Chidi your observation is precise and very true, sadly. Treasury looting and contract inflation are time-honored traditions in Nigeria, but historically the Igbos have not enjoyed the kind of access to state funds that other tribes like the Hausa/Fulani have taken for granted over decades, and exploited to the lasting detriment of the nation, turning it into the basket-case nation it is today with neither electrical power nor running water.

With the teeming Igbo criminal element thus forced to steal over the internet from foreigners rather than from the Nigerian treasury, it should not therefore be surprising to hear Igbo accented speakers accounting for over 99% of the recorded voice-mail messages left by advanced fee fraudsters for intended victims and mass-stored in the audio archives at internet websites such as 419eater.com.

Well, as far as I know, there are criminals all over the world. And I believe there are worst criminals in some places, including the US, than we have here in Nigeria.

Oprah and her team had better searched other places on the planet for criminal minded people and should stop focusing on Nigeria only.

I posit that the US alone has 100 times the number of criminals in Nigeria (including internet fraudsters)

Let's blame our founding fathers for not allowing the Igbos to seceed and have their own country (Biafra) when they made a move to do so 30 years ago.

If you think the Igboman is the cause of our downtrodden image abroad, join MASSOB and actualise the dream of a Biafran nation.

That way, we would have a nation of saints (Nigeria) and a colony of '419 kingpins' (Biafra), and enough of all these ethnic jingoism and finger pointing.

Jakumo state your tribe and lets continue the debate

no blaming no founders, pls, didnt u guyz check the country oprah herself is from, well lemme tell u it is very rich in crime, in short they have the highest crimial activities in the world, we are talking about frauds and creditcard scams, well americans will not only take ur money, the will kill u put ,

ITALIANs are even worst those ones decieves u with their coat and tie, and opreate the sophisticated 419 levels, u alwaiz c them holding briefcase

LEBANESE u c them holding briefcase 2, but itz probably loaded with bombs, and weapons of mass dsetructions, thatz the only difference

ASIANS while the arabs or lebs are busy carrying their guns these ones are busy, carrying their sword, and knives ready to slaughter any one, who find out the formular they use to rig a casino game, those who have been 2 les vegas will be feeling me right now

not 2 talk of INDIANS, u think nigerians get charm, wait till an indian who has grudge against u, touch u with charm, i will leave d experience with u.

while all NIGERIA  is doing is trying 2 survive in this world of diff harmful countries and their people, and u tell me they are doing something bad *hissing a very long hissssss*

So, someone shd pls tell mi y i shd be bothered abt how nijra got herself smeared on oprah?

Nigerians r actually guilty for al dese crimes, n so is d rest of d world,

We need to start bashing all these Naija bashers. What crime did we commit to warrant some low life Oprah woman coming on air and painting Nigeria black? I don't care how popular or wealthy she might be. She just can't sit way up somewhere in the US and paint another country black and get away with it.

She should search her domain in the US to see all the rotten worms of filthy thieves roaming around her country of birth. Someone should tell her this, if she doesn't know already.

And we Nigerians sef, I tire for una. Don't we have enough troubles on our hands already that we'll start listening to some crazy fools who don't know what to do with their money coming on air and bashing this country? Una get time.

am glad u called her a low lyf, so wat do u do 2 a low lyf, ignore them, so dont put d blame on any ibos, ignore them instead

http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_104.jhtml
http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_103.jhtml

Here's some links to some of the stuff on Nigeria scams.

Reading through the story of Patricia, I could tell that she's the money-doubler type. She likes getting money the easy way. And she lost her moeny the easy way too. So, I see no reason why Oprah would go on air because of some careless Patricia who cannot, in this day and age, differentiate between a swindler and a genuine business man.

All said, these should in no way have any bearing on everyone in the country. We have sincere hardworking men and women in Nigeria who are making things happen in all fields of human endeavour. I suggest Oprah should come on air with such person as Emegwali, Wole Soyinka, Dangote, etc etc.

If she's really after our best interests, she should throw up the good things about the country rather than making some baseless generalisations about a someone who can't keep her money.

Hey everyone,

You know what? I just got an idea. If our igbo brothers want us to support them in their ideologies concerning this fraud issue, let us give them an assignment;

You guys should bring all your ingenuity together and hit Oprah's millions. I don't know what version of your yahoo yahoo or internet fraud you will use, but if you guys can defraud Oprah and make her fall and you get her money, then we we all hail you and this Igbo bashing will stop.

FYI I'm not Igbo. And it's not that I'll care if I'm one.

Your line of reasoning baffles me. Here we have some people in other country tarnishing your country's image, and all you could think of and do is to in turn, bash your fellow contrymen (even if they're Igbo or whatever tribe for that matter) by putting the blame squarely on them. And the reasons you even advanced for this is at best not tenable in any way.

Instead of facing the problem at hand, from a wholistic point of view, you resort to placing the blame on Igbo people. Well, I tell you that's not the way to fight the problem we're facing now.

Please come up with other methods and ideas of liberating us. I think you can do better than this.

ono,

In case you are referring to me, you need to go back and read how some guys are justifying these actions and saying becos of slavery, it is now pay back time etcetera, etcetera; and they are justified in doing fraud becos the government of Nigeria is bad and also fraudulent.

If things needs to be corrected, the person who is wrong first needs to be made to realise that he is wrong, that way the problem is 50% solved.

bod

Yep, it was you I was referring to in my last entry. I could only read the entry by the originator of the thread and a few other responses. Surely, I can't read everything in this more than 20 pages entry thread.

But, I'm happy you know the first thing to do is to fish out who's wrong and blame such one. As for me, the issue here is some talkshow person painting my country black because of some internet fraudsters. That's my beef with Oprah here. She has no right whatsoever to paint my country black because of some internet fraudsters. She should have quietly alerted the authorities in charge, of these frauds being perpetrated over the net in Nigeria, and she would have earned all of my respect if she had done that. Instead, she went on air and called all of us Nigerians low life thieves.

She and her team of investigators are the ones at fault and should be told so. This blame should not go to any ethnic tribe in Nigeria. We should all stand up and tell foreigners who delight in calling us evil people that the devil himself sleeps with them on their beds in their own country. We should tell them to shut their dirty mouth and keep their own country clean before coming over here to tell us what to do.

adconline:

Jakumo state your tribe and lets continue the debate

ADC, exclusively for you I will disclose that DNA analysis of my ancestry identifies Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Ijaw genetic components, though the couple who rescued me as an infant from a dumpster along US Interstate 66 have so far been elusive on specifics, other than to reassure me that I am indeed a certified mongrel.

These hereditary and cultural antecedents, coupled with the breadth of my travels and street-level experiences in Nigeria, confer me with as much legitimacy as anyone to comment on all subjects Nigeria, regardless of ethnic specificity.

ono,

well said!

sista:

As black people, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Point being, If Nigierans were perfect people and did nothing that was morally wrong or against the law, they would not be posting Nigeria all across the news as the best African Country on the Continent. Unless, they were trying to provoke some trouble between Nigerians and other African Africans

If you worry about what other people think, you will always be breaking your back trying to appeal to them and guess what, they will still never be satisfied with you. My point is, you just do what you do best and encourage other Nigerians to do the same. Telling them to stop what they are doing because of the way it makes Nigeria look is not going to do them any good when they are hungry and have bills to pay, plus, they have seen how white people can get away with doing all they have done to Nigeria and the whole of Africa.

What else can they do if they are not allowed to leave Nigeria so that they can make a way to feed their family and pay their bills? I am not condoning what they do in terms of the Nigerian scams but lets keep in mind, it is only called (Nigerian scams) because they have managed to be successful in duping several greedy white people who had money but wanted more.

Thank you very much sista, you said it all.

Once again we are faced with the great nigerian myth that ndi igbo are the cause of everything bad in nigeria, its really amazing cos every right thinking nigerian knows that the most fundamental problem we face as a nation is bad leadership and corruption in high places,pray how many igbos have ruled nigeria? and how does the fact that one igbo chap caught with $500,000 compare with abachas loot or the ptdf scam? the writer must feel bad cos he would now feel uncomfortable around his white neighbours but please, to now brand an entire race as criminals is really reminiscent of  1938 nazi germany where the jews were blamed for everything that went wrong in germany,at this rate one should not think that the genocide in rwanda cant happen here moreso when "educated and well travelled" people  harbour such inane prejudices

Oprah should be ashamed of herself
did they talk about the fact that those being scammed are greedy to reap where they did not sow, not that am in support of naijaguys doing these things that ruin our image
but when they are discusssing it they should consider the other side of the story

It's so sad to see what passes for intelligent discussion these days. It's a shame we haven't been able to avoid the brainless, knee-jerk condemnation of Oprah's show just because she reported on 419 scams in Nigeria.
The truth is, Oprah's audience is composed mainly of americans, and she has to tailor her shows and the issues she reports to things that affect Americans. So why are most of you asking why she isn't reporting on rape and murder in south africa? Or violence in Zimbabwe? Let's put it this way; how many of y'all spared a thought for the starving millions in Somalia when you were eating breakfast this morning? We focus on what concerns you, and even if Nigerian 419 isn't the biggest crime happening in the US, it's still a VERY SIGNIFICANT crime and concern to anyone who has a brain.

Trust Nigerians! We insist on burying our heads in the sand without addressing the problems. We've got a serious problem. Good Lord, are you people blind? Do you ever go to internet cafes and see how many people are there doing 419? Most of y'all are just too blind, spouting loads of crap about the victims getting their just desserts just because they were 'greedy'! Meanwhile, we're building a nation where youths are driven to unfairly obtain great wealth without working for it. How then is Nigeria supposed to get better? Yet you come masquerading as patriots here, dissing oprah for doing what she's supposed to do.

The Nigerian economy will never reach the dizzying heights you guys optimistically (and unrealistically) predict. Even if we do reach that level, 419 guys have shown that they are never satisfied with just a couple of millions. Their greed is insatiable. As long as easy pickings exist, they'll never stop.
that's why it must be made a lot harder for them to 'collect' money. With shows and exposes like these, more and more people will know never to trust people online. when these guys are spending far more money on browsing than they collect then no one will tell them before they go back to school. Until then, there must be a Zero-tolerance for 419 in Nigeria.

I'm pretty sure most of you that have been dissing Oprah and people who publicise these scams have never worked a day in your life. because the truth is, hard working Nigerians have nothing but contempt and beef for these 419 boys that refuse to do a day's honest labour. I'm not affected by this myself (perhaps because i'm a relatively high income earner) but how do you think a worker in UBA that works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day and earns a low pay to feel when lazy bums in his area are driving illegally gotten cars? There ought to be reward for honest labour, and by tolerating these 419 guys we really are discouraging honest Nigerians.

There's even a measure of hypocrisy in our thinking. Why is it Okay for Nigerians in the UK to blare out Nkem Owoh's 'I go chop your dollar', for movies on Africa Magic to freely depict Nigerians as ritualists and fraudsters and yet we find it so easy to condemn others for reporting on the very real rot and corruption in our society?

Finally, let's hear no more about the victims' greed justifying their exploitation. After all, we all condemn the slave trade now, but i'm pretty sure at least 20% of the slaves obtained from Africa were lured to the slave ships with promises of fantastic gifts. Does that make it alrigh since they were arguably greedy?

trendy:

Oprah should be ashamed of herself
did they talk about the fact that those being scammed are greedy to reap where they did not sow, not that am in support of naijaguys doing these things that ruin our image
but when they are discusssing it they should consider the other side of the story

Greed's not a crime in any constitution in the world. show me proof that it's a crime anywhere and i'll remain chastened. I wonder how you guys generalise about greed, who told you that all the scams Nigerian's perpetrate require the victim to be 'greedy'. The Hurricance Katrina scams, the Churches and Orphanages scams, are the victims greedy? or is it a crime to be soft-hearted?
There's no single logical reason to consider someone who falls for the 'inheritance' scam as being greedy. Go and read Charles Dickens' Novels again, as well as many classic english novels. You'll see that inheriting money from a long lost, distant relative was usually the high point of the stories, the exceptional stroke of good luck. I cannot for the life of me see anything greedy in accepting without doubt news that you've recently inherited money.
Also, taking the lottery scams, i wonder why you people feel that these guys should automatically know it's a scam. So many people are really naive, and so many people have unlimited faith in the power of the internet.
When we stand aside and laugh at white men for falling prey to these scammers, we need to ask ourselves how many Nigerians pump their hard earned life savings into 419 'pastors' and 'prophets' and 'prayer warriors'. . .

ono:

That's my beef with Oprah here. She has no right whatsoever to paint my country black because of some internet fraudsters. She should have quietly alerted the authorities in charge, of these frauds being perpetrated over the net in Nigeria, and she would have earned all of my respect if she had done that. Instead, she went on air and called all of us Nigerians low life thieves.

That's what a Nigerian would do. every man for himself. But she's an American, and a proud one at that. When you see many people falling prey to a dedicated band of theives in Nigeria, what do you do? Isn't the smartest ( and most patriotic ) thing to do is to alert the general public so people are warned about the dangers? Instead you expect her to quietly inform the authorities. That's the kind of attitude we need to change in Nigeria, that's why if i'm lying down bleeding by the side of the road, i'm 1000 times more likely to be rescued by a New Yorker than a Nigerian. When a thief comes to your street, don't you loudly warn the neighbours so the thief can't hit them?
be honest with yourself. your internet fraudsters are the one putting Nigeria in the hot seat, and i can bet you've never bothered to confront any of them. THEY are the traitors. yet we tolerate them. We have no right to condemn Oprah, cos we all have friends who are heavily into 419, and we all know that silence means complicity.

For anyone who needs a translation of Texas Pete's excellent submissions above, what he is pointing out is as follows :    Nobody outside of Nigeria really gives a phuck about the crimes committed within Nigeria or in any country other than that in which they reside.

Just plain old human nature at work there folks.  I don't give a shit about what the Russian Mafia, Chinese Triads or Japanese Yakuza do in their homelands, but I DO mind if some slime-ball won't quit bombarding me with scam emails, and right now, irrespective of where that email is sent and received ,  the nationality of that 419-mailing con-man is more likely to be Nigerian than of any other country on earth.   Anyone who feels indignant about that simple truth may as well go out and bay with dismay at the moon for all the good it will do.

Tex,
We need not loose sight of what Oprah's trying to make people believe in her country - and indeed, given the global coverage of her shows, the world. You should know that Oprah's shows is not limited to the US only by now. So, your claims that her audience composed mainly of hardworking but foolish and unsuspecting Americans only is not tenable. No one wants to be robbed of the proceeds of his/her sweat anywhere in the world.

Oprah is a very popular woman. There's the tendency for anyone who knows her to swallow whatever her shows dish out as information, hook, line and sinker, without blinking an eye and thinking about it. And since we know that she wields a lot of influence on the business community in her country, there's the tendency that her shows will discourage prospective investors from coming here to invest.  And that's one of the reasons I have some beef with her.

And even when what she said about internet fraudsters in Nigeria is true, she need not come down heavy on us the way she had done. She dedicated a lot of hours of her shows trying to describe internet fraudsters in Nigeria to her audience (US and the World over). In the end, she succeede in labelling Nigeria a no-go area for investments. There are fraudsters in her country. In any case, I'm not one of her fans, but the Lord knows that the crime rate in the US is one of the highest (if not the highest) in the world. Internet crimes as far as I know started from the US. And indeed, the one being practised in Nigeria is a childsplay compared to what obtains in some major American cities. So, why come down heavy on Nigeria like that? What pained me the most is that this Oprah is an African-American lady. Someone whose roots is from Africa.

What does she stand to gain by describing the most populous country in Africa the way she has done? Nothing! Well, if it's just to alert people of the dangers of doing business in Nigeria, well, CNN, BBC, TI, WORLD BANK, USAID etc etc have all done an excellent job of that already. She's only re-inventing the wheel by coming out on a talkshow to cry out at the roof top about Nigerian scams. I can imagine her white friends laughing their frigging butt off behind her and calling her a stupid woman, for doing what she did. Honestly, she'll get nothing from describing any nation on earth the way she has done to Nigeria.

I look at the total picture. If a Oprah Winfrey quietly reports the fraudulent activities of internet fraudsters (after conducting a private investigation) in Nigeria to the appropriate authorities, does not mean it's a hidden or ''quiet'' thing. Why? because our EFCC and Police people will swoop in on the folks perpetrating these crimes and arrest them. When this is done, it automatically becomes public knowledge. Nothing is hidden again from any one. And in any case, that's what obtains presently in Nigeria.

@Omo

http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_104.jhtml
http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_103.jhtml

Here's some links to some of the stuff on Nigeria scams.

Reading through the story of Patricia, I could tell that she's the money-doubler type. She likes getting money the easy way. And she lost her moeny the easy way too. So, I see no reason why Oprah would go on air because of some careless Patricia who cannot, in this day and age, differentiate between a swindler and a genuine business man.

All said, these should in no way have any bearing on everyone in the country. We have sincere hardworking men and women in Nigeria who are making things happen in all fields of human endeavour. I suggest Oprah should come on air with such person as Emegwali, Wole Soyinka, Dangote, etc etc.

If she's really after our best interests, she should throw up the good things about the country rather than making some baseless generalisations about a someone who can't keep her money.

I am not trying to laugh or make fun of anyone but i said this earlier in this topic, it is greedy white people who fall for these scams. You see how they got that woman in the link you posted looking all pitiful, now they want us to feel sorry for her. had that been a black person, they would not have mead them look all pitiful like that woman is looking, they would have had the black person looking like he deserved to be scammed and they would have worded the reasons for why he participated in the scam differently. They made it look like this woman only wanted to help somebody. What she really wanted was easy money, most white people do.

@Sista
eveyone wants easy money. Most of us have to work for it. Hell, everyoen should aspire to easy, honest money. That's efficiency for you, getting the money with minimal stress.
No matter how silly people are, you forget one important fact; the money stolen from them is their hard earned cash. Theirs! Should i repeat that word for you again and again until you get the point? It belonged to her! and she damn well worked for it. so no matter what happened, it's a terrible crime to make off with someone's life savings.

There are hundreds of scams out there, and so many deliberately target genuinely generous people with calls for donations to fake charities. What's so bad about falling for the lottery scam anyway? I mean, your email winning a lottery you didnt enter for isn't plausible, but it sure is possible. and that's why many naive people fall for it.
There must be ZERO TOLERANCE to internet fraud. by removing some of the blame off the 419 guys (to transfer to the victims) you must start asking yourself what your role in the fight against 419 currently is; Are you a part of the cure, or are you a part of the disease?

and that's the question we must ask ourselves. because the truth is, 419 is destroying our youth, our morals. Our only hope for progress was to win the battle against corruption. We're losing that battle now. The old theives are too set in their ways, and our youth, our future have their eyes firmly fixed on Hummer Jeeps to be any use.
Besides, i'm tired of reiterating this point; the home videos we show on Africa Magic do as much damage to our image as this show might have done (according to y'all)


Finally: It amuses me when we scoff and say the whites are gullible. at least i'm sure that's the same way they'd look at us and laugh for believing in witches coming to 'press' us at night. And unlike us naijans, they ain't scared of mermaids

Fraud is evil - it's not a mite better than armed robbery, or cold blood mureder.

Oprah has every right to give her attention 2 any issue she feels attracts it - it's not just a show, it's her money u know - so if it's hot enuff 2 aid her show retain its reputation, then it's kool.

Blaming it on the Igbos does not in anyway indicate a heart with Nigeria's interest in it; it indicates a heart (or the charred remains of it) reeking with selfish or atavistic hatred.

Ndi be anyi, ebe nwata na-aru aka na-ebe akwa, ma nne ya anoghi ebe ahu, nna ya noriri ya. Ndewonu.

@Texaazpete


Yes, I know it was her hard earned money but as far as her wanting to help someone, if she really wanted to help someone, she would have emptied out her savings and maxed her credit cards helping the homeless people and the hungry people she sees everyday on the streets right here in America. If she wanted to empty out her savings and max out her credit cards to help someone, she would have done that for someone that she could see who really was in need of the help. Yeah, it was her money and she worked hard for it so if she really cared about her money, she would not have allowed her self to get caught up in a scam where she couldn't even see who she was helping.

White people are so used to getting over on black people that they could never fathom black people would be smart enough to use against white people what is their biggest fault, that being greed. White people hear an African on the other end of the line and they think "Oh, he is from a poor country, he is not an American black so he is humble and he wouldn't dare scam me" Little do they know, it is that kind of thinking that Nigerians know they are going to think and that is how they get scammed as well, by thinking black people are incapable of such a well thought out and carried out plan.

white people should try seeing Africans as humans and not little incapable primates.

@4play,
       y r u tlking as if we r not all nigerians? everyone is involved in all these crimes not just igbos abi the hausas n yorubas no like money??

Yes,looks like this whole year the media has dedicated to Nigeria and educating the world about its evils.
Am not Nigerian but have lots of great friends from there.They are very honest friends.But the bad fish are too many and making the rest to rot too.
Its amazing though how greedy some of the 419 ers are,they do it over and over you would think once would be sufficient but thats not the case.
Correct me if am wrong but most Nigerians I meet are very money minded,its ok but they also are big spenders,I have seen them purchase designer brands that they spent a whole paycheck on and what ave concluded is there is alot of competition going on,everyone trying to look better than everyone.And whats with the Nigerians wanting to marry or date only Registered Nurses?!!
YOUR UPKEEP WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL.
Try to appreciate the little things that matter in life, all the rest is VANITY.
Why have a 10 bedroom house?how many can you sleep in?4 cars,for what?$500+ lace outfits ,for what when your country is crumbling?I sure hope the lace is manufactured in textile industries in Nigeria otherwise there is no point enriching other nations through your excessive spending habits.
What is on the inside is what matters.
Am not trying to bash your culture but I understand that the deseased are kept in funeral homes for weeks even months,so the family and friends can prepare for the ceremony,that means money to spend lavishly on the funeral-clothes,food etc-whats the significance of some of these practices?HONOUR ME WHEN AM STILL ALIVE PLEASE.
For a country that produces oil why dont you have a national carrier?All private airlines that are a hazard in the air too?!
Its too corrupt up there and it has been passed on ,I guess its survival of the fittest.

Hi everyone,

I hate the igboman. He is a thief. he is the casue of our problem. Abacha was an igboman who changed his name to hausa. Babangida is an igboman. If we as other nigerians can kill all the igbo people in this country then our problems will be solved. WE will have electric power 24 hours a day.  The day we will kill all igbo people crime will vanish. Wickedness in high and low places will no longer exist.  Nigeria will become industrialied.

Finally, when we kill all igbo people God almighty will be very happy with us and He will reward  all of us with Heaven. Listen up Igbo haters!

@Planner

You know sabi do sarcasm

4 Play:

@Planner

You know sabi do sarcasm

are you sure? him resemble yah bruv oh!

@planner,
    lmao. dat waz a really good one my brother. i mean this is too much. abi na only igbo peeps lyk moni?