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419 Scam: Exploits of the Nigerian Con Man |
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Eamon Dillon devoted a whole chapter of The Fraudsters: How Con Artists Make Their Money to these email scams. Curious to learn more, I ordered Charles Tive's 419 Scam: Exploits of the Nigerian Con Man. Tive's bio reads that he is a former Deputy Superintendent in the Nigerian Police Force who has since worked with the US Embassy in Lagos to help investigate 419 fraud against American citizens. It sounded like he'd be the perfect source to deliver the inside story. Unfortunately, the meat of 419 Scam measured less than one hundred pages. Copies of the actual Nigerian Code 419 laws (from which the common advance fee fraud acquired its name) and similar legal documents padded that out to 143 pages in total. After the overview of how the crimes work, a historical background, and brief introductions to related crimes like identity theft, money laundering and postal fraud, Tive's book contains little that is new to anyone who has read their Eamon Dillon, laughed at the 419 Eater site, or had their identity stolen by a (now deceased) 419 fraudster. Though this is an second revised edition, the text of 419 Scam still contains a great many typos and awkward phrases. Especially as a true crime book is read for content rather then beautiful prose, a degree of that is acceptable from a writer for whom English is a second language. It still reflects poorly on iUniverse that "Bill Gate" (page 31) and "Bibiligraphy" (page 85) are spelled incorrectly. |
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In Tive's favor, 419 Scam does convey a lucid overview of modern-day Nigeria. The book taught several things that I had not learned from my Nigerian co-workers or neighbors. For example: 419 scammers have preyed upon their fellow Nigerians since long before the age of the Internet. Tive also specifies what realities of his country's law enforcement and courts systems make it difficult to prosecute the fraudsters. The real-world instances that he cited and cases he had worked comprised the most interesting segments of the book. I hope that a future revision of 419 Scam will feature more of these accounts. I would have loved a nice fat insider's view of who is carrying out these scams, and how, and what happened to a specific victim like James Breaux.
Critical mick is a big fat mugu
Critical Mick says: A brief introduction to the 419 world, Charles Tive's 419 Scam: Exploits of the Nigerian Con Man does not feature the tone or tension that a talented investigative journalist would bring, nor the depth that a serious academic's study would offer. It's from iUniverse and it's better than nothing.
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This Page Was Last Updated On 24 May, 2009.
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