The Nigerian Invasion of the Internet

Welcome to the University of Nigeria!

I’m sure there isn’t a person wired into the world wide web that hasn’t received, the classic Nigerian scam email or one of it’s thousands of variants. As bad as any virus, these mass mailings clog our precious bandwidth, causing internet sites to load slower. They also have given us tighter and more restrictive filters from our ISPs, which is a nuisance and causes many legitimate business mailings to be rejected (bounced). Although the bane of the email box, I must admit a certain oddball penchant for the ridiculous and even moronic at times, that keeps me riveted to any new variation of the classic Nigerian inheritance scam.

I especially love the solid boldface, screaming mis-spelled sentences of gibberish at me. I love the overtones of “utmost secrecy” that bind my Nigerian grifter and me into keeping our multi-million dollar “no brainer” proposition totally secret, furthering my trust in him/her, while at the same time affording them less chance to be forewarned, as some idiots believe that these emails might be true!

On the “bleeding edge” of Academia in Nigeria is a fine University, that first came to my attention about 1 1/2 yrs. ago online, is the U of N! This institute has probably been training experts in the field of email marketing and eBay auctions for many yrs. longer than I have kept abreast of them though, and a darn fine job they’ve done indeed.

Some of the fine courses offered are:

~Fishing 100~

This course will teach you the skills and techniques of effective bait and switch programs.

~PhotoShop 200~

This course will teach you how to scan passports into PhotoShop, change the picture ID, and alter any written information using the smudge tool and type over effects.

~Ebay Buying Strategies 419~

How to make money, NOT by SELLING, but by BUYING. Yes, this program teaches you how to make instant money with each purchase you make on Ebay…..! Have you ever saw something on Ebay you wanted? Take this course and we will show you how to get it for free.

This is just a sampling of the huge offering of coursework at the U of N!

I have enjoyed posting about the site that I have linked to above, but it still can and does happen all over the world today. People believing in “get rich quick” schemes and being the victims of their own partners in these ridiculous scams. If you get popped by these folks or one of the variant schemes out there (we’re getting similar emails from England, South America and Spain most recently) then don’t cry too loud. “If it sounds too good to be true, then it must not be”! I tried to warn you!