I watched this "Internet Fraud" documentary...

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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:30 pm

Ok, I was watching this documentary last night and it was pretty sweet, other than the fact that they spent about 45 seconds on the 419 section. I was outraged. They were talking about how AOL and all the big ISP's were spending absurd amount of money to "STOP SPAM"! But spam in itself is harmless! The harm, I think, comes from the 45 second 419 bit. When I think about all the hilarious garbage we pull on those bastards, I also keep in the back of my mind that all the old women and unsuspecting people that they are actually ripping off. I think that there is more than just "419"...what a generalization. Think about the fake bank scams, the cheque scams, the love scams, the phone scams, the lotto scams... the list goes on... to spend 45 seconds on an industry of criminal activity, which I'm sure rakes in hundreds of thousands, maybe into the millions. I'm just a little pissed that some of the most incredible work preformed on this site doesn't get recognition. I've been a member here since November 2008 and I almost immediately donated. I surfed by the 419 hall o' shame plenty of times before, but I never sat back and read the scams, and the baits, and the skill and time and great community this place is. Maybe I'm just ranting because My current Russian is pissing me off and wont give up her bank account...BUT! I just think they could have put more than 45 seconds on a topic that is significantly more important than some guy in his basement in Florida sending out 6 million spam emails a day about penis enlargement.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

Well they clearly decided that the documentary was going to be about SPAM, and so a 45 second piece on 419 scams is fortunate. Write to them and get them to do one on 419 scams.

I would understand your annoyance if the programme was called '419 Scams', but as it wasn't, then I can't comprehend your rant.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:40 pm

AH! It wasn't called "SPAM!" It was a documentary about internet fraud and how it became illegal. As It was examining the different types of email fraud and virus spreading, it ALSO came across "419" which was notably the least important part of the documentary, maybe I should change the spam part, but essentially it's all spam....

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

Well your incorrectly titled thread led me to believe it was called spam. Either make your main post more comprehensible, or change the title.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Spam may seem harmless, and to your average user it is. But consider how much money is spent by email providers in tracking, routing, filtering and "stopping" spam. It's "ginormous". Spam is much more of a drag on the infrastructure than most realize. To the individual, it's an annoyance at worst. Collectively, however, it has much more of an effect.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:51 pm

yeah, exactly what the documentary went into detail about, AOL stopping around 6 billion spam emails a day. (Look 007 you don't have to be such a jerk, who cares) They were talking all about non profit organizations doing different things (ie, independent research and tracking of people who create the most junk mail, locating of people who create viruses, the stopping of worms, the creation of "zombie" computers, the stopping of "Bot-controlled" communities and even nations) I believe China was just going through a large fiasco about it. But in their sprint across the world interviewing people about different aspects of email fraud and internet scams. They stopped for 45 seconds to say that "419 scams stands for the criminal code in Nigeria, Most 419 scams come from Nigeria, it originated from the Spanish Noblemen in the 1800's when he was captured he offered anyone who freed him riches beyond belief. when released he was gone." WTF? your telling me that's an accurate description of what 419 scams consist of?

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

What do you mean "who cares"? You obviously do, because you are ranting, not me. I simply pointed out your title gave the wrong impression. So I am not a 'jerk', I am simply stating your title does your cause no good at all.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:11 pm

well it's too late, I don't know how to change the thing. And I didn't mean to call you a jerk, I just didn't think the title doesn't really matter.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Canadian419 wrote:

an industry of criminal activity, which I'm sure rakes in hundreds of thousands, maybe into the millions.

It's a little bit more than that.

In the UK alone, mass marketed fraud is worth £3.5 billion per year.

Of that, 419 accounts for £340 million, Foreign lotteries for £260 million and Loan scams for £190 million.

Those three categories account for 320,000 victims per year. The 70,000 victims of 419 lost an average of £5,000 each.

All this is in the UK, but it is likely to be broadly comparable elsewhere. The percentage of victims per head of population per year are:
419: 0.14% pa
Loan: 0.22% pa
Lottery: 0.29% pa

Source: Office of Fair Trading - Research on impact of mass marketed scams - 2006

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:33 pm

Wonderful information! Thank you for that. I can't believe the numbers, and even more I can't believe they didn't spend even a few minutes to properly explain what it is and why you should be careful.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:53 pm

Just a note to Canadian419 - you can change the thread title. Hit Edit on your original post and you can reword the title.

Change "SPAM" to "Internet Fraud" and lose the "last night" and all should be well.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

@ Canadian419, to change the topic title, simply edit your post using the

button on your first post Wink

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:13 pm

it is unfortunate the little time our media spends on this subject.

a city near my home sends out a quarterly newsletter to it's residents, I called them and asked if they would be willing to include a small bit about internet fraud, I even offered to write it. more or less i was told it's not an important issue and would be a waste of resources.

I'm sure that's what a real victim would think. Crying or Very sad

edited to ad; i agree about the thread title, i thought it was a thread about

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Bloody Vikings.....

The thing that really ticks me off is I think most people are under the perception that people that get taken in by this stuff are just greedy people that deserve what they get.

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:21 pm

It's quite sad, I think if the knowledge was more in the "public eye" People wouldn't fall for the bank fraud and the cheque scams. The love scams are a tough thing to get rid of...There's always going to be that lonely guy looking for love, and he'll pay anything to get it.

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