Silicon Investor - Nigerian Scam Baiting - Let's Discuss the Modalities

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] I've gotten this one a few times. I figured it was creative enough to share... ...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 9/28/2025 12:24:13 AM

I've gotten this one a few times. I figured it was creative enough to share...

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Hello, my perverted friend.

We've actually known each other for a while, at least I know you.

You can call me Big Brother or the All-Seeing Eye.

I'm a hacker who a few months ago gained access to your device, including your browser history and webcam.

I recorded some videos of you jerking off to highly controversial "adult" videos.

I doubt you'd want your family, coworkers, and your entire epstein.coverup@house.gov contact list to see footage of you pleasuring yourself, especially considering how kinky your favorite "genre".

I will also publish these videos on porn sites, they will go viral and it will be physically impossible to remove them from the Internet.

How did I do this?

Because of your disregard for internet security, I easily managed to install a Trojan on your hard disk.

Thanks to this, I was able to access all the data on your device and control it remotely.

By infecting one device, I was able to gain access to all the other devices.

My spyware is embedded in the drivers and updates its signature every few hours, so no antivirus or firewall can ever detect it.

Now I want to offer a deal: a small amount of money in exchange for your former worry free life.

Transfer $1300 USD to my bitcoin wallet:bc1qfxjszasgvv3nm2eaxwh3qj2l7awrjmpl7cm53u

As soon as I receive confirmation of the payment, I will delete all the videos that compromise you, remove the virus from all your devices and you will never hear from me again.

It's a very small price for not destroying your reputation in the eyes of others, who think that you are a decent man, according to your messengers.

You can think of me as some sort of life coach who wants you to start appreciating what you have.

You have 48 hours. I will receive a notification as soon as you open this email, and from this moment, the countdown will begin.

If you've never dealt with cryptocurrency before, it's very easy. Simply type "cryptocurrency exchange" into a search engine, and then all set.

Here's what you shouldn't do:

- Don't reply to my email. It was sent from a temporary email account.

- Don't call the police.

Remember, I have access to all your devices, and as soon as I notice such activity, it will automatically lead to the publishing of all the videos.

- Don't try to reinstall your system or reset your device. First of all, I already have the videos, and secondly, as I said, I have remote access to all your devices, and once I notice such an attempt, you know what happens.

Remember, crypto addresses are anonymous, so you won't be able to track down my wallet.

So long story short, let's resolve this situation with a benefit for me and you.

I always keep my word unless someone tries to trick me.

Lastly, a little advice for the future. Start taking your online security more seriously.

Change your passwords regularly and set up multi-factor authentication on all your accounts.

Best wishes.

=====

Note that you can check any Bitcoin wallet to see if it has any transactions, in this case: blockstream.info

Nope. No transactions. Poor unhappy scammer.

- Jeff

[S. maltophilia] How Two Irish Businessmen Almost Took Nigeria for $11 Billion A mundane contra...

S. maltophilia — 2/9/2024 9:21:05 PM

How Two Irish Businessmen Almost Took Nigeria for $11 Billion
A mundane contractual provision met with rampant corruption — revealing a serious vulnerability in one of the backbones of international commerce.

nytimes.com

[S. maltophilia] The new Nigeria propublica.org

S. maltophilia — 9/13/2022 6:40:48 PM

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] Last year? I now feel much less special. Well, at least the scammers had the Bit...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 1/21/2019 8:27:19 PM

Last year? I now feel much less special. Well, at least the scammers had the Bitcoin conversion rate properly calibrated (about $2K = .5 Bitcoin).

I kinda miss the days when all this used to be done by mail. You know, someone tails you, takes a compromising picture of you in a hotel room, blows them up to 6x9s, then delivers them via a manilla envelope. We've all been there, right?

- Jeff

[EL KABONG!!!] I got 2 similar emails late last year, same threats of exposure and same blackma...

EL KABONG!!! — 1/21/2019 5:25:16 AM

I got 2 similar emails late last year, same threats of exposure and same blackmail requests. I ignored both of them, and MSN now junks any emails from him/her on sight (not by my request, so I presume that others have been targeted as well).

EK!!!

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] Not sure what country this is from, but it is the first of its type I have recei...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 1/21/2019 1:33:01 AM

Not sure what country this is from, but it is the first of its type I have received. My favorite line: "If you don't know how to send Bitcoins, visit Google." This is such a fail on so many levels.

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LAST WARNING

You have the last chance to save your social life - I am not kidding!!

I give you the last 72 hours to make the payment before I send the video with your masturbation to all your friends and associates.

The last time you visited a erotic website with young Teens, you downloaded and installed the software I developed.

My program has turned on your camera and recorded your act of Masturbation and the video you were masturbating to.

My software also downloaded all your email contact lists and a list of your Facebook friends.

I have both the 'Jmitchell.mp4' with your masturbation and a file with all your contacts on my hard drive.

You are very perverted!

If you want me to delete both files and keep your secret, you must send me Bitcoin payment. I give you the last 72 hours.

If you don't know how to send Bitcoins, visit Google.

Send 2000 USD to this Bitcoin address immediately:

3GoXFhYRkRq2Pr66GRC1Lqb6dXZuZeBZEL

(copy and paste)

1 BTC = 3470 USD right now, so send exactly 0.587346 BTC to the address above.

Do not try to cheat me!

As soon as you open this Email I will know you opened it.

This Bitcoin address is linked to you only, so I will know if you sent the correct amount.

When you pay in full, I will remove both files and deactivate my software.

If you don't send the payment, I will send your masturbation video to ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES from your contact list I hacked.

Here are the payment details again:

Send 0.587346 BTC to this Bitcoin address:

----------------------------------------

3GoXFhYRkRq2Pr66GRC1Lqb6dXZuZeBZEL

----------------------------------------

You ??n visit the police but nobody will help you.

I know what I am doing.

I don't live in your country and I know how to stay anonymous.

Don't try to deceive me - I will know it immediately - my spy ware is recording all the websites you visit and all keys you press.

If you do - I will send this ugly recording to everyone you know, including your family.

Don't cheat me! Don't forget the shame and if you ignore this message your life will be ruined.

I am waiting for your Bitcoin payment.

Sherell

Anonymous Hacker

P.S. If you need more time to buy and send 0.587346 BTC, open your notepad and write '48h plz'.

I will consider giving you another 48 hours before I release the vid, but only when I really see you are struggling to buy bitcoin.

[Glenn Petersen] Nigeria's Internet fraudsters zero in on corporate email accounts Paul Carsten ...

Glenn Petersen — 5/7/2018 9:46:34 AM

Nigeria's Internet fraudsters zero in on corporate email accounts

Paul Carsten
Reuters
May 3, 2018

ABUJA (Reuters) - West Africa’s infamous internet scammers have evolved, dropping their impersonations of online love interests, princes and U.S. soldiers in favor of hijacking corporate emails, costing businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

A cyber cafe is seen beside a bank automated machine in the Ogba district in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos, Nigeria May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye
-----------------------------------------------------------------

It is a much more lucrative venture that works by gaining access to corporate email login details or passing off almost-identical addresses as the real deal, a scam known as Business Email Compromise (BEC), according to a report by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike issued on Thursday.

These Nigerian rackets now dwarf other types of online criminal theft, amounting to at least $5.3 billion of losses between October 2013 and the end of 2016, said CrowdStrike and the U.S. FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

“There’s a disproportionate amount of criminal gains they get from it,” Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at California-based CrowdStrike, told Reuters. “The lion’s share of ill-gotten, fraudulent money is around these business email compromise attacks. It’s a huge problem for our customer set.”

Nigeria has become one of the hubs of BEC. Nigerian online fraudsters, known as “Yahoo boys”, became notorious for trying to pass themselves off as people in financial need or Nigerian princes offering an outstanding return on an investment.

The capers became known as “419 scams” after the section of the national penal code that dealt - ineffectively - with fraud.

Yahoo boys even impersonated a U.S. forces commander in Afghanistan to defraud people by asking for help in recovering the assets of deceased soldiers. It forced the commander to issue a Facebook statement saying he would never try to contact anyone asking for financial help.

Now the scammers have bigger fish to fry, with the potential gains amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to CrowdStrike.

Behind the fraudsters is an organized crime network with its hands in human trafficking, drugs, prostitution, money laundering and email fraud and cybercrime, the CrowdStrike report said. “The magnitude of this criminal threat has only recently begun to be understood,” it said.

The Black Axe gang sprang from Nigerian universities and now extends from Africa to North America, Europe and Asia. Its targets have ranged from semiconductor makers to schools in U.S. states including Connecticut and Minnesota, passing themselves off as executives and lawyers to trick employees into wiring sometimes millions of dollars a day into bank accounts.

From there, the money is quickly laundered through a series of bank accounts that can be traced to Hong Kong and China, where the trail often goes cold because diverging regulations foil monitoring, CrowdStrike’s Meyers said.

With that money, the Nigerian scammers are often enjoying the high life, said Meyers, noting social media accounts filled with pictures of them posing with luxury Mercedes cars, gold watches, jewellery and champagne.

“It’s really hard to stop; you can’t stop it with anti-virus or any kind of software, it’s really kind of a human problem.”

Reporting by Paul Carsten; Editing by Mark Heinrich

reuters.com

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] Is Zimbabwe trying to compete with Nigeria these days? First such scam email I'v...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 7/13/2017 4:27:11 AM

Is Zimbabwe trying to compete with Nigeria these days? First such scam email I've gotten in years.

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[Return address: infocontact@web.co.zw]

From: You Won US$1,Million Via Recognitions Award, [mailto:hassan_sain0@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2017 3:55 AM
To: ..
Subject: Information You Won US$1,Million Via Recognitions Award.

Hello,

We are here to notify you that the sum of US$1 million winner, was generated and awarded to you by the Qatar's United Development Company (UDC) and (CBI) Foundation, The achieve and results of this is to help financial problem in the nation.

Now contact the Agent: Mr. Viho Gigi . With this code (QETIX73UC) the contact E-mail address is {agentcontact@yahoo.com} or {agentcontact0@gmail.com} he will direct you on what to do for the releasing of your prize.

Yours Faithfully,

Awards Information Mr. Saad Sacar,

Chief Executive Krishna Kumari.

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L'absence de virus dans ce courrier électronique a été vérifiée par le logiciel antivirus Avast.

https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Glenn Petersen] Damn, I knew I should have answered those emails. [youtube video]

Glenn Petersen — 6/24/2017 8:01:13 PM

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] [graphic][graphic]

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 6/24/2017 7:30:41 PM

[Glenn Petersen] The New Nigerian Email Swindle By NICOLE PERLROTH New York Times July 22...

Glenn Petersen — 7/22/2014 2:24:28 PM

The New Nigerian Email Swindle

By NICOLE PERLROTH
New York Times
July 22, 2014 11:02 am

Call it the Nigerian email swindle 2.0.

In the last three months, security researchers at Palo Alto Networks, the Silicon Valley-based security firm, have been tracking a series of cyberattacks affecting clients based in Taiwan and South Korea. The attacks, Palo Alto Networks said in a new report to be released on Tuesday, originate in Nigeria and are being orchestrated by some of the same people behind the Nigerian 419 swindle, in which fraud artists try to trick foreign victims into transferring money to their bank accounts.

The latest attacks, researchers say, are an example of how even unsophisticated actors can buy off-the-shelf hacking tools that allows them to spy on, and eventually steal from, victims without being detected by traditional antivirus products.

The researchers said they have been tracking this particular criminal operation, which they call Silver Spaniel, for months. The attacks begin, as so many do, with a malicious email attachment. (Ah, yes, dear reader, yet another example of the dangers of wanton clicking.) Once clicked, victims inadvertently download malicious tools onto their devices; one, NetWire, is capable of remotely taking over a Windows, Mac OS or Linux system, and another, DataScrambler, makes sure the NetWire program is undetectable by antivirus products.

Researcher said the attackers did not design the tools themselves, but got them from other hackers on underground hacking forums. DataScrambler can be leased for between $25 and $60, depending on how long criminals want to remain undetected as they record their victims’ keystrokes.

Palo Alto Networks said it had traced the attacks to criminals in Nigeria because many of them did not take steps to mask their I.P. addresses. In one case, the researchers said they had discovered a Nigerian who made repeated mentions of his use of the malware on his Facebook page, where his cover photo features a wad of $100 bills. The same person made comments about popular email frauds two years ago, the researchers said.

“In the past, the main target of Nigerian scammers has been wealthy, unsuspecting individuals, but the Silver Spaniel attacks thus far in 2014 indicate their target has shifted toward businesses,” Palo Alto Networks noted in its report.

Palo Alto Networks suggests a number of ways businesses can mitigate Silver Spaniel-style attacks: by blocking and inspecting attachments containing malicious files, for instance, and by blocking access to compromised servers that are noted in its report.

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

[S. maltophilia] amazon.com

S. maltophilia — 7/5/2014 1:06:44 AM

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] I boil everything down to common sense, including lengthy scientific research pa...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 6/21/2012 7:28:43 PM

I boil everything down to common sense, including lengthy scientific research papers. For example, take a guy working his way through a large crowd proclaiming to be the messiah/Jesus reincarnated/the son of God/etc. Contrast that with another guy proclaiming he can save you 15% on your car insurance in just 15 minutes. Who do you think has his work cut out for him? While the latter sales guy is going to engage a lot more people, he's going to have to spend quite a bit of time with each one to make a sale. Conversely, either you are going to take it on faith the other guy is who he says he is, or more likely chuckle and walk on by.

Compounding the problem is that we are somehow fascinated by things that seem too good to be true vs. things that are more than likely true. For example, we are more likely to visit the booth of someone proclaiming he can help us buy any home with no money down, or pay off our mortgage in just five years with the money we already earn. We want these to be true so we tend to make them true in our minds with the rationale, hey, you never know.

Yes, this aspect of human psychology, which encompasses people that get ripped off in stock scams often blaming themselves, is fascinating.

- Jeff

[S. maltophilia] Are Nigerian scammers crazy e-mails actually very clever? An analysis from Micr...

S. maltophilia — 6/21/2012 2:47:22 PM

Are Nigerian scammers crazy e-mails actually very clever? An analysis from Microsoft Research suggests that Nigerian scammers need to sound as ridiculous as possible, so that only the most gullible will reply to them.......

news.cnet.com

The Microsoft research paper:

Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria?
Cormac Herley
Microsoft Research
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA, USA
cormac@microsoft.com
ABSTRACT
False positives cause many promising detection technologies
to be unworkable in practice. Attackers, we
show, face this problem too. In deciding who to attack
true positives are targets successfully attacked, while
false positives are those that are attacked but yield
nothing.
This allows us to view the attacker’s problem as a
binary classification. The most profitable strategy requires
accurately distinguishing viable from non-viable
users, and balancing the relative costs of true and false
positives. We show that as victim density decreases the
fraction of viable users than can be profitably attacked
drops dramatically. For example, a 10× reduction in
density can produce a 1000× reduction in the number......

research.microsoft.com

[Jeffrey S. Mitchell] Any time someone purposefully overpays and asks you to rebate the difference, es...

Jeffrey S. Mitchell — 3/22/2012 10:15:33 AM

Any time someone purposefully overpays and asks you to rebate the difference, especially via Western Union, you know it's a scam. In the case you cited, it was a fake email PayPal receipt the money had been transferred into the seller's account. Worse is when the scammers actually send you a legitimate looking check that you (stupidly) cash. The check appears to clear, you send money, and not only a week later do you find the check was fake, but now you yourself are the one who committed a crime! I had someone try to pull this on me when I advertised a house for rent on Yale's housing web site. It was actually a blast pretending I believed them and making them jump through hoops. Scammers know no bounds.

- Jeff

[S. maltophilia] windowssecrets.com

S. maltophilia — 3/22/2012 4:56:46 AM