How successful are the lads?

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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:21 am

I've been wondering about this for a while, because that's handy information to have when introducing our fake lads.

So does anybody know:

I know that there must be big variations, but there must be some kind of general picture.

This information would make it a lot easier to make our fake lads appear as both attractive to team up with as well as being realistic.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:36 pm

The sheer number of mugus out there is an indication of their success rate. If it was not working, no one would do it.

And, there are lots of press accounts of victims being taken for tens of thousands (and even hundreds of thousands) of dollars. While these are, perhaps, only the most sensational 'successes' by the mugus, I think we can safely assume that for every victim who reports his losses to the police, or who is reported in the local press, there are LOTS of other victims who lose some money but never report anything.

Bottom line: they are successful.

Bruin

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:48 pm

^^^ BRUIN - I consider that common knowledge. I just want some figures on it.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:56 pm

According to Wikipedia (here), 419 fraud makes up less than 0.5% of Nigeria's export business. Nigeria exports more than $65 billion a year. 0.5% of that is $325 million. So it is still a very successful business.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:05 pm

That's hard to do without their cooperation, kinda gray area Laughing

I have read over $200 mil a year from North America alone, but to turn that into mail numbers Confused

I throw away about a 100 scam emails a day from the different accounts I have.
The way they react to a willing victim seems to show that they sent lots and have a very low score on actual paying victims.
One special letter caused over a 1000 hits on scamwarner in a day so they must think bulk mail.
Also the set up they use, sent many and have the next group sent the scripted answers until there's a reasonable chance of success makes me think that thousands of letters go out every day with just minor profit for most of them.
But if you see that people here are willing to play millions in the lotto (a 30 million prize indicates at least 45 million in tickets), then there, scamming should have a higher percentage scoring to make it a day job and possible to make a good living.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:50 pm

$1, 1 euro, 1 GBP, anything is too sucessful. Mad

NO quarter! Well, wait, we have to be sane. Maybe no quarter is too much.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:13 pm

We can all find the figures on the national level - I was merely thinking of a per lad level, when I popped the question.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:50 pm

Per lad? That's even harder, we have no clue how many there are(enough to play with Laughing

) and some will only scam when out of work, when they have sufficient money to play the cafe and such. But think 500.000 or so give or take a mil Laughing

Basically the only one that count is my lad(s), if I can successfully waste an hour a day, it's worth my time, but for now it's more like an hour a week.
There I would like to improve a lot, but I don't manage safari's and although they spend some money on calls, it's still peanuts.
That Asem that was posted here today to get a few to a location to wait for nothing, that's already better, but to make them do it every day, that would be my goal.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 5:45 pm

While i'm sure that there are scammers making a living out of it i know for a fact that there are lads who does it on a part time basis.
One of my current lad gave me his real life info. And among those where a email address tracing back to a Nigerian university. And my lad also confessed to studying. So he was not only a scammer but also a student.
How much money he earns and how many letters he send out i will never know.
And i'm also sure that many scammers use scams to increase their monthly income they get from an honest work.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:03 pm

There is no straight answer to your question. There are just way too many variables. Lads come in all flavours, shapes and sizes as do their scams. It's why the internet fraud "industry" is so successful.

Chuda, the killer cat wrote:

What is the response rate on their scam mails?

It depends on the type of scam, the quality of the format, the type of victim that it's aimed at, the luck of the lad, etc.

Quote:

How many of these do actually pay the lad?

They all pay. Otherwise the lads wouldn't use them. If something hits your inbox, you can guarantee that someone, somewhere has lost money to it.

Quote:

How much do lads "earn" on their scams?

Again it depends on where the lad is in the food chain. Some earn literally millions of dollars a year. Some may go home with nothing.

Quote:

Are the lads depending on their scams as the only income?

Some do it professionally. Some do it to supplement their income on a pert time basis. Some do it as a hobby.

Quote:

How organised are the lads?

Some are so organised that they are able to run their operations just as a big company would. Some work in loose knit gangs. Some are lone wolves

Quote:

I know that there must be big variations, but there must be some kind of general picture.

Believe it or not, my answers are pretty much the "general picture". The big variations are the norm. Wink

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:04 pm

Chuda, the killer cat wrote:

We can all find the figures on the national level - I was merely thinking of a per lad level, when I popped the question.

Then you are asking what is the amount of money a thief makes on the individual level. Like others have said too many variables, including the fact they don't want people to know how much they make.

Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:10 pm

^^^ Exactly Exclamation

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