|
419 scammers (they call themselves guymen, but we call them lads or mugus) are most common in coastal western Africa, notably
but not at all exclusive to Nigeria. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, so that could be the reason that it has the
most scammers. They come from all walks of life, but tend to be concentrated in large urban areas. They range from single
"solo artist" types all the way to highly organized and truly dangerous gangs. While many scams originate in Africa,
I think they have been found in every country on the map.
Why do they do this? Easy money. That's the only reason they do anything at all, and they're dead serious about it.
Money motivates lots of people, but FREE money is what the lads want. These guys often disappear when asked for anything,
because they absolutely loathe anything resmbling work. I have actually baited lads who would rather receive $50.00 for
nothing than get $5,000.00 for taking a little trip across town.
How do they think? Now THAT's a tough one. Not only are they too numerous and diverse to pigeon-hole, but there are
economic and cultural factors that even Dr. Phil would have trouble comprehending. Like most criminals, they do have certain
traits in common. Those would be blinding greed, crippling laziness and a complete lack of ethics. They will (and often
do) steal from each other just as quickly as they would from you or I.
HOW TO BAIT THEM: Any way you want really. My specialty is straight-baiting (pretending to be a willing victim), but
there really are no rules. Church baits are popular, so are art baits, insult baits, auto-baits, love baits, and just about
anything else you can imagine. While I don't go after them myself, all baits can produce trophies and safaris if you have
the patience and can be convincing enough.
To me, baiting a mugu is all about seeing how much of their time / resources I can waste. A 419 scammer's goal is to
trick you into sending him all the free money he can get quickly, then to disappear into thin air. Since lads are all trying
to get money for work they don't do, the best way to hurt them is to make them work for money they'll never get! Did I mention
that these guys hate work? Let's face it - if they were willing to work, they wouldn't be scamming.
Lads are not all stupid. What they are is greedy, single-minded, lazy and devoid of ambition. And THAT set of attributes
makes them more vulnerable than they could possibly imagine!
|
