What do some Africans want to spent time trying to do fictitiuos transactions? Dont they have better things to do or none at all? I get orders of goods, they sent me international checks that bounced, fake international bank TT certificates, and God knows what they know?

Quoting from [GTISJC]:


What do some Africans want to spent time trying to do fictitiuos transactions? Dont they have better things to do or none at all? I get orders of goods, they sent me international checks that bounced, fake international bank TT certificates, and God knows what they know?

I found this on the website Fraudwatchers.org, it's a good synopsis of scammer mentality.


Why would these scammers do this? Most scammers are based in West African countries, the vast majority of them being from Nigeria. This is a simple statement of fact and not in any way a racist or biased comment. The scammers themselves try to justify their actions by using arguments such as 'The rich West robs our countries of their resources so we are only getting back what is ours' or 'We are poor and have no other way of earning money'. This is total nonsense.


Scammers come from countries which are notorious for their poor government, human rights abuses and corruption. When Sanni Abacha, the one time * of Nigeria died, for instance, many billions of dollars stolen from the Nigerian economy were found salted away in secret bank accounts all over the world. This corruption extends into all areas of daily life in these countries. Police units, for instance, often make roadblocks for the sole purpose of extorting money from people driving along the roads. In such a climate it is seen as natural to extort money from other people, not only Westerners but Africans, Asians and those from Middle Eastern countries too. Nor do the scammers have any regard to the personal circumstances of their victims. Rich, poor, vulnerable are all one to them as long as they can extort money.


Nor are they starving. Africa has far too many people who are truly starving but do these people have the time, money and education to sit in internet cafes scamming people or are they too busy trying to prevent their families and themselves from starvation? Most scammers are educated urbanites who see scamming as an easy way to make money. Money which is not needed for food but is spent on cars, cellphones and other trappings which increase their status amongst their peers.


In short scammers do it because they live in a culture where being a successful thief is a status symbol and where they are rarely arrested and charged with fraud because those the authorities are easily bribed. As time goes on and they become more successful, some of them leave their home country and base themselves in places like the United Kingdom, the USA, South Africa, Amsterdam, Ireland, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and various other countries. It is easier to get an arrest in some of these places and the authorities are usually not able to be bribed, so this is much more risky for the scammers.

Replying to [GTISJC]: the very problem with africa and africans is ABJECT POVERTY. they want to live but there is little fund, MAN MUST SURVIVE YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replying to [Tolungton]:
So what are you saying that Scamming is Ok because your starving.
It's you and your type that give your country it's bad name.

Replying to [GTISJC]:Thanks for awarding me the MVP on best answer.

Replying to [GTISJC]:
am an African AND I FEEL THAT WE'VE GOT NOWHERE IN the trading world why? because every time one meets one unscrupulous trader in africa the term he uses is AFRICA. Why don' t you term them as unscrupulous traders rather than African.
Have a little courteosy while dealing with people especially Africans.