US yoinks six Nigerians to Mississippi on '419 scam' charges

The US Department of Justice has successfully extradited six Nigerians from South Africa to face charges of running a series of scams against gullible Americans over the past 14 years. The six men, along with 14 other defendants resident in the US, face trial in Gulfport, Mississippi on nine federal charges, including …

[Anonymous Coward]

good deal.

Good for the fine state of Mississippi. Now these Nigerians have to face a whole state full of the type of uneducated and gullible people they have been taking advantage of for so long. Plus if we have to store foreign criminals in the US somewhere flyover country is where to put them.

[Sureo]

Guantanamo Bay prison would be too good for these low life.

[Paul Bartlett]

If it were UK

They'd be given asylum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If it were UK

They'd be given asylum

and loads of taxpayers money to spend on BMW's, gold chains, designer clothing etc

or is that just the benefit system in Essex?

[Roo]

Re: If it were UK

Nah, we already know the answer to that one. The British Police forces would do nothing and when pushed say that it's beyond them to do anything about it.

[Lt.Kije]

How Quaint

Wot? Extradition!

That is extraordinarily polite for 21st century America. I thought they just went in and helped themselves these days.

[Paul]

Re: How Quaint

Am surprised they didn't just nuke Nigeria from orbit just to be sure

[chivo243]

Re: How Quaint

there's that phrase again... nuke from orbit. Make me smile each time, no matter the usage!

[Scott 26]

"The DoJ is still waiting for four more of the alleged team at the Nigerian end of the operation to finish the extradition process."

The DoJ just needs to send bank account details & 3 forms of ID and the process can finish......

[Mark 85]

So that explains it...

I wondered why the widow of the General suddenly stopped communicating with me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So that explains it...

She loves ME Mark. ME !

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So that explains it...

och, stop it buoys, Good laves you bouth!

[Shannon Jacobs]

How to make the punishment fit the crime?

Most of the appropriate punishment options seem to hurt too many trees. Basically something involving manual correction of EACH of their spelling errors as replicated over the millions and probably billions of spam messages. Plus correcting the addresses for all the misrouted ones (but without delivery, of course). You know, something to keep their hands from being too idle--for 7,000 years or so.

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll get great jobs in the USA afterwards...

They'll get great jobs in the USA afterwards...Working for marketing departments of the telcos and cablecos

Because the telcos have found a way to scam their customers for years and get away with it, they need fresh ideas to make even more obscene profits

[Alan Brown]

Re: They'll get great jobs in the USA afterwards...

"they need fresh ideas"

In which case a bunch of tired old Nigerian scammers won't help.

I CAN REMEMBER SEEING THE 419 LETTER CHATTERING OUT OF A TELEX MACHINE IN THE 1980S - ALL CAPS OF COURSE.

[Andy Non]

Hmmm

If the American courts impose heavy fines, will the culprits ask for the courts to pay an administrative fee first?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm all for throwing the book at these low-lifes, but I can't help wondering how US laws apply to Nigerian citizens in Nigeria. Does US law now apply to everyone everywhere?

Do we have to be aware and mindful of foreign laws whenever we deal with a person from another country, even though we ourselves are not in their country? Would the same apply if some US citizens in the USA scammed somebody in Nigeria? When doing business on the internet, are we supposed to follow a superset of all the laws of all countries? How could that possibly work?

[Bob Wheeler]

Crime across boarders

I'm not legal expert but it the question I suspect has to boil down to 1) victim is in the USA 2) perpetrator is in Nigeria. So where is the crime committed?

I would guess, if the 'victim' wants justice, then that is where the trail should take place.

However, the tag 419, comes from the Nigerian penal code for this type of crime.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Crime across boarders

It is illegal in both countries with similar penalties (or maybe lower ones in USA). Otherwise there would be no possibility of extradition.

If it were a case of Nigerian citizen getting a raw deal in USA (however deserved) their govt would not happily agree to a handover. Thats when the black choppers arrive instead of peaceful extradition like this.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Crime across boarders

"extradited six Nigerians from South Africa"

I suspect the South Africans don't care so much for foreign nationals committing crimes on their soil and this is probably the cheaper option to deal with them.

[Alan Brown]

Re: Crime across boarders

During the mid-200s, the FBI was running joint operations in Lagos with Nigerian police to go after 419ers.

Several raids were filmed, but of course nothing more was heard. This could be why they're now trying extradition instead.

[Neil B]

No Prince Among These Thieves

Surely.