Nigeria’s anti-corruption police have shut down 800 scam websites and busted 18 syndicates of email fraudsters. “Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down,” Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said. “There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber-crime organisations,” she added.
Microsoft lends a hand
In a statement EFCC, which has previously relied on raiding cyber cafes and complaints from the public to clampdown on the crime, said it has now adopted smart technology working in conjunction with Microsoft, to track down fraudulent emails. The operation, dubbed “Eagle Claw” should be able to forewarn around a quarter of million potential victims when fully implemented within the next six months.
Nigeria has a history of email fraud
Nigeria has the notorious reputation of being the center of email fraudsters. Spanish police arrested 23 people in March, mainly Nigerians, suspected of running an email and letter scam thought to have defrauded over 150 people in the United States and Europe. The gang sent out thousands letters every day to potential prey. Victims were swindled of their money when asked to pay processing fees or supply their bank account details into which non-existent funds were promised to be transferred. Some of the email fraudsters hacked into private email accounts of prominent personalities and sent e-mails to their contacts claiming to be stranded and asking for emergency cash.
How you can prevent email attacks
Mailprotector’s services help prevent many of these types of email scams. Our services are great for keeping spam, viruses, Trojans, phishing and other email-borne malware and attacks from reaching your user’s inbox. Contact us today to learn more.
The recent blockbuster sci-fi movie “District 9” was reviewed by some of our staff a few weeks ago. They give the movie a ‘thumbs up’ so you should definitely go see it. It’s about an alien spacecraft that becomes stranded hovering over Johannesburg and how the earthlings deal with keeping the aliens in quarantine. It’s a moral tale about the evils of apartheid and its potential out of this world consequences.
Film “makes Nigerians look bad”
It was reported that Nigerians are upset because of how they are portrayed in the movie. Information Minister Dora Akunyili has asked that movie houses stop screening the movie because it makes Nigerians look bad. “We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film,” she said. “We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light.” Nigerians are portrayed as gangsters, prostitutes and cannibals in the movie. They have asked the producer for an apology and also edit the film.
A more accurate portrayal?
Well, I’m upset about the portrayal of the Nigerians in this film, too. I’ll suggest the following character rewrites. Instead of Nigerian characters posing as gangsters and prostitutes make them Nigerian “princes” and “princesses”. Place them in exciting scenes crafting email messages asking for assistance from the aliens in recovering their family fortune. That would be much more appropriate. Once they start sending their spam to the aliens then all heck is gonna break loose. If the aliens didn’t have enough to be upset about before now they’ll really be ticked off after getting scammed out of their “cat food” money (oops – I should have given you a “spoiler alert”).
Mailprotector saves the day!
Of course, Mailprotector could become a prominent player in the movie. The aliens would adopt Mailprotector’s superior email security technology then we could all just get along. Nothing like a happy ending 
