Nigerian Diplomat: “Jail ‘greedy’ scam victims.”

So it’s been over a month.. how evil of me. Having a lack of motivation to write lately has had me push this off for far too long. I hope to get back into it a lot more frequently, might as well right?  I guess for now I’ll just get back on track.

A Nigerian diplomat by the name of Olu Agbi responded to a newspaper article written in Australia that reported over $36 Million dollars per year was lost due to “Nigerian” scams. His response is something that makes you wonder if this gentleman is is either not paying attention to the types of scams that are coming from his area, or whether he is only thirteen years old.

Click to read this example...

Mr. Agbi’s response was, in effect, “Jail those who are victims of Nigerian scams because they are greedy.” This stems from the belief that all Nigerian scams are based on illegal pretenses such as someone having embezzled money from a government or employer, through blackmail, or other illegal means. However what this diplomat does not realize is that a lot of the scams are based on the legal aspects of an inheritance, or a tax refund.

Even then, I have to ask what crime have the victims committed? Absolutely none in the court of law. They did not try and defraud the government, or deceive anyone. These victims were deceived by people that orchestrated this scam. Just because someone fell for it does not mean they are criminal.

Olu Agbi, let me pose a question to you. Why is it that these types of scams are referred to as “Nigerian”? Why is it that the Nigerian government has failed to respond with the force required to stop these kinds of things from happening? Why do you feel that the victims ought to be jailed for greed when greed itself is not a crime in it’s own?

I don’t expect a response, but certainly he has made himself the laughing stock for the next week.