Information Warfare: September 15, 2002

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Almost everyone in the US with an Email address has received an offer from some corrupt official in Nigeria (or some other country) offering a multi-million commission if you will help them move some stolen or mislaid government funds out of their country through your bank account. Such offers are, of course, a scam, and result in the "foreign official" draining any bank account he is told about and begging for just a few hundred more dollars for fees and bribes. But the story now has a new twist. The Nigerian scam artists are sending their Emails to people in Moslem countries (first to identified businessmen in Saudi Arabia and more recently to anyone in many Moslem countries). Their new offer is that these forgotten or stolen or lost millions are being routed to the Palestinian Authority for use in feeding their people and buying guns to continue the struggle (minus a few hundred thousand paid as a commission to any helpful Arab businessman). Reportedly, the scam is enjoying some success from such efforts, as many Moslems are more interested in profiting by helping a good cause than in profiting by helping criminals smuggle their loot out of their country.--Stephen V Cole