419 scammers plead guilty in US

20 years prison time?

Not long enough.

Re: 20 years prison time?

Why not long enough?

Although some 419 scams end in bodily harm or worse, this case looks like the (unstated) losses were purely financial - even if you think large financial losses justify a comparably large prison sentence then 20 years already seems quite harsh compared to the sentences handed out to Enron execs (mostly 3-6 years for fraud of tens of millions, or just 24 years for Mr Skilling, guilty of $11 *billion* in fraud).

Prison? Nah.

Set up a penal colony in Tierra del Fuego, or on Ross Island. Permanent relocation.

Hey, it worked for Australia.

Heh

I remember the 'throat cancer' ones. The best bit was when she introduced herself as the "wife of the late Engineer/Barrister/whatever Lord Hennings, an Englishman who is dead."

Wife of an Englishman who is dead. Classic.

Great, just great

So not only do we have to deal with spam from these and people like these, but now I need to stump up my hard-earned tax dollars to keep them locked away in prison, too? That's just a slap in the face. I have a feeling that's not what the tax system was originally started for.

And I agree about personal responsibility. If you're stupid enough to send money to these people, I have little or no sympathy for you. There's a saying -- if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You do not get unsolicited (legitimate) offers for millions of dollars/pounds, period. End of story. If you really did have a long-lost relative who died and you're in the will, an attorney will contact you by phone or letter, not by email. I would suggest that people be trained to read full emails (including headers), but since people can't even avoid "bad" websites, it wouldn't do any good. Then again, clients like Outlook make it difficult to impossible to see the full email anyway.

does that mean

that i won't get my share of the 55m untill these guys get out of jail???

@ Andus

The Nederlands have joints the US has torture. Plus gang wars. Might be good.

I hope so!

No conflict of ideas

On the one hand, we have people who are so irredeemably moronic that they transfer money to the bank account of a complete stranger on risible and transparently absurd pretexts.

On the other hand, is a 20-year prison sentence too harsh for the scamsters who bring a reality check to those morons?

The former richly deserve to be fleeced because stupid people with money are a danger to themselves and to the rest of us.

The latter are scum and lowlife whose spam irritates the rest of us. Causing irritation by unsolicited email should carry a minimum term of, say, 20 years. The sentence should also take into consideration any offences against English usage and grammar.

I have no sympathy whatsoever with either victim or perpetrator - lock up both of them.

Er, location?

Um - WHY are they being tried in America ??

i had one

through snail mail the other week. I'd won the spanish lottery apparently.

It was nice of them to send me a black and white letter with a camalot logo in the top right hand corner. Clever thinking that. If it'd come with a stamped addressed envelope id of thought about sending it back..