I always wondered what people think of Nigerian's. I'm an african, a black man, cultured with values and norms. Though Nigeria was colonised by the great Britain in 1960. But there emerged the time when the invention of internet services increases the trend of fraudulent acitivities in the country to the world at large, and leaving not other african countries out of this.

Is this going to continue like this? We need a stop! Nigerian's out there. It's time for us to call it a stop!

I need an answer and want to make it clear that the country is blessed with sufficcient human resourses but these resourses is being manage by selfish leaders. And it is distributed to the hands of few. Whenever I think about this my heart hurts.

What can we do to resolve this? Is an exile the way out of these? I need an answer from the intelligentsia out there.

I think the problem is that the primary contact that people have with Nigerians over the internet involves these kinds of scams.

So one possibility is to encourage the creation of some kind of cultural movement within Nigeria that is visible through the world wide web. This way people think of culture rather than scams.

However this is admittedly a very tall order.

Why are scams so common from Nigeria?

Nigeria is a credible place (to a gullible westerner) for someone to tell a sorry tale of woe that involves financial need or immigration help.

The most common scam involves asking someone to transfer money gained through corrupt dealing to be laundered through someone's bank account.

It is a simple crime to learn from other people and to carry out with just an email address and someone competent to transfer funds from stupid people. It sometime culminates in kidnap if someone is lured abroad to a more lawless country.

People interested in these 419 scams, especially regarding the subject of how to recognise and avoid them should take a look at http://www.419eater.com/html/419faq.htm.The original Captain Kirk baiting, where they try to see how far the scammer will go, is superb.

I had a probable approach from such a scam today, via a Flirtbox member. I have reported it so our admins can assess whether this is the case.

No offence meant keen101, but the type of private message you sent me kind of shouts "Scammer!" to me, no matter whether you claim to be in London or Nigeria or Planet Jupiter.
Not sure if its a joke, or test, or what?
(I couldn't help either to notice the discrepencies between your grammar etc. in PM and here, and I am not convinced which is the real you?!).

Rumbled

The problem is, the libraries and universities from which Nigeria scam mails are sent are known....but neither the people nor the government in Nigeria do too much about it - as all authorities are easily bribed and receive money from the scammers....this is why more and more websites block access from Nigeria in general - which is unfair for normal internet users there - but that's the way it is currently. If If you want to access all websites etc...you need to do something about internet scams in your country and contribute...and become active....

Yes, this is the case for me too. On every site I use, if it has a section to block Nigeria, then I will do BLOCK it.......Why???? 'cos I've had absolutely loads of scammers from there and so much begging and lies......I don't want to use my time sifting through messages just to find the occasional young student who wants genuine contact to improve their English or build up friends from other cultures.

However, Nigeria is not the only country I BLOCK because of scammers, there's plenty more. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Youre a selfish leader. You keep trying to send me $47,000, you selfish Nigerian prince! That's the people of Nigeria's money! I can tell youre definitely the man in the picture, but without the crown and sceptre

After a bout of scam baiting, I can honestly say 99% of the scammers I've busted have been from Nigeria or Ghana.

No use having a go at the white community for putting blocks on the countries while this goes on, those few Nigerian or Ghanan people who are opposed to it should be more pro-active about doing something to stop it. There will come a time when both countries will be blocked from every site on the net. Then how will you manage to scam the British government into paying you for the university grant you want?

Nigerian scam is not something that started with Internet. I remeber my late grandad getting a letter in snail mail from a Nigerian business man with the same usual rant. My poor grandma who was 78 at the time nearly fainted because my grandad was already dead for 20 zears and now someone is sending him a letter from Nigeria...