@ Devine8
Thx, I wasn't aware of this sophisticated level of online scaming. I have forwarded your above memo to everyone on my email mailing list.

I get d usual "next-of-kin to deceased owner of $20 million" emails all d time. Lately on craigslist.com, I have been seeing classified ads for jobs 4 overseas representatives, to receive & cash money orders/checks on behalf of international companies (usually based in d UK or Nigeria) doing biz in that local city & to forward d excess after expenses by Western Union to d scammer. So d scam is mutating exponentially in form & size.

D truth is, there r a lot of honest Nigerians, especially back home whose livelihood depend on their good reputation & this reputation is being tarnishd by these online scammers.

Hence, I would like to advocate an international online forum to:
1. act as a one-stop shop 2 educate anyone who uses a phone or a computer (basically d whole world) about this epidemic;
2. have any recipient of a dubious communication forward such online or phone communication to d forum;
3. have d forum identify d source country & notify d enforcement agency charged w/ policing such conduct in that country;
4. very impt.[/b]follow up w/ that agency regarding d status & result of [b]each notification & prosecution;
5. be backed by an international organization funded by countries like d US & Uk among others, since it is their citizens that r d affected victims;
6. get d support of d international media to expose any country that fails or is weak in prosecuting these scammers;
7. lobby or pressure d United Nations to get involved & sanction, financially or politically, any such exposed country.

Lets make a stand, there is power in numbers. Everyone keeps apportioning blame on Nigerians. Let us (d international online community) come up w/ smart & dynamic ways to catch these scammers, Nigerians or otherwise & prosecute them (& banning online financial transactions from computers with IPs traced to origins in Nigeria is NOT a smart idea).

This is no longer just a crime of d victim's greed, it's also a crime of d victim's ignorance & a crime of everyone's nonchalance, resulting in a loss of over $1billion/yr worldwide, to the online scam industry.

Please forward this memo to as many people as u can, Nigerian or otherwise. Knowledge is Empowerment. Feel free to add to, or modify what u deem appropriate.

Thx, a concerned Nigerian