Trying to make a list of major 419 gangs - can you help?

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Master Baiter Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 120 Location: USA

I"m trying to list REAL gangs, not the imaginary Eater gangs Laughing

This is all I have so far:

I.T.T- International Thief Thief
V.I.P - Vagabonds in power

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

Is this list for reference, or for warning purposes?

I've never came across any named gang, I wouldn't imagine lads like to advertise it.

How did you come across the two you have listed?

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:04 pm

Found this article
makes for interesting reading (Nollywood ?)

http://www.kwenu.com/publications/hankeso/2006/chop_dollar.htm

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:50 pm

I suspect you'll find gangs are tremendously loose affairs, with variable boundaries, memberships and allegiances. You won't find a nice ordered list that's worth trusting anywhere. You will get two lads in some back-alley calling themselves "Supreme Overlord Gang", and yet large organisations keeping quiet and getting on with business.

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:29 pm

419 gangs aren't at all like the street or prison gangs in America. I won't pretend to know enough about the former so I won't be feeding you questionable information, but what I do know is that, as mentioned, they are significantly more "loose" (as MBL put it) than one would imagine.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:33 am

I don't know any scammer gangs but I'm in the Bratwurst gang, a famous group of no-hopers that was started in a sausage factory in Bad Scheissenhauser, Germany in 1958. We have a code of 'Omerta', which as we all know, means Omerta. We are affiliated to the Frankfurter gang, Bockwurst gang, both based in Germany and the Salami mob, a particularly heavy gang from Sicily. The Saveloy gang from Spain tried to get affiliated but were turned down for being a bit too spicy.
I hadn't better say any more in case I get whacked.

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 120 Location: USA

I am gathering the info to use in my baits. The names of these gangs aren't well known outside of the 419 community so they have been extremely valuable in my baits to establish my identity.
My goal is to cause rifts between the gangs and waste a lot of their time and energy.

From what I have gathered there are only a handful of respected 419 gangs that are actually recognized and known in Nigeria. Small groups of YY boys claiming to be a gang is not common at all and you never hear about them.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:23 am

Feel free to use the name of Os1n0r Akh1gb3 or Sefe1ya Ob0kor0 from Benin City, Nigeria as much as you would like, especially when something bad happens to other scammers.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:14 am

How did you get and verify these gang names, if you don't mind my asking?

Also, what's a YY boy? I assume it's some version of scammer, but what does it mean?

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:24 am

Jammy wrote:

... Also, what's a YY boy? ...

Yahoo Yahoo or Yahoozee, due to the fact that many lads abuse Yahoo's free email services.

Edit: grammar.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:25 am

Jammy wrote:

...Also, what's a YY boy?..

Yahoo Yahoo boy, a rather dated term for a 419'er.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:38 am

^^ Thanks, and thanks!

7/9 wrote:

after the fact that many lads abuse Yahoo's free email services

Yeah, we baiters would never do a thing like that *cough, cough* Laughing

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:24 am

^ No, we abuse Gmail, so as to hide our IP addresses. Gotta bait safely! Laughing

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:43 am

drab wrote:

I.T.T- International Thief Thief
V.I.P - Vagabonds in power

Never heard of these, or of any group of lads that have given themselves a name they think sounds cool. Both of these are incredibly dorky, so it's possible lads made this up.

Also we don't abuse any email service. The lads abuse the service, we're simply replying to their scams. Big difference. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:53 am

Both "International Thief Thief" and "Vagabonds in Power" are songs by Fela Kuti from the early 1980s.

Confused

I'm still curious about the source of these names being used by current 419 gangs.

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 120 Location: USA

Mention of the names of these gangs was found in a Nigerian Court deposition, both the police and a civilian used these names and described the gangs as "highly organized criminal ventures" and "major criminal gangs".

Sir Cumfrence wrote:

Jammy wrote:

...Also, what's a YY boy?..

Yahoo Yahoo boy, a rather dated term for a 419'er.

The term isn't dated in Nigeria, it's still common slang there.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:48 am

Jammy wrote:

Both "International Thief Thief" and "Vagabonds in Power" are songs by Fela Kuti from the early 1980s.

I assumed they were song titles. Not references to the names of gangs.

Most lads that work in these groups often refer to the group they work by name of the boss they work with. Like 'Kojo' or 'Bob', which would be fake names.

Still, the names are ladish and look ridiculous. Really... "International Thief Thief"? Surely they only need a single 'thief'. Plus most lads never refer to themselves as thieves. They find that term insulting. They consider themselves serious legitimate businessmen. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:48 am

drab wrote:

...The term isn't dated in Nigeria, it's still common slang there.

I'll take your word for it, though I haven't come across it for some time.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

"Vagabonds in Power" actually sounds kinda cool. I'm going to name my gang that.

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 120 Location: USA

Fela had a song titled ITT and coined the phrase International Thief Thief in it in reference to the International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), Nigeria, Ltd. being corrupt and Moshood Abiola, the comptroller, profiting from the corruption. That was almost 30 years ago. The acronym has been in use since then and probably isnt limited to a corrupt telephone company and its comptroller now. From what Ive gathered one of it's current uses is to name a 419 gang.
I believe the VIP acronym has a similar story. Fela coined the new definition for this acronym as well and its usage now is probably the same as it was then. Very important people are seen as Vagabonds in power. It doesn't surprise me that a gang is using this acronym as their name.
What do you expect? They call mermaids "mammy water" and many think the movie "The Mermaid" is real. Laughing

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 12 Jul 2009 Posts: 15

^^^^Are you Nigerian Drab or from West Africa?, you seem very knowledgeable Very Happy

Can we call on you for specialists advice?. Question

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:37 pm

^^^^

Do "The G0m3r B0yz" qualify as a 419 gang?

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:47 pm

^Nope... The Gom3r B0yz are a fictional gang, the OP is looking for gangs that actually exist.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:28 pm

^^

I think someone who looks little like this

may come along and tell you otherwise Smile

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:52 pm

drab wrote:

What do you expect?

From lads? Well nothing creative. Still bad gang names.

Now you've explained this in great detail I can still say I have never heard of them. They really need a make-over. They should go on Queer Eye for the Dopey Lads.

Very Happy

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