like you said there can be some EXTREME revenge cases if disease is thought to be spreading. Which mean's even the unlawful would take notice of a disease threat.

Maybe we should say internet cafes in West Africa found to be breeding disease. Or do we still consider the Internet cafes ITPs?

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

Quote:

Maybe we should say internet cafes in West Africa found to be breeding disease. Or do we still consider the Internet cafes ITPs?

Yes, Internet Cafes count as ITPs.

Plenty of people use the cafes because they don't have internet or computers at home, not just scammers.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:12 pm

I don't think it is anywhere near as hard to identify an ITP as some would wish. Please bear in mind that anything you say that (a) is not true and (b) may adversely affect the business interests of WU, MG, cafe owners or any other legitimate commercial enterprise could bring a whole heap of trouble your way. To prevent it bringing another heap Eater's way, I ask that you stop discussing ways to defame them, please.