back to article 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 …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    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.

  2. Sureo

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

  3. Paul Bartlett
    WTF?

    If it were UK

    They'd be given asylum.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      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?

    2. Roo
      Windows

      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.

  4. 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.

    1. Paul

      Re: How Quaint

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

      1. chivo243 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: How Quaint

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

  5. Scott 26
    Joke

    "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......

  6. Mark 85

    So that explains it...

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

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So that explains it...

      She loves ME Mark. ME !

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So that explains it...

        och, stop it buoys, Good laves you bouth!

  7. Shannon Jacobs
    Holmes

    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.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    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

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      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.

  9. Andy Non Silver badge
    Joke

    Hmmm

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

  10. Anonymous Coward
    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?

    1. 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.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        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.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          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.

        2. Alan Brown Silver badge

          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.

  11. Neil B

    No Prince Among These Thieves

    Surely.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like