Is it fair to blame Nigeria for the world's fraud woes?

I recently read an article, where many Nigerians were upset about a series of stories done by CNN. The reason they were upset was because they felt that the story depicted that all Nigerians were corrupt. This made me reflect that there are many of out there - who when a fraud is discovered - seem to automatically classify it as being of "Nigerian" origin.

This evening, I came across a story from the Online Journal: "New version of Nigerian phishing e-mail scam promises jobs, riches, poker and great lunches" - which is essentially calling "phishing" a Nigerian scam. After reading it, I started to understand why Nigerians might find some of this offensive. To read the article: Click Here.

This inspired me to do a little digging.

Since I've done a little research on phishing, I decided to refer to the Anti Phishing Working Group and their most recent report (May), which coincidentally reported a "all-time" record of recorded "phishing attempts."

Nigeria isn't even listed in their "top-ten."

According to the APWG:

"In May, Websense Security Labs saw a continuation of the top three countries hosing phishing websites. The United States remains the on the top of the list with 34.1%. The rest of the top 10 breakdown is as follows: China 15%, Republic of Korea 8.17%, France 3.94%, Germany 3.38%, Japan 2.65%, Malaysia 2.59%, Canada 2.37%, Italy 2.02%, and Brazil 1.7%."

If the APWG is correct - then how could phishing be called a Nigerian scam?

Advance fee - which is also referred to as 419 - has taken on many forms and is a worldwide problem. A lot of it originates in Europe, Canada and even the United States. Lottery scams - which are one form - seem to be coming from Canada, or Great Britain and Romance scams from Eastern Europe are a huge issue.

Recently one of the bogus tools, used in advance fee scams have been counterfeit, or altered money orders. People are tricked into cashing these items and wiring the money back to a "fraudster." According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - they are being produced (the counterfeit items) in Eastern Europe and West Africa. So far as the altered items - they seem to be produced in the U.S. Prison System and are used primarily in Romance Scams.

I did mention West Africa - but only as one source - and Nigeria is only one of the countries in West Africa. So far as the "other sources," we can look to points of origin that aren't even anywhere near Nigeria, including the United States.

Interestingly enough, what many term as "Nigerian Fraud," wasn't invented in Nigeria and can be traced back to 1588 AD - what what is known as the "Spanish Prisoner Letter."

Another fact - which many of us - fail to "recognize" is that Nigeria is doing something about their problems with fraud. In fact, some might argue that they are pursuing it more "aggresively" than in many of the other countries mentioned in this post.

In recent years, Nigeria has led a very public campaign against corruption within Nigeria. President Olusegun Obasanjo formed the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has been extremely aggressive in fighting fraud in Nigeria. Recently, they were taken off a money laundering "blacklist" and for a list of stories - where they have made an impact - link, here.

There is little doubt that Nigeria realizes it has a fraud problem and that there are "good guys" over there fighting the "good fight."

They key to winning the war is for the "good guys" to work together and go after those who are bad.

So far as the rest of us - the next time we run across a scam on the Internet - perhaps we should take a deeper look at it's point of origin. Not only is it unfair to blame the world's fraud problem on Nigeria, but it confuses efforts to bring forth resolution.

The Little favour of Appreciation

Itz a beautiful Monday Morning, itz the beginning of another working week
We probably had a wonderful weekend last week and we just can't wait for this week
Itz someone's birthday somewhere, it someone's anniversary somewhere. Itz a beautiful beginning of a wonderful week.
Itz still morning and we're probably just waking up or we're at work or somewhere, but I know that if you can read this post, then you're alive.

The Question is "Did you Appreciate God for making you breathe the free air today?
For making you wake up on the right side of the bed.
For making you to be in today's populace
A lot of people wished they were here but they couldn't make it.
I know you've probably heard this before, and you're hearing it again
Just a short prayer to express gratitude for being the man you are today will do you no harm.
Itz a little favour that is extremely profitable to our soul.
If we thank God for what he has done, he'll definitely do more
But if we wake up without thanking him, then itz like we're saying we woke up by our power. Itz the Picture of an Ungrateful who'll definitely need more.
If you've haven't prayed Today, just close your eyes wherever you are and say a short prayer of Appreciation to God for making you be the man and that you are, and the man you hope to be.
Let us make it a Life duty.
Peace

on the miracle of flight

The miracle of flight never ceases to amaze me. Its not that the physics of the thing are beyond my grasp; I have read enough about why and how it happens to understand the basics of what goes on when air rushes above and below an aircraft wing at different speeds. I have read a little about aerodynamics and lift, but I tell you that it still baffles me sometimes to the point where I can only conclude that its simply a miracle. I know that the engine turns, the ‘plane moves forward, and when it races faster than I could possibly run, magic happens and the whole show leaves the ground, to conduct the next stage of the act high up in the sky.

You can’t tell me that its not a major miracle when you see all one billion tons of Boeing 747 taking to flight as easily as any of the birds which have the benefit of flight, some of them no bigger than my fist. Contemplate for a second the entire process of launching a huge flying machine, several tons of its own weight bolstered by the mass of a few hundred souls and their baggage, and enough fuel to make the entire process possible. Launching, not just to hop into the air for a few feet, but for actual sustained flight. Amazing? Yet it does not stop there, because these huge beasts somehow manage not only to stay aloft for hours on end, travelling faster than you or I could possibly comprehend in groundspeed terms, but they actually propel themselves miles above the ground. And then, more often than not (thank the good God) the process of complex magical voodoo is reversed and brought to completion when aircraft, passengers, fuel and cargo come back to firm earth. If that is not magic, I don’t know what is.

I am living a miracle at the moment. As I write, I am on a plane, headed home to Nigeria. Not only am I flying, but I am doing so rather comfortably, which is probably not right. I’m in a bed, admittedly not a huge one, but it’s a comfortable bed nonetheless, flat, with room to stretch out; being served food and drink. All of this while watching a movie, miles and miles above the ground where my home and all I know are firmly rooted. Down the aisle, a handful of guys are at a bar, drinking and chatting like they would in most bars in any city around the world, which is a tad odd. I’m not sure I know anywhere else where perfect strangers would be talking and drinking within such proximity to my bed! In fact, where it not for that bar and the occasional turbulence that we rocks us from time to time, shaking up the juice in my glass in the process, it might well have been possible to pretend to be anywhere else on earth rather than up in the air, supported by physics, the rushing wind and the voodoo magic of flight.

Yet, all of this takes place within a miracle that’s guaranteed to deliver me to hot and sweaty Lagos before the sun comes up fully across this part of the Atlantic Ocean. If I had any sense, I would be afraid of this mechanical beast that can somehow make such magic possible. Yet it all feels so natural. In truth we have come very far since that day on Kitty Hawk Beach when the Wright brothers (who actually sold bicycles for a living if memory of random trivia serves me right) took to flight for the first time, in what was no more than a few seconds of barely controlled hopping which barely lifted man and machine off the ground.

Can you imagine the ridicule and scorn they would have had to endure from those who knew of their plans? Imagine Noah, who built his Ark in preparation for a flood that did not come for 150 years. What would we have made of him today? Then picture two brothers daring to think that they could make their winged contraption fly! I would have laughed too, wouldn’t you? You can rightly accuse me of understatement when I say that I imagine they would have been thrilled to their souls when they realised what one of them would have first known, he whose task it would have been to convince his brother that man could fly, even though he had neither wings nor feathers to lift himself off the ground with.

We’ve come a long long way since then, mankind. The history and story of flight is one of heroic achievement that’s seen the development of the jet engine, long-haul commercial flight (who was it that famously claimed that it would not be possible/economical to have commercial aircraft flying people around the world), supersonic commercial airliners and planes that can fly faster than the speed of sound? Did I forget to mention warplanes that can do amazing aerobatics, the Antonov 225 aircraft that can seemingly swallow whole cities, and of course the space shuttle that has somehow managed to launch specially selected individuals far beyond what our unaided eyes can see.

I tell you, flying is magic, whether you accept it or not. Its just magic that we take for granted, so we forget to marvel at it. Just picture how it all comes together, engine, rudder, wings, flaps, propulsion, control surfaces, ailerons, fuselage, undercarriage – isn’t it amazing how all these pieces come together so seamlessly? Statistically, flying is one of the safest means of transport there is, and that itself is another reason to wonder. As far as I’m concerned, each airplane is as magical as a flying carpet, only infinitely more comfortable, and blessed with pilots who can take control. I didn’t see Ali Baba controlling a rudder, or controlling flaps and that’s scary.

If you are reading this, then I have come down to earth, in an aeroplane flown by a skilled, well-trained pilot. I have just experienced the miracle of flight yet again, and I was completely blown away by it. Flying is magic, and I am spellbound. If you're reading this, then its because i arrived safely at home, and I thank God.

Africa doesn't want to be saved

Last fall, shortly after I returned from Nigeria, I was accosted by a perky blond college student whose blue eyes seemed to match the "African" beads around her wrists.

"Save Darfur!" she shouted from behind a table covered with pamphlets urging students to TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR!

My aversion to college kids jumping onto fashionable social causes nearly caused me to walk on, but her next shout stopped me.

"Don't you want to help us save Africa?" she yelled.

It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs.

This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help...

Rest of the story.