Chelsea Clinton's potential father-in-law a Nigerian scam victim/idiot

[hgc]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/12/father_of_chels.html

...
Ed Mezvinsky, a former Iowa Congressman, is serving a seven-year sentence for fraud after getting caught up in a series of Nigerian e-mail scams.
...
Mezvinsky traveled to Nigeria numerous times and ultimately lost more than $3 million as a victim of the scammers.

Prosecutors say Mezvinsky fell particularly hard for what is known as the "black money" scam. Victims are told millions of dollars have been coated with black ink so the money could be smuggled out of Nigeria.
...

[skeptifem]

i read a story of a well of psychiatrist being suckered in and losing everything.

[Kiwiwriter]

Victims of the Nigerian 419 scam have been lured to Nigeria, where they are often kidnapped by the con men, and held for ransom, and in some cases, killed when the families don't pay up.

These con games play on the desperation, ignorance, and greed of Westerners for an easy buck. The con men rationalize it as fleecing the Westerners as an act of revenge for the slave trade and their support of Africa's brutal dictators. Note that many of the 419 letters are purportedly from relatives or associates of fallen dictators. Or they are from fake lawyers and bankers, seeking the Westerner to stand in as a relative of an equally fake dead aircrash victim, so the lawyer or banker can split the money with the mark.

The point: both of the above transactions are illegal on the face. In the first case, it's a dictator's stolen money, and in the second case, it's blatant robbery. The marks who get into these cons are thinking they're the con men.

There are several good web pages, like www.scamorama.com, where scambusters play the "Lads From Lagos" to drive them berserk with humor, and in some cases, squeeze money out of them.

[hgc]

I found this little part of the article interesting, as it goes into his psychology just a bit.

"He was always looking for the home run. He was always trying to find the business deal that would make him as wealthy as all the people in his social circle," said Zauzmer.
Too bad he didn't have George W. Bush's friends.

[Yahzi]

These con games play on the desperation, ignorance, and greed of Westerners for an easy buck.
Westerners? Are you suggesting Nigerans aren't greedy for an easy buck?

;)

They prey on the West because people in the West have money. The level of greed and stupidity is pretty much a constant in all societies.

The point: both of the above transactions are illegal on the face.
An old gypsy saying:

"You can't con an honest man."

Because the heart of all cons is the promise of something for nothing, and honest people know that's just wrong.

[Deathshead]

Is it a surprise he was so closely associated with the Clinton clan? These scams have been around for a lot longer than the net. They used to use regular mail. Anyone that wants additional reading and some fun should visit the Quatloos forums. They toy with the scamsters and lead them on wild goose chases, going so far as to set up meetings in foreign countries. Funny stuff. See the Brad Christianson (sp?) exhibit.

[Ladewig]

Is it a surprise he was so closely associated with the Clinton clan? These scams have been around for a lot longer than the net. They used to use regular mail. Anyone that wants additional reading and some fun should visit the Quatloos forums.

I bless you for directing people to an exceptionally useful site.
I curse you for putting that Star Trek song in my mind.

[Dave1001]

just read this. Can't believe a guy smart enough to become a congressman and a friend of the Clintons could be that stupid.

[JPK]

Good morning
This is another fun site where people scam the scamers out of money.
http://www.419eater.com/
JPK

[Modified]

just read this. Can't believe a guy smart enough to become a congressman and a friend of the Clintons could be that stupid.

I can't believe anyone is that stupid, or that people who are that stupid are also so uninformed.

[ponderingturtle]

just read this. Can't believe a guy smart enough to become a congressman and a friend of the Clintons could be that stupid.

Being conning people who know they are smart is real easy, look a Uri Geller.

Being conned is not a mark for or against inteligence, but you would think a congressman would have enough experiance with conmen to be a bit of a harder mark.

[Carnivore]

There are plenty of smart and educated people who are terrible at critical thinking. It's a skill that takes practise to acquire and enhance, but all too many people dont even realize they lack it.

[The Atheist]

Every time I hear about this stuff, I just about need to change my pants! We've had a few people here have ripped off clients' money to give it to Nigerian scammers. What? Were these people born this morning? This is one of the oldest and silliest scams in history - yet one of the most successful!

How many of you received scam e mails forwarded to you a year or so ago when Microsoft (or AOL) were going to pay x amount of money if the e mail was forwarded to 25 people? Enormous numbers of people fell for that. Pyramid games have wrecked whole economies.

People are stupid.

[Elizabeth I]

Being conning people who know they are smart is real easy, look a Uri Geller.

Being conned is not a mark for or against inteligence, but you would think a congressman would have enough experiance with conmen to be a bit of a harder mark.

Since most of them are con men themselves. (Of course, then you get back to the "you can't con an honest person" principle.)

[Deathshead]

JPK

Nice site! Shiver Metimbers Classic. The pictures are funnier than you know what.
scamora.com is a good site as well. Nice work from the team. The letters from the lads are worth the time.

[ponderingturtle]

Since most of them are con men themselves. (Of course, then you get back to the "you can't con an honest person" principle.)

The point is that they are not con men, they are seeing what they percieve as the chance for a quick dishonnest buck, and take it.

ANd of course you can con an honest person, it is just much easier to make someone think that they are going to make a quick dishonnest buck and scam it from them.

[Ladewig]

The point is that they are not con men, they are seeing what they percieve as the chance for a quick dishonnest buck, and take it.

I know that many versions of the Nigerian Scam involve people trying to hide money from a new government and thus are dishonest on their face. Are there any variations in which the sender claims that the money was earned honestly and the newly-formed government is rife with criminals who are trying to steal the money before it is transferred out?

And of course you can con an honest person, it is just much easier to make someone think that they are going to make a quick dishonnest buck and scam it from them.

I agree.

[skeptifem]

There are plenty of smart and educated people who are terrible at critical thinking. It's a skill that takes practise to acquire and enhance, but all too many people dont even realize they lack it.


yes, I agree. I had to explain to many people why things were a scam, but the con artist already covered everything. They come up with some pretty creative things to explain away concerns. They will even warn you of what employees at the wire transaction companies will ask you, canadian scammers are the worst with this. They do lottery scams and target elderly people, and tell them that whoever sends the money to pay conversion fees or taxes on the prize money gets the money and so they warn you that employees at wire company services will try to get the info out of you to claim the prize for themselves. its crazy but it works.

All of the scammers target people with diminished mental capacity, people with alzheimers especially.

And yes, you CAN con an honest person. Nigerian scammers are heavily inflitrating craigslist and ebay, insisting that money gets wired for things, or overpaying checks and asking that the difference be wired back (a dishonest person would keep all the money), there is a particularily huge den of scammers on a website that is like ebay for purchasing puppies (puppyfind i think?). Also whenever a disaster strikes ,scammers, within hours of the tradgedy, send out emails trying to get money for it and pretending to be a charity. Many others ask for donations to some fake cause and pretend to be people in all kinds of terrible situations. One scam that is fairly new to me and comes mainly out of the UK and canada is one where they orchestrate a fake lawsuit against you that is being filed in another country and inform you that you need representation in another country, and of course take your money and fake documents about a case to show they are 'working' on it for you. They have to find people who travel out of the country in order to do this but its not hard to harvest email addresses off of websites with international travel as an interest.

The overpaid check fraud in particular assumes that the mark is moral enough to return the 'extra' funds. Some places will tell you that you are going to be a secret shopper, they give you a check to cash and wire somewhere and have you fill out little reports on the customer service of the store you wired the money from.

Ive heard it all. really. Some people got banned from using our service because we couldnt convince them they were being scammed.

[ponderingturtle]

I know that many versions of the Nigerian Scam involve people trying to hide money from a new government and thus are dishonest on their face. Are there any variations in which the sender claims that the money was earned honestly and the newly-formed government is rife with criminals who are trying to steal the money before it is transferred out?

It doesn't have to be illegal. There is a classic scam where you buy some old piece of junk, mentioning how you paid $5 for it, and ask to leave it in a bar for an hour while you do something.

Your partner comes in and remarks on its value say $200, but also has business and leaves, makes a point that you will be back with the $200 for it in an hour.

You come back and someone there might well offer you $50 or $100 for the thing, and you take it.

End of Con, you got someone to pay $100 for a $5 piece of crap.

Is that showing the person that it is illegal, no but you are depending on their desire for a quick buck to override their intelligence.

An honnest man would not be taken by such a scam as he would just try to put you in touch with your partner.

You do not need the appearance of dishonnesty on your part to be depending on their dishonnesty.

[Yahzi]

you would think a congressman would have enough experiance with conmen to be a bit of a harder mark.
Ya, really. Isn't it like a career skill for them?

:D

[skeptifem]

It doesn't have to be illegal. There is a classic scam where you buy some old piece of junk, mentioning how you paid $5 for it, and ask to leave it in a bar for an hour while you do something.

Your partner comes in and remarks on its value say $200, but also has business and leaves, makes a point that you will be back with the $200 for it in an hour.

You come back and someone there might well offer you $50 or $100 for the thing, and you take it.

End of Con, you got someone to pay $100 for a $5 piece of crap.

Is that showing the person that it is illegal, no but you are depending on their desire for a quick buck to override their intelligence.

An honnest man would not be taken by such a scam as he would just try to put you in touch with your partner.

You do not need the appearance of dishonnesty on your part to be depending on their dishonnesty.

see my post above please. I would say that a little less than half of scams rely on the honesty of the victim.

[TheChadd]

It's amazing really how huge this scam is. I volunteer at a western sydney legal aid centre and just a few weeks ago I had an old couple come in who had lost $400,000 when they gave it to their daughter in order to buy into the scam...

Sigh.

[ponderingturtle]

see my post above please. I would say that a little less than half of scams rely on the honesty of the victim.

But how many of those are really about honnesty of the victim in a con, vs say useing the victim to pass bad checks for you and you get the extra money?