11-21-2005, 11:55 AM
Nigerian webmaster talks about the problems Nigerian scammers have created for honest Nigerians in the online world.
full post and discussion: http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-3173.0.html
Quote:What Can Honest Nigerians Do to Stop 'Nigerian Scams'?
Hello,
As a honest Nigerian webmaster and techie, global e-commerce remains a dream to me. Thanks to the negative exploits of the large number of advanced fee fraudsters (419ers) who are Nigerians. Phrases like "Nigerian scam" and "Nigerian e-mail" have become so common that the word "Nigerian" is synonymous with "scammer" on the Internet.
If you are based in Nigeria, you cannot easily earn money (with a merchant account) or spend it (with a legally owned credit card) online without the issue of "scam"coming up. Paypal, the most popular and conveninent payments processor, will simply close your account and sieze your funds when they discover that you are a Nigerian. When you mention that you're a Nigerian on forums or chat rooms, the issue of 'Nigerian' scams will be raised. For each item you try to buy online, a scam alert is triggered.
One myth has been spreading online is that the 419 scam is our major foreign exchange earner. This of course is wrong, because 95% of our foreign exchange comes from crude oil (Nigeria is a member of the OPEC oil cartel)...
full post and discussion: http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-3173.0.html