Nigeria's anti graft police shuts 800 scam websites

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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:20 pm

Forgive me I didnt see this posted.. But this was on the "wires" today!

Maybe this is where some of your lads are and may causea stir in the gangs..It says Friday - but was on the news today...

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.6a8cc43eefe7559c839cd6f85e74e8f8.731&show_article=1

Quote:

Nigeria's anti-corruption police said Friday they had shut down some 800 scam websites and busted 18 syndicates of email fraudsters in a drive to curb cyber-crime the country is notorious for.
"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down," Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said.

"There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber-crime organisations," she added.

In a statement EFCC, which has previously relied on raiding cyber cafes and complaints from the public to clampdown on the crime, said it has now adopted smart technology working in conjunction with Microsoft, to track down fraudulent emails.

When operating at full capacity, within the next six months, the scheme, dubbed "eagle claw" should be able to forewarn around a quarter of million potential victims.

Nigeria has an unenviable reputation of being the epicentre of email scammers.

In March Spanish police arrested 23 people, mainly Nigerians, suspected of running an email and letter scam thought to have defrauded over 150 people in the United States and Europe.

The gang would send out thousands letters every day to potential victims, making them believe they had access to millions of dollars in inheritance funds which they needed to invest away.

Victims were swindled of their money when asked to pay processing fees or supply their bank account details into which the funds would be transferred.

Some of fraudsters hack into private email accounts of prominent personalities and send e-mails to their contacts claiming to be stranded and asking for emergency cash.

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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:22 pm

That was the first I'd seem of it.
From the EFCC site

Quote:

According to Waziri, “We expect that Eagle Claw as conceived will be 100% operational within six months and at full capacity, it will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails. At the moment, Eagle Claw has delivered the following results:

“Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down. The EFCC is fine tuning security modalities with Microsoft and upon full deployment, the capacity to take down fraudulent e-mails will increase to 5,000 monthly. Further it is projected that advisory mails to be sent to victims and potential victims will be about 230,000 monthly.

“There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber crime organizations.”

Taking Nigeria out of the top ten? I'll believe that when it happens. I wonder who will be the first baiter to get an advisory email?

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:50 pm

Quote:

When operating at full capacity, within the next six months, the scheme, dubbed "eagle claw" should be able to forewarn around a quarter of million potential victims.

Something like a spam folder?

Quote:

"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down,"

Good achievement Rolling Eyes

Quote:

"There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber-crime organisations," she added.

That´s better Smile

Quote:

it has now adopted smart technology working in conjunction with Microsoft, to track down fraudulent emails.

Now I wonder what could that be Question

BTW I wonder if Mrs. Waziri knows that she is the new "Charles Soludo" already (as far as name abuse for scams is concerned)

I can´t help it, I am pretty sarcastic every time officials say "Now we are doing something serious!" Well, at least some scepticism is ok I think Smile

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:36 pm

Quote:

the capacity to take down fraudulent e-mails will increase to 5,000 monthly

And they said one gang sends 1000 e-mails daily. Impressed? Rolling Eyes

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:42 am

I wonder if they put the flags in their signature lines yet Wink

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:13 am

Quote:

"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down,"

Well, that takes care of one scammer - on to the next one. Wink

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Quote:

Nigeria's anti-corruption police said Friday they had shut down some 800 scam websites and busted 18 syndicates of email fraudsters in a drive to curb cyber-crime the country is notorious for.
"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down," Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said.

Welcome to Eater. We don't kill free webmails as that does very little to slow down the scammers. No, you may not claim flags for killing free webmail addresses. To learn more about fraudulent sites used for AFF please visit the fake bank forum and read the sticky topics. (or visit aa419.org).

On a serious note, I'm wondering if they're saying they shut down vanity domains/actual websites or if they just closed a bunch of yahoo and hotmail addresses.

I'm skeptical about any success with this as well, but at least they're trying.

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:09 am

It would have been nice if they put out contact information for people to report lads.

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:08 am

It seemed to me that the spokesman doesn't know the difference between websites and email addresses - 800 of each?

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:41 am

Quote:

"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down," Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said.

Big round of applause. Rolling Eyes

I roughly get that number of fresh lad emails in my catcher account in any given week or so.

I'm sorry, but the EFCC as per usual are just urinating into a head wind, so to speak. There just isn't a bandage big enough. What you need is a scalpel. Shocked

</rant>

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:07 am

^^^

Quote:

It would have been nice if they put out contact information for people to report lads.

How many reports can they cope with?

Quote:

it has now adopted smart technology working in conjunction with Microsoft, to track down fraudulent emails.

Now why do I think this technology has been around for ages, and why was is squashed by the PC brigade as anti-human rights or some such twaddle?

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:09 am

From the comments in slashdot.

Quote:

I AM A LOWLY CIVIL SERVENT RESPONSIBLE FOR CLEANING UP AFTER THE GLORIOUS OPERATION 'EAGLE CLAW' AND HAVE DETERMINED THAT YOU HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY DUPED INTO GIVING $ 77, 056 USD TO NIGERIAN SCAM OFFICER. AS A RESULT OF THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT TIRELESS SEARCH OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE, I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT WE WILL BE RETURNING ALL OF YOUR MONEY.
PLEASE FAX US ALL OF YOUR CURRENT BANK ACCOUNT AND IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS TO 01-234-419-23222 AND WE WILL IMMEDIATELY BEGIN TO PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION, AS WELL AS ADDING A $5,061 DOLLAR REWARD FEE AS REQUIRED BY THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL COURT. TO FACILITATE THE PROCESSING OF YOUR INFORMATION, PLEASE INCLUDE THE ROUTING NUMBER, ACCOUNT NUMBER, AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR PRIMARY BANKING ACCOUNT (FAILING TO INCLUDE THIS NUMBER WILL DISQUALIFY YOU FROM CONSIDERATION FOR THE $5,061 REWARD).

YOUR FAITHFUL CIVIL SERVANT,
MOGWAH MUBUGASHS

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:44 am

The last Operation Eagle Claw didn't work so well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:57 am

^^and could only have gone worse if they had actually shot each other in the foot.

Now the Iranian Embassy siege is how to do it. I saw it - awesome!

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:40 pm

Good on Nigeria.

Quote:

adopted smart technology working in conjunction with Microsoft, to track down fraudulent emails.

So whenever a lad types "100% RISKY-Free" he gets the BSOD?

But the problem is not the email. It's the dough. Until MG and WU institute some kind of security measures (I dunno: escrow accounts that won't release money until the goods are received?) the problem will continue.

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:31 pm

^^^^

Quote:

MG and WU institute some kind of security measures

Seen any pigs flying yet?

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Ah, here we go again. Let's please stay on topic and not turn this into a rant about WU. It is a legitimate company being abused in the same way many other services are abused by fraudsters. (deaf relay, email, snail mail, etc.)
Western Union can't institute an escrow service and wait for the "goods to arrive" because that's not the purpose of Western Union. Yes, it is used that way but it is also legitimately used by people who need to send cash in an emergency.

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:18 pm

Quote:

Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down

And, precisely 11 minutes later, the mugus had opened 800 new addresses and were back to business as usual!

Bruin

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:16 am

If they truly, and I mean truly wanted to take out some of these scammers, they should hire some of our better baiters to assist. Wink

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:39 pm

800 Websites! Eater and AA419 can do that in a week! Very Happy

They should be doing better than that!

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 3:57 pm

^^^^

I think this is their annual "see, we're doing something about the scams" press blitz.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:35 pm

Quote:

She also expects the system to send up to 230,000 advisory e-mails to victims every month.

Weren't they already doing that? "You qualify for the scam victim compensation program. Your ATM SWIFT card is ready to be shipped to your doorstep in your country as soon as you make the payment."

I exchanged 43 emails with Mrs. Waziri and UPS before I dropped them for lack of time as other baits became interesting.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:26 pm

Maybe it's coincidence, but i haven't heard from all my Nigerian lads since friday and i'm not the only one. I didn't have a bounced email yet.

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:18 pm

I haven't had as many lads as usual either. Crying or Very sad

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:25 pm

Water off a ducks back. Some grant due from the European Union perhaps?
I noticed it went quiet (blamed the recession Smile

) but they will bounce back in no time.

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