The ringleader of a Dutch-based internet scam that raked in up to $US2 million ($2.6 million) has been arrested in Nigeria, police in Amsterdam say. The Nigerian, who headed a band of fraudsters operating out of Amsterdam, was arrested in Nigeria's economic capital of Lagos, police said. The fraudsters sent emails all over the world promising the recipients quick financial gains from a make-believe inheritance or fictitious lottery wins in exchange for "processing fees" of several thousand dollars. Those who paid up never heard from the supposed organisations again or saw a penny of their promised windfall.
...the group sent up to 140,000 emails per week...
Twelve Nigerians were arrested in the Netherlands in February over the scam. Some were held at the request of prosecutors in the United States where most of the scam's victims are located. According to the Dutch ANP news agency, the group sent up to 140,000 emails per week.
... opf which approximately three quarters landed in my inbox...
Nigeria is a major hub for internet scams with criminals bombarding computer owners with emails seeking to trick them into handing over bank details or making advance payments on non-existent money-making schemes. Experts say that the so-called 419 fraudsters - named after the relevant section in Nigeria's criminal code - steal hundreds of millions of dollars every year from unsuspecting victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"... of which approximately three quarters landed in my inbox... "
Brilliant! LOL!! Well then I must have the other quarter.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/06/2006 8:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
About Goddam time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2006 9:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Before he was arrested, he left me a suitcase with all the money from his scam. The suitcase is being held by a security company in London. If you can send me the fee I need to get the suitcase released, I'll split the money with you. Email me with your bank account number and mother's maiden name for details.
#5
Dear Sir, I am Karen Obowale, wife of Kenneth Obowale, a Nigerian IT Businesman, falsely imprisoned by the Nigerian goverment.
Before he was led away, he managed to transfer his funds...
Posted by: john ||
08/06/2006 9:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
:-) youse guys....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/06/2006 9:49 Comments ||
Top||
The Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo said Saturday that the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is working with the hypothesis that Cuban President Fidel Castro "is sick" and that the cancer he is suffering could keep him from returning to office. "Cuban authorities told the president and the Workers Party (PT) that the dictator has cancer and that even if he recovers he might not return to power," the newspaper said without mentioning sources.
"They said that the dictator might be kept from returning to power even though he recovers from the illness, a malignant abdominal tumor, according to the version with which the Brazilian government is working," said the article signed by journalist Kennedy Alencar, Folha de Sao Paulo's correspondent in Brasilia. "'It looks like we are going to lose our friend,' Lula told an assistant after being informed of the dictator's critical state of health," the article said. Oh, how sad to lose your "friend." The tumor is not half as malignant as Fidel.
The story said that "word from Havana received confidentially indicates that Castro is very ill." According to the daily, Lula was deeply moved and asked his collaborators for discretion and told his friends he is hoping for Castro's recovery. The Cuban leader will be 80 on Aug. 13. Please, become stable by then.
#1
One thought does occur to me, however - Fidel and his merry men were supporting clowns like Lula and Chavez. If everybody goes home to fight for the succession, that could leave them short some of their muscle.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/06/2006 14:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Oh, the poor man. Abdominal cancer hurts a lot in the later stages, right?
And given Mike Kowalski's point, life could get very interesting for his wannabe dictator friends in the near future. Which would be nice for giving the Special Forces guys a bit of a break, I imagine...
Doctors at the exclusive Cimeq hospital in western Havana are accustomed to handling the delicate health problems of Cuba's communist elite. It was here last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt, that they battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro. Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader.
To all but a handful of trusted doctors and his closest lieutenants, President Castro's medical condition has been shrouded in mystery, described as a "state secret" in words attributed to the dictator until, on Friday, the health minister, José Ramón Balaguer, said he was recovering and "will be back with us soon".
The 79-year-old president is understood to have undergone surgery on Saturday at Cimeq before being wheeled back from the operating theatre to the floor reserved for him and his 75-year-old brother, Raúl. The facility is in the district of Siboney, home to Cuba's most prestigious scientific research complex and near Gen Castro's official residence in a tightly guarded military zone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2006 09:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Surgeons fought for hours to save Castro's life
#3
"Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader."
What they tried was an asshole transplant But the asshole rejected him.
Posted by: The Paradise Nazi ||
08/06/2006 12:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Even though he is in good health for a guy his age, he's still eighty with a history of smoking. His odds of living a month are less than fifty per cent. I don't even have to know what they operated on. If it was a gimme, like an appendectomy, they would have announced it.
#10
I am sure all the while they were "fighting to save Castro" for hours, he was dead as a door nail.
They were just trying to save their own hides by saying, "we tried for hours", to brother Raul and family. He probably has third degree burns from the defibulator pads all over his chest AND ass.
#1
Beneath that macho exterior is a sensitive soul who enjoys poetry, long walks on the beach, gourmet cooking, and Lifetime Network disease-of-the-week movies.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/06/2006 8:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
One who considers himself a good friend of Castro is George Galloway MP, who has described El Comandante as "the most impressive person I have ever met, a most charismatic man". And that was after he met Saddam Hussein. Galloway even strongly implied he went "skinny-dipping" in the Caribbean with the Cuban leader.
"He likes to meet late at night and talk into the early hours," the MP said. "One time I met him at 1am and the meeting lasted until dawn." In another interview, asked about the alleged skinny-dip, he replied: "You meet Fidel, you have to be prepared for a long night. If you are there on the right night, you end up in the Caribbean with Castro. It's quite a treat. I'll not go into what we were wearing... that would be a breach of confidence."
bet it was that red unitard....
nice journalistic fellatio by the Independent
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/06/2006 9:40 Comments ||
Top||
The Ukrainian parliament has approved Viktor Yanukovich as prime minister, ending four months of political deadlock in the country. He will share power with Viktor Yushchenko, the president who ousted him in 2004. The president said he had guarantees from Yanukovich that he would not try to reverse the revolution's pro-Western principles.
Yanukovich, who held the prime minister's job before the revolution, gained 271 votes from the 450 deputies in parliament. His supporters applauded his victory and presented him with a bouquet of red flowers. "I am itching to get down to work," he said before the vote. "I've been ready [to serve as prime minister] for a long time," Yanukovich told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
MUMBAI: Soon after the failure of the GSLV-F02 launch rocket carrying the Insat-4C communication satellite, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has decided to act fast to meet the growing need for Ku-band transponders from the direct-to-home (DTH) sector.
Isro will be replacing Insat-4C, where Kalanithi Maran's Sun Direct had booked seven high-power Ku-band transponders, with the launch of an identical satellite by July 2007. The satellite, Insat-4C(R), will be launched at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
Maran will have the option to take transponder space on that satellite for his DTH venture. But if he decides to launch the service earlier, Isro will make provisions on an alternate satellite which could be foreign or Indian. Insat-4B, which is meant for Doordarshan's DTH service DD Direct Plus, is being launched early next year.
"We have the flexibility to accommodate Sun. If there is an early requirement, we can give them space on an Indian or foreign satellite," says Isro contract management and legal services director SB Iyer. For DTH providers who want to operate from foreign satellites, Isro will have to provide the approval and lease it out for them.
Will Insat-4C(R) disturb the scheduling of Isro's other satellite launches? "We plan to launch Insat-4C(R) by July 2007 from Sriharikota. It will have the same number of transponders as Insat-4C. The other satellite launches will be on schedule," says Iyer.
Of the 12 Ku-band transponders Insat-4C would have carried, Sun TV had booked six for DTH and one for DSNG (digital satellite news gathering). While Isro plans to launch Insat-4D in 2006-07, Insat-4E is expected to go up by 2007-08.
Isro had earlier said that the failure of Insat-4C was "a brief setback" which it would correct by recasting its programmes to accelerate the Ku-band capacity growth.
Posted by: john ||
08/06/2006 13:10 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
GSLV failure not to affect Moon mission: ISRO chief
Ahmedabad: The failure of the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle will not have any bearing on Chandrayaan, the country's first mission to the Moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G Madhavan Nair said on Saturday.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at the space application centre (SAC) to give away the Astronautial Society of India's annual awards, Nair said, "the GSLV failure will not affect the launch of Chandrayaan because it will be launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Chandrayaan, an unmanned mission to carry out a chemical and mineral mapping of the moon to understand it better, is scheduled for launch in 2007-08.
Replying to another question, Nair said India had plans to create its own satellite navigational system.
Nair presided over the function in which the prestigious Aryabhata Award was presented to R Narasimha, an expert in aeronautics and astronautics.
Posted by: john ||
08/06/2006 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
NEPAL plans to seize lands owned by King Gyanendra and other royal family members and distribute them to the poor while the monarch will be treated like a "normal citizen," a minister said Saturday. The law that will limit the amount of land the king can hold will be drafted once an inventory of royal land holdings are completed, the minister said. "The king and the royal family members will be treated just like normal citizens," Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary, minister for land reforms and management, said. "The seized royal property will be nationalized and handed over to poor farmers and landless people," Chaudhary said.
The minister gave no timeframe for enaction of the law. Under the law, Nepalese people are allowed to possess 7.45 hectares (18.4 acres) of land, the minister said. But according to a preliminary report by the land reforms ministry, the king and royal family members own1729 hectares (4274 acres) of land throughout the country, including palaces and forests, the minister said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Yheft by Government"
Nothing to see here, all is normal, move along.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2006 9:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"THEFT" dammit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/06/2006 9:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Look soon for "Firing Squad Fires Royal Salute Into Royal Family"...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2006 15:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Huh? Nepal is 56,827 sq miles of territory (wikipedia). That's 14.7 million hectares, and there are 27 million people in Nepal. That's 0.5 hectare for each person, so where's the other 7 hectares coming from? Budget deficits? Or maybe only *certain* people are getting the 7.45 hectares...
Hmmm...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/06/2006 18:07 Comments ||
Top||
Hard drive containing data on 26.5 million vets was returned in June
Two teenagers were arrested Saturday in the theft of a laptop and hard drive containing sensitive data on up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, authorities said.
The equipment was stolen May 3 during a burglary at the Maryland home of a Veterans Affairs employee. The laptop and hard drive were turned into the FBI June 28 by an unidentified person in response to a $50,000 reward offer.
The equipment contained the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of veterans discharged since 1975, in what was the worst-ever breach of government data.
Jesus Alex Pineda, 19, and Christian Brian Montano, 19, both of Rockville, Md., were arrested early Saturday, Montgomery County police said.
Pineda was charged with first-degree burglary and theft over $500. Montano was charged with first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, theft over $500, and conspiracy to commit theft over $500.
Police said charges were pending against a third male suspect who is a juvenile.
I commend the FBI, Montgomery County Police, VAs Office of Inspector General and other law enforcement agencies for their professionalism and diligence throughout this investigation, Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson said in a statement. Todays announcement that arrests have been made is good news.
Suspects unaware of laptop's contents
Authorities said the suspects did not specifically target the VA employees home in Aspen Hill, Md., and did not realize the hard drive contained veterans information until the case was publicized.
Police did not have any information about attorneys for the suspects. A bond hearing could be held Monday at the earliest, officials said.
The VA announced last month that the FBI has determined with a high degree of confidence that the files were not compromised.
While this arrest is good news, we were lucky that the data belonging to veterans was not accessed and misused, Steve Buyer, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
The vulnerability is real and with the help of Congress, VA must move forward with information security reform, said Buyer, R-Ind.
Congress is investigating the steps leading up to and after the theft. It also is pondering legislation to improve information security.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The ringleader of a Dutch-based internet scam that raked in up to $US2 million ($2.6 million) has been arrested in Nigeria, police in Amsterdam say. The Nigerian, who headed a band of fraudsters operating out of Amsterdam, was arrested in Nigeria's economic capital of Lagos, police said. The fraudsters sent emails all over the world promising the recipients quick financial gains from a make-believe inheritance or fictitious lottery wins in exchange for "processing fees" of several thousand dollars. Those who paid up never heard from the supposed organisations again or saw a penny of their promised windfall.
Doctors at the exclusive Cimeq hospital in western Havana are accustomed to handling the delicate health problems of Cuba's communist elite. It was here last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt, that they battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro. Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader.
The Ukrainian parliament has approved 
NEPAL plans to seize lands owned by King Gyanendra and other royal family members and distribute them to the poor while the monarch will be treated like a "normal citizen," a minister said Saturday. The law that will limit the amount of land the king can hold will be drafted once an inventory of royal land holdings are completed, the minister said. "The king and the royal family members will be treated just like normal citizens," Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary, minister for land reforms and management, said. "The seized royal property will be nationalized and handed over to poor farmers and landless people," Chaudhary said.
