"Abdul" (one of many) finally got caught!

[Medusa]

Maybe this will deter the other "Abdul"s (or in this case "Lawal") from pulling the same scam. One can hope.

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1044348

LAGOS (Reuters) – A Nigerian undergraduate has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for obtaining $47,000 (33,382 pounds) from an Australian woman by convincing her over the Internet that he was 57 years old, white, and madly in love with her.

Lawal Adekunle Nurudeen met his victim on the Internet in 2007 and convinced her that he was a British widower called Benson Lawson. He said he was an engineer working in Lagos whose wife and only child had been killed in a car accident.

"The victim, a 56-year-old woman from Australia, told the convict that she wanted a husband and all the men she had met always disappointed her," said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria's anti-corruption police.

"The convict, who is married with three children, instantly replied and told the victim she had met her Mr Right ... He sent the picture of a white man to foreclose any suspicions."

The woman sent Nurudeen money for medical treatment and travel costs to visit Australia. He spent the funds on two plots of land and a Honda Prelude car.

Nigerian confidence tricksters have a long history of extorting money via the Internet through "419" scams, named after the clause that outlaws them in Nigeria's penal code. Many are never caught.

The EFCC said Nurudeen was ordered to pay around $10,000 immediately and a further $250 a month to his victim until the full amount stolen was returned. She would also receive the proceeds of the sale of his land and car.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ )

(Reporting by Nick Tattersall)

[sparks19]

Glad they are finally catching some of these people.

[Catty1]

Hmmmm...I wondered why my one personal dating account had two men interested in me who were engineers or other professionals, travelled a lot, and whose profiles were suddenly deleted from Yahoo! One even asked me if I knew about Africa!

[moosmom]

Mary,

I've been inundated with emails from Nigeria telling me to send money so I can get alot of money. I just mark them as spam.

That is such an old scam it's made Dateline, 60 Minutes and 20/20. They actually had one guy from Nigeria in a hotel on hidden camera trying to scam someone. I'm surprized they're still trying that crap.

[sparks19]

My dad has his email hacked a couple weeks ago and within minutes an email was sent to everyone on his email list saying that he had taken a sudden trip to England for a seminar and had his wallet stolen and needed money to pay for his hotel and what not.

Of course whoever wrote it was practically illiterate so it was OBVIOUS that it wasn't from my dad but you have to wonder how often it works.

[Medusa]

All of it is smarmy but the schemes to make money if you will help them get money out of their country are laughable. It's difficult to believe that anyone would fall for that. But the ones that pretend to be online suitors are truly despicable because they prey on the lonely.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I can't believe anyone falls for this crap anymore. Why can't we lock those people up?

[K9soul]

I can't believe anyone falls for this crap anymore. Why can't we lock those people up?

With all due respect, I think that's a very cruel thing to say. Not everyone is well read on the net. Some people are newer to it. Some people have psychological or emotional problems that make them more vulnerable. This kind of attitude is reminiscent of the one where a girl who dresses skimpy deserves to be molested.

ETA: When I was younger, my great grandmother was scammed pretty badly by one of those old telephone scams where you are called and told you won something and then they ask for information. She was elderly, confused, and just didn't have the mind set that there are people out there looking to lie and swindle you in such a way. Now, the venue of choice is the internet, mostly.

[happylabs]

It is very sad how these people take advantage of others. Some of them are so skilled at deceiving others that I believe they could fool almost anyone. I have gotten the Nigerian emails myself. These people are professional criminals! Let's sick our dogs and cats on them!!!

[Medusa]

Some of the scams are easy to spot; others, not so much. I received an email a couple of years ago from a man who said that he wanted to schedule several Reiki sessions w/me but that he needed my address. I replied that my office address is on my website but that I had to check my schedule. He replied again that he wanted to pay me for 6 sessions in advance. Again, I replied that I wasn't comfortable w/that unless I was running a special and then only if a contract was involved. So I told him to set the appointment first, then make his purchase through the website. He again replied that he wasn't able to do that but that he wanted to deposit a check directly into my account. By this time I had already figured out that he wasn't genuine but he said that he'd pay me even though it would be several months before he'd be able to come in for the sessions because "my wife she is a teacher in the schools in the UK" (obviously not a grammar teacher. LOL) and he had to wait for her arrival so that they both could attend. So I asked "Where are you located?" and that was the end of the correspondence.

Easy to figure out. However, there are some who furnish photos of people and they claim to be the person in the photo and they prey on people on internet dating sites. Some people, mostly women, fall hard for these con artists and by the time they've realized that they've been scammed, it's already too late. Out of kindness they've sent money and they never hear from their "suitor" again. If you're lonely and vulnerable, you're a target for these scammers and some are caught, such as in the above case, but many are not.

[pomtzu]

The money scams are the worst. I can't believe that people actually get suckered in by them. I have at least 6 or more every day in my Spam box. I would be a mulit-millionaire many times over every day if they were real. If the stories weren't so pathetic, they would be laughable. I don't understand how these scum bags get away with it and why these scams can't be shut down. Is it because they are all foreign in origin? Anybody know?

[aTailOf2Kitties]

With all due respect, I think that's a very cruel thing to say. Not everyone is well read on the net. Some people are newer to it. Some people have psychological or emotional problems that make them more vulnerable. This kind of attitude is reminiscent of the one where a girl who dresses skimpy deserves to be molested.

Lets face it, predators will continue to hunt as long as there is prey weak enough for them to catch. I was kidding about locking them up. Lord knows if we locked up all the less-than-savvy people, there's be no room left for criminals.

As far as skimpy clothes are concerned I'll give you a fishing metaphor: if you throw bait in the water long enough, you're gonna eventually attract sharks, and just try getting one of those off the hook without a fight. All kinds of fishies swimming around down there and not all of them are friendly. Don't wanna risk being bitten? Keep your bait to yourself.

[K9soul]

While I agree that "dressing scantily" puts one at increased risk for harassment, the point of my analogy was that it doesn't mean they deserve it or should get it. The person who does the harassing is ultimately responsible, not the person who dressed less than modestly. Either way it's rather OT and was only intended as an analogy to a way of thinking and perceiving things.

A lot of people have been "taken in" in some way in their lifetime, not necessarily for millions of course. I just hate to see scorn towards the victims without knowing anything about them.

[Medusa]

While I agree that "dressing scantily" puts one at increased risk for harassment, the point of my analogy was that it doesn't mean they deserve it or should get it. The person who does the harassing is ultimately responsible, not the person who dressed less than modestly. Either way it's rather OT and was only intended as an analogy to a way of thinking and perceiving things.

A lot of people have been "taken in" in some way in their lifetime, not necessarily for millions of course. I just hate to see scorn towards the victims without knowing anything about them.

Yes, I think it's important to not blame the victim, especially those who are elderly or are sincere in trying to find someone to date. We can say that they were asking for it but how kind is that? The only person who deserves to be conned is the con man (or woman). What goes around comes around. Eventually.