Nigerian Scams No More? Government Cracking Down

You may not have known this if your spam filter’s really good, but Nigeria has a pretty bad reputation as a hotbed for e-mail scams. Now, the government’s trying to wash the stink off with an initiative called “Project Eagle Claw,” designed to snuff out scammers, and they’ve already made 18 arrests and shut down 800 Web sites. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is working with Microsoft on the project, which should be fully operational next year. The goal is to take down 5,000 e-mails and send out 230,000 advisory e-mails to victims every month. If that happens, Nigeria hopes to fall out of the top 10 list for countries with the most fraudulent e-mails.

This is a pretty significant attitude adjustment for Nigeria. Even though the country has tried to halt scamming through “cyber raids” and petitions, last year a high commissioner blamed victims for being greedy. The scams usually solicit an up-front investment in exchange for vast riches that never come. To most people it sounds too good to be true, but even a small percentage of victims means big payoffs for scammers. Nigeria is trying to repair its image on other fronts, as well. The country recently slammed Sony for a Playstation 3 advertisement about rumored price cuts, which said in part, “You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. Otherwise, I’d be a Nigerian millionaire by now.” [via Ars Technica]