Nigerian Slain Over E-Mail Scam

Wired News ^ | Feb. 21, 2003 | Michelle Delio

[truenospinzone]

A notorious e-mail scam has resulted in the murder of a Nigerian diplomat in the Czech Republic.

Fifty-year-old Michael Lekara Wayid, Nigeria's consul in the Czech Republic, was shot dead by an unidentified 72-year-old Czech at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague on Thursday.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Cool. Maybe Nigeria will stop this crime.

[oldtimer]

Me too. I have wished for the opportunity to do more than the delete the Nigerian/Ivory Coast/etc messages.

This guy ought to get a medal.

[LibKill]

Back before the internet was big, we used to get scam faxes from Nigeria. My boss (a Scrooge, but no fool) had me re-fax them to the FBI.

I never heard back from the FBI, (but this was during the KKKlintoon years).

[bribriagain]

"I have received e-mails from this scam at least once a week."

After I sent the first $100k, I sort of gave up.

[coydog]

I got three 419's in one day once, and I hadn't answered any of'em. That was under my old email address. Now after a couple of months of spam-free bliss they seem to have discovered me again... :P

[Bernard Marx]

I have an Australian friend who negotiates with them. He had me ROFL with his description of the replies he got to his offers of kangaroo meat to be shipped to Nigeria against their letters of credit to his bank in Oz. He drove such a hard email bargain with one scammer that he was accused of being "an unethical person!"

However much fun it might be, I've heard that communicating with these people can be very dangerous. I can't recall the particulars but the more they learn about you the more sophisticated some of their scams become. There's an email addy you can forward 419s to, either the FBI or the Treasury Department. I noticed that the number I received dropped off significantly after I alerted the government to a few dozen emails. I used to get 3-4 a day.

[boomop1]

Happy to see you applied a little retraint.

[Doc Savage]

No way Skeeter! The deal is still on. You'll get your bank transfer as soon as you forward me that $100,000 negotiation fee we discussed!

Yours most truly,

Aki-wasabi-Makita

[Mulder]

Fifty-year-old Michael Lekara Wayid, Nigeria's consul in the Czech Republic, was shot dead by an unidentified 72-year-old Czech at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague on Thursday

It looks like the old geezer found a way to "deal" with these scams.

I hope he gets a medal.

[Unassuaged]

Yeah, the secretary had it coming!

[Mulder]

Yeah, the secretary had it coming!

That's the price of knowingly associating with thiefs.

If she did not knowingly associate with them, then that's another story.

[Bogey78O]

Stitch can't swim. I hope you can.