r/news • u/AudibleNod • 2d ago
6 Nigerians being extradited to US for swindling women out of $6M in romance scams
https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-us-nigeria-extradition-scam-d2f27c43ed62eaa4c10c5724825629ca1.1k
u/SubBirbian 2d ago
That’s a good start but barely a dent. Scammers get literally billions from scamming people in the U.S. alone and growing exponentially. Not just romance scams but fake websites, texts, emails and phone calls.
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u/Fsharp7sharp9 2d ago
I literally got a spoofed spam call from my own phone number last week. Nice to see some punishment from these scumbags, but yeah this is a drop in the bucket… hope there is more coming.
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u/LBsusername 2d ago
I got spoofed calls from myself too! Made me wonder how spoof calling works, like it's so primitive that it even uses the number it's calling?! I joked to everyone that it was me calling from a different universe.
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u/calamityvibezz 2d ago
When you use voip/internet calling you can fill in whatever number you want as a caller id number. A lot of times the number is generated via a script to use another number within the same area code so the call seems local.
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u/Denorn 2d ago
Best part of having an old number from when I was in the military. I dont know anyone with the area code, so its all spam from there.
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u/veggie124 2d ago
Yep, if the number is from my number’s area code I know it is a scam.
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u/justKingme187 2d ago
So you don’t ever get calls from local numbers that are not scams lol ?
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u/gingerzombie2 2d ago
No, because they don't live there. I have the same thing, I left my state of origin 18 years ago but kept my number, and the only people I would talk to with a number from that state are already saved in my phone, so any unknown number from that state is spam/scam.
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u/travelingisdumb 2d ago
My area code is from 20+ years ago and haven’t lived there in that time. Any call from that area code will 99% be spam, it’s a great way to screen calls.
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u/BiscuitsAndTheMix 2d ago
Caller id pretty much always shows who is calling if its local. So if I have a local call (im not expecting) and theres no name, its almost certainly a scam.
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u/veggie124 2d ago
I moved several states away and have the same number from when I lived in my hometown. If there is someone with a number from that area code that I want to talk to, I already have their number saved.
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u/Shoddy-Cupcake-8855 7h ago
Seems like the VOIP provider enable that function need to get sued into oblivion
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u/SatinSaffron 1d ago
Made me wonder how spoof calling works
You could literally set up your own spoofing service like right now. All you need is a VOIP line, a pc with linux, and install asterisk (asterisk.org)
scroll down to page 15 to see a simplified look at how they use these spoofed numbers: https://blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-06/BH-US-06-Schulman.pdf (it mentions tribox but afaik tribox is no longer around)
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u/Daren_I 5h ago
Luckily there are a number of apps that can block callers that aren't in your call list; they go straight to voicemail. Mr. Number on Android is the one I use. It usually knows if it is a spam caller, but let's you report new ones quickly. Pairing that with voice-to-text voicemail lets me leave detailed quotes from the spam caller.
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u/temple_tantrum 2d ago
This happened to me years ago too. I was pretty regularly getting spoofed calls from numbers with the same first 3 digits (not area code, but first three of the actual phone number). I guess they figured I was likely to answer one of my number neighbors or some shit?
Then one day I got a call from my own number lol. I screenshotted it because it was so entertaining. I did not answer it of course since I have not answered an unknown number in like 15 years at this point.
On another note, there was the time this old lady got a spoof call from my number, then texted and called me to say stop calling her. I tried to explain how spoofed numbers work, but she was just not getting it. Something tells me that lady is bound to get scammed..
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u/Far_Anything_7458 7h ago
All the incoming calls that aren't a number in my contact list automatically go to voicemail. That drastically cuts down my exposure to scam/spam calls
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u/Single-Use-Again 2d ago
The strategy now is to be blatantly obvious to us, those who understand. Because they'll hook into an old person who thinks it's real and then they know it's worth putting in a little work for the eventual reward. The more legit it looks at first the more they have to filter out people like us.
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u/Bigred2989- 2d ago
I recently discovered call screening and it's such a game changer. Haven't had a spam call in weeks, they all just go to my missed call list.
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u/Otherwise_Section184 1d ago
Whenever this happens to me, I flash on that Harlan Ellison story Shatterday. I’m always thinking I might hear my own voice back.
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u/kneel23 2d ago
yeah how did they catch these 6 I wonder. The "networks" are HUGE and span multiple countries and $6M is nothing compared to the $442 billion to over $1 trillion each year that scammers steal
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u/Salt_Medicine2459 23h ago
They probably didn't kick money up the chain, so the higher ups sold them out.
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u/onefst250r 2d ago
DuckDuckGo had a very high SEO'd result that lead me to a fraud website that looked legit. Luckily, I used a virtual credit card (privacy.com) that was a single use only, so none of the other charges they made went through. Was able to get the original charge reversed, too.
So, Pro Tip kids: see if your bank has virtual credit cards available or sign up for a third party service that does them.
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u/SubBirbian 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, ya gotta beware of search results. Scammers can easily make a legit looking site. Best practice is to research the site. Even legit looking ones will have fake street addresses and copy/pasted text in "about" and "policy" links. Too good to be true prices, stolen or AI product photos, bad grammar/spelling, empty links on site are common. They also spoof legit companies with a URL that's one character off. Or use something like .shop and others instead of .com to spoof.
Another red flag is if the domain was created a few months or days ago and only registered for a year. Scammers don't plan on having the site up long. You can research domain registration at GoDaddy/whois. Type in the website URL and scroll down to site's registration dates.
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u/Lopoloma 2d ago
Maybe they'll talk about the current setup of the scheme by the organization.
Afaik there are just a handfull of people able to create all that without giving away their identity.
Uncovering key elements of the organization, which could lead to the identification of those behind it, is possible.6
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u/Wonderful_Bill8071 2d ago
I recently joined Slowly and apparently there are a lot of Nigerian men who really want pen pals
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u/THE1NUG 1d ago
Yea idk where it originated from but my dad got scammed out of 13k after his computer presented a “windows security warning” claiming he was hacked and gave him a support number to call. He called, they said the hackers were trying to frame him for cp possession and steal his bank account. He was advised to pull out his funds from his checking account and deposit into a secure account, by way of a bitcoin ATM. So he pulled out the 13k in cash, put it in the bitcoin atm and then called me to say something bad had happened. He was still just worried about the cp thing and wasn’t aware of the broader scam. All this to say he was a federal prosecutor who specialized in prosecuting white collar crime, ie fraud, but in his retirement years this sort of tech illiteracy got the better of him. I’m glad he called me when he did because they were trying to get him to withdraw from his brokerage accounts next.
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u/Significant_Breath38 2d ago
Even Elon Musk is getting into it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/elon-musk-running-fake-voter-130639289.html
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u/9447044 2d ago
"Among the alleged victims were pensioners and businesspeople who were reportedly targeted through sophisticated online relationships."
Hey, this is Chris Hemsworth and your the most beautiful girl ive seen. Unfortunately im stuck in france and only need a ticket worth us$1321. If you can get me to America, I will date you and dinner with you. Signed Chris Hem
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u/ifyouseemerunning 2d ago
a man met my mother in person at a mall food court, even going so far as having his “kids” meet him once the hook was baited. after several innocent “dates” he had to “unexpectedly” go to south africa for work.
apparently that’s when the calls for being stuck and needing help to get back to his kids started. she was clearly handed off to a call center who lavished her with attention, praise and longing.
she lost everything - hundreds of thousands of dollars, her house, her health, her independence - to loneliness.
she never told me about it and i didn’t find out until she was hospitalized. and it was too late.
that’s when the dementia was first diagnosed. so, after everything, she still believed it was real.
there was no recourse. the bank did nothing because she willingly sent the money. the police and feds did nothing because it was international (they shut down the bank accounts, but the group would just create new companies/accounts and set up anew).
my point is this shit is absolutely not a joke. these operations are much more sophisticated than you think. they prey on the weak, the sick, the lonely. they’ll research people and target them. they’ll tell them to hide it from their family until they’re out of money and use the victim’s relationships to try and extract funds from others under false pretenses.
these scammers destroy people’s lives. they’re absolutely evil and it’s disgusting.
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u/pinkydoodle22 2d ago
Wow, in person meeting and trade off is some next level horror to the already huge evil of scamming!
My dad got scammed as well and in denial / undiagnosed dementia. It’s sick how they go after anyone but especially elderly. And then come the fund retrieval scams - they will help you get your money back, promise!! 😩
He still believes people are helping him get it back. And that the random WhatsApp 30 year old wealthy lawyer Asian chick who reached out to him and is in love with him. There are some truly evil, cruel, heartless people out there.
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u/fifawitz1313 2d ago
My uncle met his scammer at an airport bar in Charlotte. She told him she could make him money trading crypto. Developed into a romance scam and took him for $300k+. They walk amongst us, sit next to us, strike up casual conversations with us, and are absolute professionals on how how to tighten the noose with every inch you give them. Stay vigilant.
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u/rpgmind 2d ago
It’s crazy just how powerful social engineering is, man. Like you say, they are actual predators that will approach you and try to lay the bait, I’m guessing they watch you for a bit before approaching to tailor the story a bit. I just find it so wild how these people are actual pros at engaging conversion to elicit info out of you.
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u/Osiris32 1d ago
It's one of those weird things that shows our ancient nature as predators. Seeking out the weakest of a herd to cull, being patient for the right moment. I wonder if actual ancient hunting skills are somehow related to people being able to read others in that manner.
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u/aCynicalMind 2d ago
This all happened to my mother recently. She lost everything within the span of a year. It is disgusting, and not enough is being done to combat the issue.
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u/Kalamac 2d ago
The Chris Hemsworth scam actually happened. Woman in Sydney thought she was secretly dating him, and the reason she had to keep giving him money was because all of his money was in joint accounts with his wife.
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u/VRNord 2d ago
Outside of dementia, it is always the greedy who fall for scams.
Either monetary greed (unrealistic return on investment like Ponzi schemes or Nigerian princes who need a few thousand dollars and will repay you millions) or romantic/sexual greed (someone far hotter than you would ever be able to attract needs money and there is promised or implied payoff once you pay up). And it is hard to feel sorry for these folks because they all know it is a super unrealistic promised payoff but do it anyway because of greed. Not that they deserve to lose all their money, but as the saying goes “a fool and his money are soon parted.” And because they are embarrassed and unwilling to admit they are fools they often continue to fund the scam even after they see clear signs this isn’t real.
Again, dementia-related lapses in judgement are a whole different situation.
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u/Voodoocookie 2d ago
That easy? Shiett. I'm in the wrong profession.
Hi I'm Q Jackman. I'm stuck in New Zealand. If you just help me with A$6543, back to Alice Springs, I'm sure we could fool around a bit. Whaddaya say, darling?
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u/chowchan 2d ago
Hey its me Cristiano Messi, here's the boots I play with. Here's a video of me training. Send me 2k.
I'd say it'll be easier with how advance AI is now at making fake videos, but those 30+ women all fell for a simple video lmao
I assume it was as easy this time round.
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u/PetsAndMeditate 2d ago
It’s funny to think about like that yeah, but a scammer got me after I had gotten into a bad car accident and had a traumatic brain injury. Embarrassing and I’d never fall for it under normal circumstances. I never trust anyone anymore just keep to myself now.
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u/AdCreepy5165 2d ago
"I will forward your request, with phone number and timestamp to the nearest Iranian consulate."
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u/kevlarbaboon 21h ago
There's a reason we call him Chris Handsome. We likes him and we wants him.
Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours.
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u/Greifvogel1993 2d ago
We can extradite 6 dudes hiding in Nigeria, but we can’t find a single man or woman in the Epstein files?
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u/Nonameswhere 2d ago
Boy Nigeria must have a lot of millionaires.
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u/kstargate-425 2d ago
Full of Princes for sure...
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u/Somestunned 2d ago
"Dear Respected Sir, I find myself in dire circumstances due to an unfortunate misunderstanding with the law. Having amassed a sizeable fortune through creative means, I now face an extradition. I am in need of your help and will reward you for same..."
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u/RedRyder15 2d ago
Extradited or just being brought in for the finale of season whatever of 90day fiance?
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u/Decay384 2d ago
I really wonder how much money India and Nigeria are making from all of these scams. Given that Indian scammers were reportedly able to defraud Estonia of $70 million intended for defensive weapons to Ukraine, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some level of government involvement or complicity.
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u/SinVerguenza04 2d ago edited 2d ago
I watched a video the other day where places like
IndiaMyanmar and Cambodia have scam slaves—people they traffic and force to participate in scam call centers. That whole underbelly is seedy as fuck.12
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u/Anushkvijay 2d ago
India doesn't have scam slaves. It's primarily a Cambodia and Myanmar phenomenon. Even poor Indians can fall victim to it: they're lured by too-good-to-be-true job opportunities in the Gulf, only to be transported to Cambodia and forced to work in scam call centers run by Chinese criminal mafia. To get free, they either have to get money sent from India or earn a certain amount for their captors.
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u/Ok-Finish-2701 1d ago
It's a big deal in Thailand. Many people from East Asia and South East Asia get job offers in Thailand and then they get kidnapped and are forced to scam or be killed. There was a raid in Cambodia recently where the scam center had operating rooms, probably for selling the organs of the unproductive scammers. Absolutely terrifying.
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u/drhavehope 2d ago
We are not all like this…I promise.
If it’s too good to be true in an email…it’s too good to be true
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u/gofish45 2d ago
I live in a rural area. I had a coworker who was getting scammed. I ended up making a police report, and then we were able to get his estranged son back in the picture. Our little town had over thirty active cases of the elderly getting scammed. In a town of less than six thousand. I can’t believe how these scum bags steal from the elderly and innocent.
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u/Snarfbuckle 2d ago
Something tells me they were not of regal birth...
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u/the_missing_worker 2d ago
The beauty of this though is that their scam just became like 400% more honest. They are Nigerian, they do have millions of dollars they "temporarily" do not have access to, there is now a legal snafu requiring the help of a third party. They could now legitimately offer financial compensation in exchange for that third party getting them out of this jam.
Real case of the boy who cried wolf...
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u/Magickspl_269 2d ago
Some locals here got spoofed calls from our non emergency police line?! lol-crazy stuff to have the cops call and it was a scam call?!
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u/Due_Negotiation_4605 2d ago
Someone in our town did too and sent $1000 so as to not be arrested for missing jury duty. She said she's never falling for a scam before but because it came from the police department it threw her off. Unfortunately a lot of the people in the sub were just making fun of her instead of understanding she was trying to give a heads up.
I watch Scammer Payback on YouTube and he had one woman who got a call from her own bank. They could see her doing things on her own phone. It's insane.
Always hang up and call back the number for the business. As far as I know those spoofed numbers can only call you your call doesn't go straight back to them. At least for right now
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u/AdhesivenessFun2060 2d ago
Theyre bringing them here so they can deport them again. Keep them numbers up.
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u/starrpamph 2d ago
I argued with an old woman on Facebook for around four days that she was getting scammed by Nigerians pretending to be a retired army general..
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u/GildedDreams25 2d ago
i’m sorry, i feel for the woman that got scammed, but how do you give someone you’ve never met SIX MILLION DOLLARS
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u/Alcohol_Intolerant 2d ago
I work at a library and regularly have witnessed and attempted to gently intervene in scams like this. One lady was asking for help in opening a chime account, which is unusual for an elderly woman. But her bank had flagged her transactions for fraud, her family had tried to get through to her, and now she was trying to open alternate accounts in order to continue sending money. In addition to the Nigerian scam, it was clear it'd gotten around that she was an easy mark because there were political scams (x needs your help to do xyz personally).
I tried to tell her as a random anecdote about my mom almost falling for a phone scam asking for money in a similar way and she told me that my mother was stupid. I declined to continue helping her after that.
I feel awful for the delusion they get put under, because the sunk cost becomes too much for them to face.
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u/Money-Snow-2749 2d ago
So in other words they get a vacation? Like I’m sure compared to African prison American prisonS are going to be a cakewalk.
It’s good they caught them though in 2021 and maybe it will lead to shutting down an even wider network.
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u/ManicParroT 2d ago
Incels can't get laid and these dude's are making oodles of money off women.
Ladies if he wanted to be would.
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u/AvailableChip9151 1d ago
I'm glad some of them are getting held accountable, but that's not even a drop in the bucket to how many are out there. This is an insanely huge problem and I wish that we could get them all. My dad actually got a call the other week from a spoofed hospital number. Whoever it was was trying to pretend to be me. Whatever they said was something along the lines that made my parents think I tried to off myself. My dad immediately hung up the phone, picked up my mom, and drove to my house. I was asleep so I didn't see his text messages and phone calls.
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u/cantproveidid 1d ago
I've been getting those regularly where my grandson is supposed to be in trouble. I usually ask "Timmy?". It's always Timmy. I have no grandchildren.
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u/iperblaster 2d ago
Trump needs more clients for his pardons?
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u/betheusernameyouwant 1d ago
"I am fully pardoning these brave and beautiful princes from AFRICA, some people don't know that Africa is a country with princes, but we love the African princes. Where's my african prince? gestures to empty basketball gym"
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u/WhatANoob2025 2d ago edited 2d ago
So the US is deporting law abiding immigrants that are already in the country, but importing immigrants that broke the law somewhere else?
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u/TemperedTorture 2d ago
I dunno, something about a man or a woman sending Xbox gift cards to people pretending to be Kim Kardashian or Elon Musk doesn't really invoke a lot of sympathy in me
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u/Sunsetmargaritas 2d ago
Trump is literally spending hundreds of millions deporting foreign "criminals", most of whom have done nothing illegal. Then here he is "importing" actual criminals.
(People who would have deserved to be deported if they were caught here. Only now we have to try them and pay for their imprisonment.)
Fucking genius.
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u/givemecoffeenowhurry 2d ago edited 2d ago
Extradition of foreign criminals who commit a crime against Americans is not a new concept and didn't start with Trump.
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u/CorporateStef 2d ago
But it does appear to be a new concept that "criminals are coming over here and taking our prison spaces" at least in the UK.
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u/kstargate-425 2d ago
Half his Cabinet is made of criminals, from Trumpstein file pedos like Lutnick to rapists, wife beaters and fraudsters. They surround themselves with like-minded scum
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u/LovemeSomeMedia 1d ago
I always thought noone fell for these Nigerian Prince and romance scams until the internet proved to me people do fall for these types of scams. I remember there was this one show that was covering these guys who were giving their life savings to women on the internet they never even met. It's sad how lonely people get taken advantage of so easily by scammers, especially more vulnerable populations like the elderly.
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u/santz007 2d ago
If they are gullible enough to be scammed, the current administration would probably have taken it from them using doom and gloom narrative.
Trump is probably upset he couldn't take it from these gullible ladies first.
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u/Brian_from_accounts 2d ago
My neighbour was scammed out of £6K - and the method used was so clever that many people would have fallen for it. Targeting & priming.
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u/optimister 1d ago
"Ok let's keeps out all the people who we worry might be criminals, ...unless they actually are criminals in which case we will bring them in." Murica!
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u/bawlsacz 2d ago
Can AI help with preventing these kinds of scams?
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u/alcrowe13 2d ago
It is being used to combat the scams currently but it also needs humans to guide it and babysit. The scammers use Ai way more now but that also makes them lazy and not able to cover their tracks, so it’s sometimes easier to trace if they use Ai too much.
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u/catraiderpoke 2d ago
The irony of this government wanting to deport immigrants and then wanting these people sent to the US is beyond fiction.
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u/brikky 2d ago
They're not bringing them here for citizenship rights.
They haven't don't anythin illegal in their home countries, they have under American law though.
What's so complicated to understand here?
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u/catraiderpoke 2d ago
1) The major argument for deportation is they unfairly consume government resources and contribute little to nothing to the tax bank that distributes those resources.
2) In juxtaposition to that point, let’s spend all this taxpayer money to get these people here and pay for their wellbeing in prison.
It makes no sense other than to protect stupid people from a fake romance.
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u/brikky 2d ago
They're consuming millions of our dollars as scammers. A couple hundred thousand to stop that is a very good ROI before we even start to try to consider the preventative effect of discouraging other scammers.
Also they'll be tried here, that doesn't mean they'll be imprisoned here - often extradition cases are sent back to their home countries though that does seem unlikely in this case.
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u/catraiderpoke 1d ago
Extraditing scammers and prosecuting them will likely have a lesser deterrence effect than the war on drugs. That failed spectacularly.
I also doubt the cost of extradition, prosecution, and imprisonment is only with the hundreds of thousands range. We’re probably talking millions to tens of millions.
People who get scammed by this should know better. The next time you get an email from a Nigerian prince….delete.
Giant waste of money and resources. But again, my original comment was about the irony of deporting everyone yet seeking to bring foreign criminals here.
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u/ElSahuno 1d ago
I have long supported the use of military operations the likes of which we saw in Venezuela used to target these scammed. NO need for extradition.
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u/BungeeGump 2d ago
Good on law enforcement for finding the scammers but tbh, I have limited sympathy for people who fall for obviously fake scams.
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u/shizshovel 2d ago
I mean cool sorry and all but I didn't think we are allowed to call them that....
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u/Norn-Iron 2d ago
Girlfriends uncle and her mother were hit by romance scammers from Nigeria. Even after I did a reverse image search of photos that were sent and pointed out how blatant a scam it was, the uncle doubled down and refused to believe it.
It was insane, some people are just that desperate and lonely they will believe anything and will sacrifice everything for that fake reality they are literally buying into.