COURTESY: http://www.independentngonline.com/

opinion

Nigerian scammers- a generic term I would use to cover 'Yahoo boys', 419ers, credit card fraudsters, putative hackers and others operating from the other side of the moral divide- have acquired a unique international notoriety.

Globally, there appears to be a suspicion that every Nigerian carries a peculiar gene, which endows a certain twisted cleverness- a cleverness that is less oriented towards creating useful products for mankind than in figuring out how to circumvent what others have created. While Nigerians react differently to this labelling, what is often missing in the discussion is how the misdirected skills of our notorious scammers could be harnessed for the good of the society after they have been punished for their crimes.

Some Nigerians appear unduly concerned about the purported bad name this group of people give to the country - as if without them the country's international image would have been any different. We know it is only an irrational person that judges weather just by its inclementine side. To this extent, those who use the activities of the scammers to tar all Nigerians deserve our pity, not our apology. To hide our heads in shame is to give in to blackmail, for the same Nigeria that produces scammers, just like other countries, also has its fair share of geniuses in all walks of life. In any case, scamming did not originate from Nigeria. For instance, Nigeria's notorious Advance Fee Fraud (419) is a mere copycat version of the Spanish Prisoner, a confidence trick dating back to the 1900s, in which a conman tells his potential victim that he is in correspondence with a wealthy person imprisoned in Spain under a false identity, that the alleged prisoner cannot reveal his identity without serious repercussions to him and is therefore relying on the confidence of the trickster to raise money to secure his release. Like the Nigerian 419 scams, the Spanish conman would offer to let the potential victim supply some of the money in exchange for a generous reward once the purported wealthy prisoner is released.

Consider for instance how some of the countries that want to tar all Nigerians as fraudsters treat their own criminals who misapplied their talents.

Kevin Mitnick, who called himself "hacker poster boy," was once described by the Department of Justice as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His 'breakthroughs' included exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides and breaking into America's national defence warning systems. So notorious was Mitnick that his cybercrime exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown. He was eventually apprehended, and served five years in prison for his crimes. However, when he was released he was quickly rehabilitated and the society looked beyond his criminal past to the skills that aided his crime. He became a famous a computer security consultant, author and speaker. What would have happened to Kevin Mitnick if he was a Nigerian?

There is equally the case of Kevin Poulsen - also known as Dark Dante. US authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. And while he was being pursued, he further incensed the authorities by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information. He was eventually captured and sentenced to five years in prison. After serving his time, he was quickly rehabilitated in recognition of his special skills. He became a journalist and a senior editor for Wired News. One of his remarkable write-ups was on how he used his hacking skills to identify 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles. What would have happened to Kevin if he was a Nigerian? In fact, in many countries, known computer hackers have been employed by software companies as 'white hats' to help them test their systems.

But it is not only among hackers that people who misused their talents are given a second chance in the West. Consider the case of Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins who turned into crime early in life. At the age of 13, he was mugging people and was stabbed three times. At 17, Hopkins was sentenced to 18 years in prison for nine felonies. However after serving almost five years in prison, he was released and guided into boxing. Americans looked beyond his criminal past as he became the Middle Weight champion of the world, and reigned for a record ten years. A majority of America's distinguished boxers including Oliver McCall, James Toney, Mike Tyson, Jameel McCline and Riddick Bowe served terms in prison before discovering boxing and channelling the aggression that defined their criminal past into the sport. The same is true of a number of the famous NBL players.Would these people have had a second chance if they were Nigerians?

Recently we read that Nigerian scammers have started hacking into people's email accounts, including the Hotmail account of the British Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, who was said to have been stranded in Lagos, and needed a 'soft loan' to help him settle his hotel bill and get back home. Looking beyond the crime, which must be condemned, there is also a certain glee that Nigerians are now beginning to join the technological revolution, that despite the rot in our education system some kids out there (if it was actually done by Nigerians) have quickly acquired the technical savvy to hack into email accounts. Then there is also the audacity of taking it to a British minister! Unfortunately much of the discussion has focused on the criminal aspects of the act, with nothing heard about harnessing the twisted talents of the fraudsters after they have been punished for their crime.


Is it not time we engaged in honest discussions about how the nation could utilise the skills of its notorious scammers, as other countries do, after they have been punished for their crimes? For instance as Nigerian banks begin to embrace a credit card culture, will they have job opportunities for some of those who had the twisted skills to perpetrate credit card frauds and who have been punished for their crimes? Is there any chance of gainful employment for some of the 419ers and Yahoo Boys? Or must we continue to throw out the the baby with the bath water?

Jideofor Adibe is editor of the multidisciplinary journal, African Renaissance and publisher of the London-based Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd

Good People of NAIRALAND, what's your take on the subject matter?

kAi!!! Nigerian, save thine own self!!

our society has a stigma they attach to people with criminal background (aside from our stealing and thieving leaders that is) so helping re-directing their skill, talent, etc etc into its effective use would/might be difficult for people to stomach. they would rather hire a novice 'saint' who would obviously get schooled by the tested 'criminal'

must_a_far:

our society has a stigma they attach to people with criminal background (aside from our stealing and thieving leaders that is) so helping re-directing their skill, talent, etc etc into its effective use would/might be difficult for people to stomach. they would rather hire a novice 'saint' who would obviously get schooled by the tested 'criminal'

you are absolutely right but sincerely there are immense potentials inherent in these people only if our leaders can forget about milking the treasury dry and evolve ways of rehabilitating and integrating them into the process of economic transformation
until then,

must_a_far:

our society has a stigma they attach to people with criminal background (aside from our stealing and thieving leaders that is) so helping re-directing their skill, talent, etc etc into its effective use would/might be difficult for people to stomach. they would rather hire a novice 'saint' who would obviously get schooled by the tested 'criminal'

Are you kidding me? Are you somehow saying that those we have in office today with the ability and opportunity to re-direct their skills and talent that continue to choose to steal from us are doing just that? What exactly is effective use of 419 skills when, even when they are given an opportunity to turn a new leaf abroad, they choose instead to go back to and deep into 419?

We don’t need to re-direct their skills when we have enough talents out there who are not involved in crime but are simply looking for an opportunity to put their skill to good use for human kind.

yes theres enough talent available, im not disputing that but integrating these people to work with the talent out there would be a plus. Yes?

must_a_far:

yes theres enough talent available, im not disputing that but integrating these people to work with the talent out there would be a plus. Yes?

What talent do they have? Ability to swindle others of their money? I mean exactly what talent are you and the writer of the above article talking of here?

Since when did stealing become a talent to nurture?

swindling by sending spam email and waiting patiently for someone unsuspecting to respond sure doesnt require much talent or thinking. heck i've got one sitting in my mailbox right now that im looking to respond to just to see where it goes. call me bored.

does being about to soil into someones email count as something? would their being able to identify a fraudulent check because they had in the past made some themselves count as something? worse case they could be used as lab rats at testing what the talented individuals come up with.

Kobojunkie:

What talent do they have? Ability to swindle others of their money? I mean exactly what talent are you and the writer of the above article talking of here?

Have you seen the film CATCH ME IF YOU CAN before?
That's a classic example of how to integrate notorious criminals without offsetting any balance,
The film showed how a notorious criminal who specialized in impersonation and financial fraud was captured and effectively transformed into someone that specializes in catching others in the same trade,He was working for the FBI while still serving term for his crime.
The author of this article is not saying we should thrust the responsibility of economic transformation into the hands of these Crime kingpins, he is rather saying we should effectively utilize their negative skills, Quoting the last paragragh he said: Is it not time we engaged in honest discussions about how the nation could utilise the skills of its notorious scammers, as other countries do, after they have been punished for their crimes? For instance as Nigerian banks begin to embrace a credit card culture, will they have job opportunities for some of those who had the twisted skills to perpetrate credit card frauds and who have been punished for their crimes? Is there any chance of gainful employment for some of the 419ers and Yahoo Boys? Or must we continue to throw out the the baby with the bath water?,
We should try and see ways of making them work for us after they have duly served terms as punishment for their crimes. or else the madness will continue

must_a_far:

swindling by sending spam email and waiting patiently for someone unsuspecting to respond sure doesnt require much talent or thinking. heck i've got one sitting in my mailbox right now that im looking to respond to just to see where it goes. call me bored.

If waiting for email required talent, then the millions of folks around the world who are addicted to being wanted by someone else to the extent that they wait each second for a new email to show up in their inbox, or their phone via text messaging, or even twitter. I have known folks who are so addicted to facebook that they sit for hours waiting to get a response from anyone, anywhere.

must_a_far:

does being about to soil into someones email count as something? would their being able to identify a fraudulent check because they had in the past made some themselves count as something? worse case they could be used as lab rats at testing what the talented individuals come up with.

Actually, you don’t require talent to hack an email account. You just need to have a good password generator application to do that. 100s of those exist out there, plus I think the case with the senator in the UK was an inside job. There are machines that can easily identify fraudulent checks today. As for the worse case, they can be used as lab rats from behind prison bars, not sure how what they do measures up to those mentioned in the article as construing talent.
You have to understand that most all these 419ers do not have talent of any kind. They cannot of their own hack into a computer, any computer. They depend on those who own these computers/accounts letting them in. Now for someone to hack into the pentagon site with no help but sniffing and actually implementing some algorithm to do the work without being detected, that is a talent. In the case of the 13 year old criminal who was later given a chance in boxing, you have to understand that the system is built in such a way that even those who never had a chance are given a chance to see if they can chance. In the case of the many 419ers spoken of in the article, it is not the case that they were never given a chance. They, of their own chose to go into 419ing where millions in worse situations did not. Many of those who go this route do so as competent adults.

IFELEKE:

Have you seen the film CATCH ME IF YOU CAN before?
That's a classic example of how to integrate notorious criminals without offsetting any balance,
The film showed how a notorious criminal who specialized in impersonation and financial fraud was captured and effectively transformed into someone that specializes in catching others in the same trade,He was working for the FBI while still serving term for his crime.

I saw that movie and I actually read about the guy. My point still is that you cannot that on the same level as what we have been, and continue to deal with, with these 419ers. What I see you trying to do is compare apples with cumquats. Why isn’t the same FBI hailing  Madoff as a genius and maybe trying to get him a job then?

Kobojunkie:

I saw that movie and I actually read about the guy. My point still is that you cannot that on the same level as what we have been, and continue to deal with, with these 419ers. What I see you trying to do is compare apples with cumquats. Why isn’t the same FBI hailing Madoff as a genius and maybe trying to get him a job then?

Don't get me wrong, I am not branding them a Genius, what am suggesting is a Hybrid solution to the menace, solution that might have beneficial consequences and at the same time curb these acts.
I know trying this solution might be a herculean task considering the fact that we are short of required tools to effectively carry it out But We can't say it won't work when we have not fully tried our hands on it.
That my point.

IFELEKE:

Don't get me wrong, I am not branding them a Genius, what am suggesting is a Hybrid solution to the menace, solution that might have beneficial consequences and at the same time curb these acts.
I know trying this solution might be a herculean task considering the fact that we are short of required tools to effectively carry it out But We can't say it won't work when we have not fully tried our hands on it.
That my point.

Here is what I think our major problem in Nigeria is. We are so lazy that instead of solving things as we ought to (usually the simplest way to), we come up with alternative measures that make no sense to our problem. Hear me out please. One thing I know for sure is that in the past 20 years, our justice system has been too lazy to prosecute these criminals and many others as it ought to have. Even when foreign law enforcement agencies come in to help us, we ignore them. I remember back when the FBI would come to seek out the criminals in Nigeria but our own men would claim these would be tried and made to pay in Nigeria instead. Most of them walk away the next day and back to their old ways. Many of these thrive because we do not do our job in that country, by this, I mean we have yet to actively go after them and make sure to bring them all to book. So forgive me when I say I see no sense in prescribing an alternative approach to solving our problem when it has never been the case that we have tried other ways and failed.

This is sort of like the argument that democracy does not work and so we ought to be looking for an alternative in that country when we have NEVER really tried our hands at applying democracy to work for us.

IFELEKE:

Have you seen the film CATCH ME IF YOU CAN before?
That's a classic example of how to integrate notorious criminals without offsetting any balance,
The film showed how a notorious criminal who specialized in impersonation and financial fraud was captured and effectively transformed into someone that specializes in catching others in the same trade,He was working for the FBI while still serving term for his crime.
The author of this article is not saying we should thrust the responsibility of economic transformation into the hands of these Crime kingpins, he is rather saying we should effectively utilize their negative skills,

Frank Abagnale became a consultant for the government on paper hangers and mind you his first job after leaving prison was voluntary because no one will employ him due to his conviction record. He went to a bank and volunteered to help them in identifying paper hanger tricks for free and insist they must refer him to other banks if they feel his service is worthy.That is a soul desiring to change. What would a Nigerian have done, he will blame does who won't employ him and go straight back to the life of crime.
You see, from my understanding of the Nigerian person, crime pays because if you are caught justice is neither served nor enforced. See the corrupt governors walking free now after a courtesy call to EFCC as clear examples.
So, these leaders are indirectly mentoring a generation of youths and professionals into believing that whatever crime you commit in Nigeria, all you need is know person and you will be home free and we are seeing the realities.
Ask any Yahoo Yahoo guy, he will tell you he's collecting slave trade reparations back from the foreigners and I guess the corrupt leaders who sold his ancestors into the slave trade are still around mortgaging his future.
Mentoring is a factor here and the mentality of the criminals as well.

Uhmm, I really love the analytical/objective arguments i have read on the subject matter but all we seem to be postulating is why it will NOT work,lets talk on how to make it work and if not,how do we stop this menace?

There is no talent in any form of scam.It takes just a couple of weeks with bad company to become as good as them.A good example would be a nigerian who has gone abroad serching for a better life. Left nigeria with the opinion that his/her life would never be the same again.Gets abroad to find out he is not allowed to work. Coming back home is not thinkable as he had already sold all he ever owned. He decides to hang around and see how it goes. Meets a couple of guys who has been hanging around too. Joined the bandwagon,gets into fraud.
All things goes,credit card,yahoo,offshore,washwash,workfromhome,relationship and e.t.c By the time he gets paid twice he is already boasting he is the best.Sending money home and telling his friends its so easy to make money abroad thereby urging them to do whatever it takes to make it across and join in. That is just the simple cycle.

IFELEKE:

Uhmm, I really love the analytical/objective arguments i have read on the subject matter but all we seem to be postulating is why it will NOT work,lets talk on how to make it work and if not,how do we stop this menace?

I think you continue to miss my point here. I am of the thought that we have absolutely no reason whatsoever to be considering this as possible solution at this time. We have yet to deal with the basics that we need to take care of first before we start looking to methods like these. Another reason I have is we do not have sophisticated crooks, what we have with these 419ers are idiots who want to get rich quick and will use any cook or means to get there. I used to know some of them who had a chance at decent living. Most of these are just money and fame hungry idiots who are too wide-eyed to care about anything other than to have more, more, more and more. Look at the politicians we have in that country, are you going to tell it that it is their brilliance that continues to allow them to, one after the other, loot our treasury. We should reside more in the plains of reality rather than flying off to the twilight zone every chance we get to when it comes to all matters Nigeria.

@IFELEKE
Millions of honest, talented Nigerian youths are jobless and unemployed, yet all you can think is to employ people with questionable integrity? I don't care what skills these people have amassed by being criminals. Honest people get these same skills by studying and analysing these deviants who give us all a bad name.

Instead of preaching to us about tolerance, why don't you set the ball rolling by employing a hardened ex-convict as your gatekeeper? Surely a murderer may be able to predict how other fellow murderers may think, abi?

More news pls* huh'

I can't even fathom what life would be like if I were to hire a Nigerian 419er to manage my business all in the name of REFORMING him?? roflmao!!! I can just see it --- countless sleepless nights, and making terror my roommate!!! You mistakenly fire such, and you might have to say bye-bye to all your hard earned money. roflmao!!

.

A Nigerian scammer is better than a corrupt politicianthe politician scams the ppl while the yahoo boy brings in foreign exchange.

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Muza:

A Nigerian scammer is better than a corrupt politicianthe politician scams the ppl while the yahoo boy brings in foreign exchange.

Seriously? When corruption came to light in Nigeria during Babangida’s time, the world still respected Nigerians; we still commanded a lot of respect outside our shores back then. But as soon as the 419ers started exporting their trade, Nigeria’s image went down the drain in a matter of months. The world began to see every Nigerian as potential swindler. Even middle easterners started to watch us all cautiously and our African neighbors began to dread having to deal with any of us.  I don’t know about the one group being better than the other. How much good has all that blood money, the yahoo boys have brought in, done for us?

Hi,both scanner and politician no one is good.Waite 4 ur time,God time is the best.Is i want to meet up my mate dat lead to it.08038921031.

Muza:

A Nigerian scammer is better than a corrupt politicianthe politician scams the ppl while the yahoo boy brings in foreign exchange.

Errant Nonsense

Ednihekseqz:

Hi,both scanner and politician no one is good.Waite 4 ur time,God time is the best.Is i want to meet up my mate dat lead to it.08038921031.

Oh my God, are you in pry 3?

Muza:

A Nigerian scammer is better than a corrupt politicianthe politician scams the ppl while the yahoo boy brings in foreign exchange.

I said it earlier; these are the kind of statements that justifies a crime as lesser and doesn't help the scammers to seek genuine change.

rite2salas:

Oh my God, are you in pry 3?

Not so funny afterall

This issue of internet scam by nigerians is really pathetic. I went to an american E-commerce forum and saw up to ten topics about nigerian Scam artist. I must say that this scam artist are really giving us a bad name.

This is the link to the forum   http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum22/3762.htm