Nigerian scammers hit jackpot in Norway.

[Ryokan]

A Norwegian man, owner of a consulting company, has paid around 12 million NOK/2 million USD to Nigerian scammers, who promised to send 20 million USD back to him. He got the money by getting his clients to invest in what he said was American real estate, and promised 40% interest per month on the investments.

The police confirms that a lot of Norwegians have fallen for the scam; one has lost 2 million NOK, one 1 million NOK, and a third around 400 000 NOK, and a dozen others are in economical ruin.

So far, no one has pressed charges against the scammers.

Really, how stupid can you get? The guy who lost 2 million USD can't be that financially stupid, running his own consulting company. Even I, with no education and a minimum wage job, knows these 'offers' are too good to be true. I get a few of these offers a week in my e-mail, and they all sound like bad fiction. Seriously, how stupid can you get?

Source, in Norwegian. (http://e24.no/naeringsliv/article2023615.ece)

[Jaggy Bunnet]

A Norwegian man, owner of a consulting company, has paid around 12 million NOK/2 million USD to Nigerian scammers, who promised to send 20 million USD back to him. He got the money by getting his clients to invest in what he said was American real estate, and promised 40% interest per month on the investments.

The police confirms that a lot of Norwegians have fallen for the scam; one has lost 2 million NOK, one 1 million NOK, and a third around 400 000 NOK, and a dozen others are in economical ruin.

So far, no one has pressed charges against the scammers.

Really, how stupid can you get? The guy who lost 2 million USD can't be that financially stupid, running his own consulting company. Even I, with no education and a minimum wage job, knows these 'offers' are too good to be true. I get a few of these offers a week in my e-mail, and they all sound like bad fiction. Seriously, how stupid can you get?

Source, in Norwegian. (http://e24.no/naeringsliv/article2023615.ece)

I have a friend who used to work as a forensic accountant. Occasionally they got called into businesses where someone had fallen for this.

Sadest case he told me about involved a smallish company (maybe 100 employees) where the owner got sucked in. He was sending ever increasing amounts of cash across to his "partners" to get the cash out and even when sat down with officials from the Serious Fraud Office and the FBI who explained to him exactly what was going on and even told him what the next letter would say, refused to accept it was a scam.

As he owned the business, there was nothing to stop him making further payments. Unsurprisingly the business went belly up not long afterwards.

Apparently it is not uncommon to continue making payments even after the scam is revealed rather than accept the cash already sent has been lost.

[dannagain]

For sweet revenge go here:

http://www.419eater.com/

And may I just say, Ryokan, that Buddhist Fist is an awesome film. Especially for the bit when he's fighting lying down!

[fuelair]

For sweet revenge go here:

http://www.419eater.com/

And may I just say, Ryokan, that Buddhist Fist is an awesome film. Especially for the bit when he's fighting lying down!I just love that site!!!:D:D:D:D:D

[bokonon]

It's always possible the Norwegian man is working with the scammers, or simply using them as an excuse for siphoning funds into his own private overseas account.

[Fredrik]

This one is good too: http://www.quatloos.com/brad-c/directory01.htm

[ponderingturtle]

It's always possible the Norwegian man is working with the scammers, or simply using them as an excuse for siphoning funds into his own private overseas account.

I don't think his being scamed protects him from the fraud he committed.

[kerikiwi]

It's always possible the Norwegian man is working with the scammers, or simply using them as an excuse for siphoning funds into his own private overseas account.

I had never thought of that, but now it is blazingly obvious.
I have always (well, at least since becoming aware of these schemes) been totally gobsmacked that anyone could actually believe them, and if they did happen to be so impressively stupid, wondered why anyone could feel one iota of sympathy for them.
Not that I think stupidity is necessarily deserving of punishment, but stupidity coupled with greed and dishonesty certainly is.

[Ryokan]

And may I just say, Ryokan, that Buddhist Fist is an awesome film. Especially for the bit when he's fighting lying down!

;)

What can I say, I love Kung Fu movies. This isn't my favorite, although it's far from the worst. The Buddhist Fist avatar is from the 'New Rules JREF Uprising' when everyone had fists as avatars as a protest. I thought I'd be a bit cute and funny, and used the video cover as an avatar, and I've been to lazy to change it into anything else.