We all know the sad story: scam artists based in Nigeria dupe an innocent foreigner into forwarding fraudulent payments on to an accomplice, and end up out thousands of their own dollars and in legal trouble. A 23-year old Australian woman flipped the scenario around when she kept all of the ill-gotten cash she was meant to launder and spent it on herself. The best (worst?) part? She didn’t even know that her “employers” were out to scam her.
Aussie woman scammed Nigerians: court [Courier-Mail]
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Australian Steals $30,000 From Nigerian Fraudsters’ Victims.
I fixed the headline for you.
much much better
Yup, looking forward to them suing her for recovery. Also, her going to jail.
Yep. I can pretty much guarantee that the money she has is money the scammers received from victims. That’s one of the reasons the Eater counsels strongly against cash-baiting. The other reason is that Nigerian scammers, though they may appear harmless and bumbling, are VIOLENT CRIMINALS. They have killed people. $30k is a significant amount to a guyman. If they have her real information, they may come looking for their money. And they won’t ask her politely.
Yeah, she’s really just money mule scum, as bad as the Nigerians themselves. She belongs in prison.
Thanks for the correct headline. The Consumerist is getting really bad at “link bait” headlines and fluff posts. I’m starting to feel like The Consumerist is trying to scam me at times with misleading headlines.
Seriously, she’s not a hero, she’s an accomplice.
Indeed. And she was convicted of a crime for this, as she should have been.
An ignorant and stupid money mule who dutifully follows instructions is guilty of being gullible, and nothing else. This woman committed fraud, even if she got the person she was victimizing backwards.
“Is it stealing if it’s already been stolen?”
“You’re trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen.”
- Vizzini
no it’s receiving stolen property
Yeah… that is pretty terrible on all counts. If she didn’t know they were involved in a scam, then she’s just a thief, too.
nd vryn nvlvd r hg sshls. Ths s Gwkr mtrl. Cnsmrst, vn t t’s wrst, s bttr thn ths typ f pst.
Penguins never eat anything bigger than their heads.
For that matter, penguins never eat anything larger than aircraft carriers.
To be fair, few penguins have heads larger than aircraft carriers.
Wow, really? You post a story that has nothing to do with consumerism and everything to do with being just a bad person yet all the Phil hate gets a pass.
/boggle
I was just complaining about “micro-blogging”. Low and behold…
Consumerist is not better than any post. Or have you not been paying attention?
On a lark I responded to a nigerian scam email. They never got back with me. Forever alone.
Why would you reply to them on a lark? At a bare minimum, use a pigeon…at least a pigeon might fly to the correct destination. But I’d recommend an email myself.
My favorite reverse Nigerian Fraudster scamm happened a few years ago when a potential victom got them to re-enact AND RECORD the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch. It was hilarious! I wonder if it’s still onYou Tube.
p-p-p-p-p-power book
Don’t forget your LASER mouse.
http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/pp09sm.jpg
Epic response! That one story makes the whole internet worth it.
I love it when the bad guy gets screwed.
JUST got hit today by a Nigerian scammer on a Craigslist ad I set up about doing local computer repairs.
They emailed me about working on a laptop to repair the “floopy drive”, saying they’d pay me in advance, and for me to forward the extra cash back to them.
The model of laptop they mentioned though HAS NO FLOPPY (or “floopy”) DRIVE!
Nice. I intently got $400 from a scammer who I knew was trying to scam me. The usual nigerian prince was asked (by me) for $400 cash as a guarantee he was a legitimate king and (leaving out huge details on how it worked), eventually he paid up. I reversed the game by asking for another fee for security stamps or some nonsense. He then caught on and suddenly lost interest in moving his fortune.
I know she is a thief, just like the scammers, but it gives me a little joy knowing the scammers got scammed.
It is fun to watch thieves steal from each other, as long as it takes place in teh Nigeriwebs and Austrailnet and nimby.
If you read the link, the Nigerian scam artists contacted police, and the woman ended up getting convicted of fraud. That makes this story much less satisfying…
No, the people that got scammed by the Nigerians contacted the police. Then the police traced the account back to the Australian women who had been working with the Nigerians (and keeping the stolen gains for herself).
Scammer Vs Scammer. This woman was really no better than the Nigeria fraudsters.
No honor among thieves.
So it’s come to this? Consumerist celebrating a scam artist just because she also scammed her co-criminals?
Phil’s “Five Ways To Defraud Your Local Scam Artist” post is forthcoming, I’d assume…