Stop finger pointing, people, get to the bottom of the situation. Everyone involved in these scams are scammers, victims and criminals

Why would ANYONE give you millions of dollars smuggled out of a 3rd world nation? And anyone caught trying to do this should be sent to prison with the scammers! Greedy...

Victims?!! Com'on, like the first no one is a victim here. Why would you take money from a poor country? These ppl are greedy and deserve to get scam they were trying to scam too.

A Congressman and a heart surgeon? Are these supposedly educated people complete dopes? If I was the heart surgeon I would be so embarrased that I was so stupid that I wouldnt have gone to ABC news. These things are always scams. I am constantly amazed by the the amount of people (especially highly educateded people) who fall for these types of scams.

My father had been conned out of $25,000 from the nigerian email scams. My father is an intelligent man, but he got caught up with the persuasive tactics and charm of the con artists. They appealed to my father's faith, (God be with you) and sense of family... made it so personal that he wanted it to be real. It had torn our family to shreds.

'Black money' is hardly the 'latest twist', it's been around for years! Your 'investigative' reporting leaves a lot to be desired!

I guess none of these 'victims' don't think to ask the simple question: How about if you GIVE me the chemical, and after I get all the black paint off, I'll give you half the money! That way, instead of making just $300,000, you'll make over $1 mill! Or, how about this question: Why not do it yourself and pocket the whole thing... what do you need me for? Sorry, but anyone who would fall for a NIGERIAN (geez, don't these scammers even bother to change the name of their country? Doesn't EVERYONE know about 'Nigerian scams'?) scheme borders on being brain dead. A fool and his money are soon parted. And in most cases, they deserve it. Would you want to be operated on by a heart surgeon who would fall for this scam? How did this idiot get through med school?

Its time to stop foul play.
Victims are thieves, scammers are thieves. Education is not an issue. Intelligence is not the problem. Its the human GREED the is the issue. You get greedy, you tend to loose all your marbles and get hosed by some GOOD thieves. As sad as it may sound, we all should take a lesson from this scamming and actually punish the victims since they have shown more greed than normal. They want to rip off a third world country. This has been going on for centuries and now they want their piece of African cake too.. lol
They should just do like the Nigerian leaders do, smuggle it out of the country in a suite case. Everyone involved with this scamming is a thief.

BTW why does everything bad have to be bad ? ummmm Nigeria calls it 419, before that it was Spanish advance fee or payment. Now America calls it Black money ? geepers ... I guess its not different when we started calling Katrina victims Refugees lol

I was scammed on an online dating service. Familiar to anyone? After weeks of chatting, exchanging photos (nothing erotic), my "friend" said she was "stranded" and needed money. I fell for it, but not twice. I'm telling everyone out there to be very, very skeptical of any online money exchange. And don't knock the "victims" unless you've NEVER thought twice about receiving online funds. Unlike other tempting inheritance scams, I was used, by a sick, demented Nigerian man pretending to be a woman. Disgusting!

I just recently got an e-mail saying that I had won $2.5 million pounds from the United Kingdom lottery. Do you have any idea how much that is in American dollars?! The guy claimed he was the Reverend William Smith. He called me several times and eventually said I'd need to send him $675 so they could "notorize that I wasn't a terrorist" and then they'd send me my check.
I checked the UK Lottery website which specifically said not to send any money to claim a prize. It also said if I hadn't bought a ticket, I wouldn't be winning anything. I found a website about internet scams and saw the same photos and graphics that had been on my email - they just changed the names. The good Rev insisted he was legit and seemed offended that I had so little faith... Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Brian Ross has always sought a spot light, I am sure Nigeria would be an ideal at this time. I am from Nigeria but have lived in US long enough to realize that lawlessness is a way of eazy life in Nigeria. Bribery, theft and scam plus whatever else english language can use to qualify a life style. The pronoucement of what people do in Nigeria and the equation of it all to this country or any other as matter of fact needed a full investigation than Mr Ross's vacation and sight seeing of few hours and those in the US congress and the senate. The star powers and privilages, advertising schemes, all legally and carefully structured, yet Nigeria is the culprit because someone is thinking on a different line of survival. I am not angry Mr Ross, I just thought you should look in your backyard first before painting a whole Country like Nigeria struggling to recover from the oppression of colonialism(British)and answer one simple question. Are lobbyst and political contribution better words than scam. Please look some where else and let Nigeria fight for her goal to a better country for her citizens.

Funny, if you fall for all the garbage in an email letter, whether from Nigeria, Japan or Australia well, I would say you deserved it. Blindness is real when vission is lost. When one is greedy enough to fall for what you call Nigerian scam, that individual should look in the mirror because for responding to scam, you yourself is out to scam someone else.

WC Fields best said it there is a sucker born every day.
Once the United States makes it a crime then people would not fall for the scam anymore. The laws that are being broken are many and it should be enforced. Pointing at the Nigerians is not a solution. Both parties should be punished. Greed is not a crime but what they are attempting to do is. Money laundering etc.

I think you should look into online dating site because they are using that medium now as well. A family member has been taken for a ride by a couple of different men. They both clamed to be from england and to be well off but had no problems asking to be sent money. One even taped into her phone line and was making calls from were else but nigeria. The other was able to have credit cards put into her name without her ever knowing it. Take a guess were he was nigeria. These people are praying on single men and women looking for love and then riping them off. That is something to look into.

I find it simply amazing that people fall for this scam. Having said this, we all realize that the main tool of the scammers is the Internet and their computer. Perhaps an answer would be for a particularly rabid virus to be written. Something that would allow government agencies to monitor the machines of these scammers and even delete all their files. That could very easily be done. And how would we get this virus on the scammers' machines. Simple, they always seem to want financial information from their potential victim. Fine, send them an infected attachment purporting to provide that information and voila, the scammers click on the attachment while salivating at the prospect of making money and they are infected!
Just a thought.

The Brain Ross Black Money Investigation is nothing new, advance fee fraud aka 419 and scam is nothing new in Nigeria as well as in USA or around the world. People should be careful when they make decisions about their money, especially to people they do not know. In Nigeria 419 is open and accepted, though it is not ethical and legal, but what about in USA, where you have campaign soft money peddlers during election period. I think Brain Ross should have done something different, not only was the information in the investigation old, but totally not accurate, why would he claim that the per capital income of people leaving in Lagos is $1, that’s absolutely not true and inaccurate. You have a lot of Nigerians in Nigeria and around the world doing a lot of good stuff; we do not see Brain Ross investigating on that. I think if you going to report on a country as big as Nigeria, you need to be reflective of the totality of the country, regardless of your topic of investigation. Brain Ross; please do some investigation on corrupt cops in Baltimore, or Soft Money peddlers in Washington.

Hello,
Yes I was a big dummy on this one. I fell for it but you know what saved me being too poor. I was supposed to come up with $5000 and wire the guy the money and then I'd get a percentage of 5 million dollars. Luckily after I talked with the guy on the phone a few times I came to my senses. I did lose $20 on a phone card I purchased so I could call the guy. One time I called him and heard a party in the background thats when I realized something was up. I went online and searched scams and realized I was in the middle of an attempt at one. Luckily I opened a separate bank account that I only deposited $100 into which is the only info the scammers got from me. I couldn't of gotten enough money for them anyways. I am just glad I came to my senses before I started borrowing money or taking out a loan or something. Nothing in life is free and that is a valuble lesson.

I am in a situation of scam now. I have consulted the FBI, the local police and any one else that would listen to me. Every one says "It is a scam". Will I know that, but I don't know how to deal with it. I can forward various e-mails if you’re interested.

The first thing I learned when I came to this country was "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." I'm astonished at the caliber of people who, out of greed and stupidity allow themselves to be duped. Most of the time, the scammers actually tell their victims that the money they are trying to transfer was stolen from somebody or a dead man's family. Now one would think that these so called "victims" would see a red flag. If scammers stole from someone, what do you expect them to do when they get to you? Steal from you of course. So why would anyone be so dumb and gullible so as to fall for that? It beats my imagination. Perhaps one can conclude that the victims deserve what they get for trying to reap where they did not sow.

While I don't condone the nefarious activities of the Nigerian scammers and have very little sympathy for the victims, especially thos who allow greed to block their reasoning, I feel that scammers, called by any other name is bad. Personally, I feel that the Nigerian scammers are doing what some of our telemarketers, insurance swindlers, phony home repairmen, corrupt congressmen, corrupt CEOs, the likes of Jack Abramoff and Andrew Fastows of Enron, etc were doing. A thief is a thief is a thief. "If it sounds too good to be true" as they say, "it probably is." If there is no demand, there will be no supply.

It just goes to show a certain class of americans are prey.You don't see them preying upon other Africans or minorites such as Liberians,Kenyans,etc.., because they will be the first to tell you can not ever ever trust a Nigerian. This goes back many decades of business dealings with Nigerians. Now you can all learn a lesson that there is no way to help invest in a country that has a corrupt gov't and corrupt citizens.

Anyone who participated in the scams should be held accountable. Also to all Americans we are to intelligent to fall for these scams open your eyes these people are underneath it all are envious of you they want to be us wealthy,happy,successful, educated they resort to any means to take that away from us at any time. Just look at their victims, what do they all have in common? Why dont they try to prey upon the black american community? Because they know that they would not get anywhere fast. Please educate and protect yourselves from these predatory 3rd world wannabe "America" nations. Wake up and realize you are the richest people in this world you have everything you need be proud and say it loud I LOVE YOU AMERICA!!

One way that scam artists manage to harvest email addresses is by scavenging emails from many Internet guest books. Don't believe me? Use Google and search for the words "mugu guymen 2006" (without the quotes) and you will see the guestbooks that are used by these "mugu guymen" (which is what they call themselves).

In addition to being a college student, I also bait these West African scammers. But I am not alone: there are literally thousands of other scam baiters like me whose obsession is to only to waste their time on themselves and not on true victims but also to cause them real pain.

This doctor is the same man that tried to operate on my mother two years ago, (Thank Jesus he didn't). Once I took a good look at him I knew his head wasn't screwed on right.

"K", you are correct. The "wash wash" scam is old.

"daffy", you are a victim of a love scammer. This is common on dating sites.

Everyone ----> Do a google search on the scammers email. Do some research on 419 scams. You will find a lot of resources on these scams at a number of websites.

Why be mad at nigerians, there are more criminals in the US than in nigeria. it's all an act of greed. And please don't call every Nigerian you see a scammer, cos they don't call every American drug dealers or murderers. Not everybody in this world is Honest and they know themselves.

Not EVERYONE gets scammed -- because there is a whole subculture of us out there who do nothing but mess with the scammers themselves -- any way possible to get them to waste their money and time. By us messing back, it's time/money they don't have available to mess with a real victim. I won't post the site URLs so that scammers who come here won't find it, but the clever person uses Google...

America is just ashamed and surprised that Nigeria out smarted them. In their eyes, they see Nigeria as very poor and undereducated- but they are highly mistaken.SCAMMERS ARE EVERYWHERE!Do not be surprised America!They come here and build businesses and are among the top students.

I have recieved e-mails from people asking me to give them my bank account number so they can transfer the millions of dollers they have in overseas account to me, ha funny. Anyways after seeing that story I looked at my e-mail and what do you know another letter but this one is from a woman claiming to be from zimbabwe. Do you think it is the people like in the piece?

I too was scammed. Just days after posting on line a time share for sale, I was contacted and involved myself whth several exchanges within a month. Some flags were raised like why would this party from Africa be interested in my condo (even as nice as it is), but there remained a portion of the dialogue I truely wanted to believe in. The party sent me a check and it was brought to our bank where the teller told my wife that there was no worry. The money would be placed in our account following that transaction because of it being a cashiers check. She remained leery and asked that a manager review the check. Once again we were assured that the check would have no problems clear. We received an urgent email saying that a business partner was having some financial problems and wanted us to wire money back via western union. I thought nothing about it since it was assured that the funds were in my account, and it came from this party. I wired the money. It took 2 weeks before we heard from the bank again, now telling us that the check was bogus, AND that the loss would be taken from our other account.I remain very disgruntled. These criminals are good. Just days after wiring the money, the email addressed that was used was closed, and could not be traced. I lost $3500, they initially wanted to send me $8,000.

As a hardworking Nigerian making a honest living I was very pleased to see this evil exposed on national news. About time! I have just two comments: 1. These criminals should have been handed off to the cops and not allowed to go; do you want them to continue these unconscionable acts? 2. You did not give a balance by stating that there are Nigerians who make a honest living and would like to expose these criminals like anyone else so that our names will not be linked to such ugly actions!

Someone once told me that "no one minds being scammed as long as no one finds out". I still don't buy that but what I would buy is that scams work because people are gullible and afraid to come forward. Instead of castigating the heart surgeon and others, we should be glad they came forward. It takes courage to put yourself out there like that. They are just human too. Being a doctor doesn't make you omnipotent.

"I go Chop ur $ Dollar". LOL. woow its really scarry when someone who was supposely an ex-top elected official of our country or whatever falls for a stupid obvious scam like this. Maybe all you Greedy jerks "MUGU" out there will learn from this. For you idiots still outthere i have a $25 million oil investment money in Nigeria and i need to get it out so i need ur help.You'll get a 25% cut. so get at me LOL idiots.MUGU

i guess what they say is true "Greed is the root of all evil"

HAHA MUGU!!
what idiot would be stupid enough to fall into such a obvious scam? oh i guess a greedy excongressman.

LOL

Brian Ross,

I began watching (with interest) your piece on the 419 scam; then something you said really put me off. How in the hell do you come off calling Lagos (or any other place for that matter) a "disgrace of a city". Show some damn respect!!

It may be crime ridden, but so is Atlanta, Los Angeles or Detroit. Or is it that you are so ashamed by "simple" Nigerians scamming your fellow "educated" citizens in the US that the only recourse you have is to refer to their home as a "disgrace".

All the prosperity, good living and weatlth in the world can't replace basic common sense. You should be interviewing all these "mugu's" in the USA and ask them how they could be so lacking in common sense. Surely, that in itself is a crime.

As some of the posts before me have said, both the scammers and victims are criminals. Anyone who jumps at an offer of 28.5 million dollars which they know they are not entiltled to is a criminal. Plain and simple.

It's such a pity to see what has become of my beloved country and people. I am not justifying the evil that these men do but then more questions should be asked. I reside in the States and have seen a lot of programs on TV demonstrating how poor "AFRICA" is and how the people are suffering. Isn't it a shame that someone living in a country like USA would still want to cheat the poor, suffering, oppressed and downpressed Nigerians? Someone riddle me this, isn't it a scam to give a poor man $340,000 or $20,000 or whatever for his $12 billion...come on, which poor, struggling man could be that generous???. Am not saying anybody deserves what they get but lets call a spade a spade here...both the giver and the receiver had one thing in mind..."SCAM".

Disgrace of a city? Is that how he put it lol. The documentary was very funny. Why the heck are people still falling for this? Well as long as there are MUGU's out there, 419 will always exist. Wise up America and stop falling for stupid obvious scams.

What most people don't realize is that the victims are not just "greedy " Americans, victims have included elderly people who may not even think in terms of fraud. The scams change as fast as law enforcement can find them. The people behind this type of fraud are masters of social engineering, telling the victims what they want to hear. I work this type of fraud everyday. The general public needs to understand they are responsible for what is deposited into their accounts no matter if they are victims or not. Just because the bank gives you credit on a item does not mean it will be a good deposit. It all comes back to " if sounds to good to be true, it is"

Much as I sympathise with the victims, I dare say that the white Americans who fell victims were intent from the outset to dump the Nigerian people of their money, just like the western companies have been doing with oil there. Otherwise, why would any sane mind want to reap where they did not sow? It is wrong to see the 419ers as the only villains. The second arm of the villainy are the victims, yes, the victims themselves. They are the big mugus (the big fools). If they were not greedy and wanted to get rich quick, they could not have fallen for such cheap con.

somebody tells you he's a smuggler trying to smuggle money and you put your trust in him. Geeeee, that's awesome dude!

I am a Nigerian myself, the fraction of people that scam is so much of a minority of the entire population.
I will still maintain that every victim caught in this is as guilty as the scammers themselves. I am sure, if the heart surgeon got away with changing the 3.8 million supposed notes, he won't have visited the ABC news to tell them about his ordeal. He, and all other ones who have been victims of this are dumb ass themselves.

Why dont you give this a think?..........how can someone ask you first for some money to claim some money?. Isnt that stupid?.........

Note: Not all Nigerians are scammers, it such a shame that we are only been put on the media for every crime committed by a minority sect of people.

I think its time to initiate an investigation into the crack Nigerian Law Enforcement Unit called "EFCC" Who in Gods name is overseeing them. It would be easy for certain individuals within that so called Elite law enforcement unit to get in on this cash cow. Your only scratching the surface.. as a retired NYC Detective I know full well what can be done to bury/hide corruption and investigations looking into corruption

419 is just a game. There is the winner, and there is the loser.

The FBI and law enforcement organizations in the US have tons of information about 419 scam, yet some fools think they can pay $20000 or $50000 to get millions from the cover of the Nigerian treasury. Is the law here not hypocritical.There are two criminals here, the scam artist and the so called victim. Both of them belongs in jail.
I remember a co-worker of mine told me about three years a go about an email offer from Nigeria asking him to give them his account number and money to move about $45 million from Nigeria because they trace his heritage and discover that he is a lost lost relative. I told this fool that this is a scam. Did you kmow what he told me? He told me that I am not happy for him to get rich because the money is coming from my country. Some people can be dump and stupid at the same time.
As they say in America, dont hate the player hate the game.

for the first time in my 24 years on earth am disgusted and ashammed of my country nigeria. joblessness and hopelessness has become the other of the day. healthy young men chosing to dupe other of their hard earned money, while the nigerian govt. sits and pretends like nothing is happening. with all our blessed "natural resources" our people still live in less than 50 cents a day. our president ought to be ashammed of himself; that is if he still has any shame left in him. the nigerian youths are not asking for much, give them hope, jobs, clean water, electricity, schools, the basic human necessities. an idol mind is a devils workshop. i feel very sorry for the victims and may god help us all.

Mr Ross, I would say your investigation was quite interesting and some of your info was WRONG. It's accepted that there are SOME nigerians that are involved in scams but did you know that there are SOME other countries involved in this scam? why did you pick on Nigeria for your investigation? Nigerians here in the US also get scams from other nigerians and other people that are not nigerians.talk about the so called "lottery, dating services and all that" from some other countries.People that are involved in such activities should be brought to justice.

Why would you describe lagos as a "big for nothing and crime-ridden city with 20 million people mostly illiterate and poverty stricken"? How would you feel if your home was described as that ? some of the facts on lagos is true but I bet you that there are worse cities than Lagos. Not all nigerians are poverty stricken. Nigerians are fighting to get back on their feet from the british colonialism. I thought the program was funny and i'm not angry at all. This documantary has made many nigerians and nigerian americans worried.It's not fair. also, i don't know how some people could be dumb enough to believe that they could inherit huge sums of money from an african country. that shows the amount of greed in people.Talk about the oil that was taken away from countries like nigeria. I must say i don't know whether feel sorry for the victims or laugh at them for becoming fools.

An advice, before you do any investigation such as that, start from your backyard. Another different issue is that why isn't the positive aspect of nigerians shown rather than the negative aspects? this show has just painted nigerians as bad, email, scam, poverty stricken people. This is not fair.

Dear Brian Ross,

I have two comments on your "in-depth report" on Nigerian scams:

1) You ought to have more cultural sensitivity and know better than to call Lagos "a disgrace of a city". Every city on the planet has criminals. To indict the entire resident population of Lagos because of poverty speaks to your ignorance. A public apology at the very beginning of the next 20/20 episode will go a long way towards healing several of us who are insulted by your comments.

2) While the advance fee fraud started in Nigeria, you will find that the scams have been propagated by criminals in Asia and Eastern Europe.

3) Although the most of the featured "victims" were targeted by fraudsters, they all seem to be complicit in attempting to break laws by enriching themselves through questionable means. Merely calling them greedy or naive is to minimize their responsibility. Both the fraudsters and the scammers should be arrested.

4) Dont forget to apologize (see#1).

Some people are just simply stupid. Like someone said here, if this brian ross or surgeon or whoever he is, got the money that these "419-ers" Promised him, he wouldn't be calling ABC news.

I am not in anyway supporting 419 or scamming, i am just trying to pass it across that, NOT EVERY NIGERIAN IS A SCAMMER!

There are 419-ers everywhere, and Nigerian is not the only place where you can find them.

Only someone who has larceny can fall victim to these types of scams. I definitely wont shed a tear for anyone who gets caught in this debacle...

In no way, do you have the right to describe Lagos as "a sprawling, crime-ridden, corrupt, disgrace of a city"
Your fellow Americans were not smart enough to stay away from these scams and it must irk you to think that people from a "3rd world country" are much smarter than you.
If you want to fix fraud, start in your own backyard, and stay out of other people's business.
But then again, there is a history of invading other countries...

how can somebody want to get rich quickly.whoever is looking for a esay way to make money i guess that is what they deserve.if you can make people rich why can,t you make your self a billoniare.pls this should not be a good judgement for every nigerian living in america,we have good had working people here in america who are here working paying there taxes.so pls americans dont think everybody are the same.

Men, i have gotten a lot of these emails in the past and neva gave them a thought. People should learn to make money by working hard. Everyone wants to make fast money these days. Plz be wise. dont be fooled. Crime exists in all countries. its everywhere, not just in Nigeria. Bottom line, dont be a "MUGU"

First of all this scam wasn't invented by Nigerians. The white man has been doing this scam for centuries. Ever heard of the "spanish prisoner"
Nevertheless, it's unfortunate. This issue is as a result of government neglect and society decay on Nigeria's part.

Look, I'm a nigerian born and bread and will remain so for life. The bottom line of this whole thing is GREED,I mean, is it that easy to get rich? My dad always tell me " if something is too good to be true, then it probably is". If it was that easy to get rich (28.whatever million) then no one would be working.
Besides, I see scams like that here in d US so don't go about trashing My beloved NIGERIA, Remove the log in ur eyes before trying to remove d speck in someone else's eyes.

It is funny how we Americans feel we own the world. "Ban the Nigerians from using the internet" because of financial fraud. Maybe we should ban ourselves from using the internet as we have the most pedophiles patrolling the web. Yes, the scams are bad and should not be condoned, but let us not forget the bigger issue here is that Americans and westerners have and still want to get rich at the expense of the African continent and its poor citizens. All the victims are offered a chance to do a noble thing called money laundry. Now you want to describe them as victims? Please. They were beat to it. Had it not been a scam (as was the case with past African dictators and officials), the poor people of Nigeria and other third world countries would have been the victims of the scam. The West have been defrauding the third world for years, by helping the dictators in those countries amass wealth and launder stolen money (national wealth). For instance, Mobutu of Zaire (now Congo), and many Nigerian heads of states and government officials were allowed to defraud the country and store their money in Western banks. The western world permitted this because it puts money into their economies. So when the disadvantaged citizens now start offering those same deals offered in the past, except this time there is no government oil, resources, or real money up for grab, now we Westerners feel scammed.

Whatever the case, the only victims are the poor citizens of Nigeria and other 3rd world countries, which were deprived of their resources (with the help of the greedy westerners); as they have to deal with the bad image created by the scammers and their not so smart 'would be money launderers. I hope the American and Nigerian government prosecutes the westerners for their willingness to launder stolen money belonging to poor African countries. This is not an attempt to vindicate the scammers. I hope they fully face the repercussions for the sorrow they have brought upon innocent Westerners as well as their fellow Africans. Trust me, the Africans get scammed too.

I MET A GENTLEMAN ON A BLACKCHRISTIANSINGLES WEB SITE. THE GENNTLEMEN SPOKE WELL OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. WE SPOKE ABOUT 3 MONTHS. THEN THIS LAST MONTH HE STARTED SAING THAT BECAUSE OF OUR FELLOWHIP HE BELIEVE GOD ALLOWED PROSPERITY TO COME INTO OUR LIVES.BECAUSE THEN HE STARTED SAYING THAT HE HAD JUST FOUND OUT THAT HIS FATHER HAD BEEN SAVING AND INHERITANCE FOR HIM IN A SECURITY COMPANY. IT WAS WROTH 3.6 MILLION DOLLAR AND ALL HE HAD TO DO IS COME UP WITH THE BACKTAXES WICH WA 79,OOO IS US DOLLARS. WELL EVERYDAY HE WAS DOING THIS AND THAT TO COME UP WITH THE MONEY. BUT THE MONEY WAS IN MALAYSA. WELL TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT HE SAID SINCE I WAS GOING TO BE HIS FUTURE WIFE HE NEEDED MY HELP TO RAISE THIS MONEY. I TOLD HIM I DONT HAVE THAT TYPE OF MONEY. AND IF I DID I WAS NOT HIS WIFE AND I WOULDNT GIVE IT TO HIM. HE GOT MAD AND I ASKED HIM WAS THIS A SCAM. GOD LEAD ME TO ASK HIM THEN HE SAID SINCE I COULDNT HELP HIM HE HAD NOTHING ELSE TO SAY. I HAVE H IS NUMBER I WOULD LIKE YOU TO INVESTIGATE PLEASE. SO HE WONT DO THIS TO ANYONE ELSE.

i ,m nigeria resident in south africa. i got a lot of this letter also ,i no i to deal with them ,just tell them to send money so that you can open account for them .around 500 dollas,they wont mail you again.

The beef I have with Brian Ross’s report is two-fold:
- alluding to Lagos as being a disgrace of a city; and
- his notion that the salary in Nigeria is approximately $1.00 a week??? Even the beggars on the streets, make more than $1.00 a week (not to make light of their situation).

Mr. Ross –
Where did you get the above data from? If you must make blanket statements like that, could you at least justify them? First of all, as a reporter who I’m assuming should be politically correct in whatever he has to say, you totally disrespected any Nigerians who were watching the show and who may have any ties with the city of Lagos, by referring to it as a disgrace of a city. You owe people like me an apology. That utterance was blatantly rude! Second, I am assuming that people who earn salaries are people who work. How in the name of God can someone earn a $1.00 a week in salary! Would it be worth their while to work? How do you even eat, clothe yourself and transport yourself to work with $1.00 a week? C’mmon! Third, you alluded to the home of a 419-er on lockdown as a “mansion.” Where in the city of Lagos did you reside? I’m assuming somewhere on Victoria Island. Were your eyes bothering you when visited? That was a mansion??? My parents’ modest home in Lagos (note my father is a graduate from the Johns Hopkins University – feel free to contact me and I will give you his name so you can verify for I would hate for you to conclude that he may be a 419-er as well) is 10 times better than what you aired, and is not even considered to be a mansion. For the record, per Nigerian standards, that was NOT a mansion. Finally, there are thousands of Nigerians doing well and who live by strictly honest means. The 419-ers are a fraction of the country’s population and are no different from those in the whole of the US of A who decide to get rich quick by scamming others. What is the difference b/w an American con artist and a Nigerian 419-er? None whatsoever!

The irony is I used to believe that you were a good ABC reporter. Well after you aired that show, it made me begin to look at you from a totally different light. It will be really hard for me to believe anything you have to say from now on.

If you are exposing people in Nigeria, what about the thives that left America looking for easy money? You left that part untold...It a big shame what they did but our people here too is a big Thieves as well..Nobody can ask me to give him/her my bank account and i will not call police on them, all this victim none of them call police when they first received email all because of their own 419 mind....

$350,000 for $41M?$300k for $3.8M?, and the lady hoping to get $50k are all scammers and thieves themselves. Who EVER gets a return like that? I am sure the doctor knew that "money washing" is illegal, but because he is as greedy as the fraudsters he went for it anyway. While I am disgusted with what my country people are doing, I say there are no victims here. Absolutely NONE! We see infomercials that are scams, fraud in congress, fraud in public companies, fraud and scams everywhere in America, so to think you should highlight "Nigerian 419" because a few greedy Americans lost money because they wanted to illegally enrich themselves is hypocritical, don't you think?
Mr. Ross, while your reporting was probably most accurate, I am not impressed!

Now, I know that Brian Ross is not a credible, honest, serious reporter. How dare Ross paint such a broad picture of Nigerians being scammers. Yes, there are some Nigerians that engage in duping people (those duped people aren't innocent themselves) but that is not the whole population of Nigerians. Ross has nerve to lump and portray all Nigerians as starving, scamming individuals. As he would not openly label all white males as being serial killers or pedopiles, he can not call or suggest that all Nigerians are scammers rejoicing in scamming Americans. You can not judge people by the actions of a minority, that is stereotyping which i'm sure he knows to be wrong. To his credit, he happened to find some Nigerians who engaged in scamming, but let me ask him, why is he bent on tying these frauds to only Nigerians? Other nationalities, even Americans engage in scamming (and even known for it), it has gotten to the point that other nationalities committ the same scams he illustrated but hide behind the name Nigeria. Nigeria has gotten the reputation but it is not only Nigerians who engage in these dubious acts.

Not all nigerians are scam artists and thiefs.As with all people of the world we have positive and negative aspects. why dont you take your investigative team to the positive parts of the Nigerian culture for a change or would it be too atrocious to think that good things can come out of "desperately poor" Nigeria?

Brian Ross should understand that there are the crooks, then the gullible and greedy... who seek to reap from where they have not sowed...

How does a medical doctor, a surgeon lose $340,000.00 to scam artists? He had a cat... he inexplicably expected the cat to give birth to a cow!

That has never worked in America and it does not work in Nigeria either!

Brian Ross... I am bitterly disappointed in your biased reporting. The first thing that they teach in journalism school is ethics and unfortunately, you don't have or show any, based on your worthless reporting.

419 (aka fraud/scam) is not a new phenomenon. I mean, someone of your stature should have been able to write about more pressing issues in America instead of chasing old stories in Nigeria. How about reporting on the return to the way of life in New Orleans? Is that too big of a story for you to handle?

It is amazing how people like yourself try to lump all Nigerians as scam artists and uneducated people. To call someone's city a disgrace is a pathetic gesture on your part to elevate the greedy people (notice I did not call them victims) you were trying to protect.

I suppose that the United States of America is a crime-free nation, filled with honest people and great moral standings. There are no longer over crowding in American jails too. Please... get a life.

I applaud ABC but this black money and widower emails are so last decade. They should go and do more research.When they do, they will find out that these " scammers" have changed tactics and that the "mugus" are no longer mugus. By the time these boys finish with them, they will be "ewu", "ode", "mumu", "iti" or the like. ABC should note these buzz words.
These boys are as sophisticated as the U.S government....really. When you are parting with your money , you will be like one under the influence of some spirit:-) Yes, the victims share 70% of the blame, they are greedy which has been reiterated over and over again, the are really mumus, the are daft and lack common sense. Living is a game and you dont play it using common sense because if you do , you get played, which is what is happening to these mugus.

Can you blame ABCNEWS?

The most educated people (better yet...the smartest people) in the world happen to be the best scammers. Unfortunately, educated & smart does NOT equate WISE. Nigerians proudly hold crown as #2 corrupt country & have become a disgrace & icon for greed & fraud. While other countries (S.Africa, China, India, Ghana, etc) are making strides & capitalizing on their intellectual capital & natural resources, we've chosen to become the riffraff of Africa.

We can’t fault ABC News for trying to protect the innocent at the cost of embarrassing all Nigerians. Perhaps shame from our colleagues will help more Nigerians make wiser choices – not assigning bro-n-law as minister or governor of B.S w/out adequate qualifications…get the gist? If & only if we try to channel energy spent on scamming & extorting that make peanuts to forthright efforts. We have enough wealth & smarts to make inventions & maximize the use of our resources to make Nigeria a staple for Africa’s finest!

i would say that each an every one of us has a part to play in what every scam that is taking place any where in the world. why would any one in his or her right mind respond to such an e-mail if it is not all because of greed.Being a young nigerian(proud to be one) woman, i would say they all deserve it and no one should blame nigeria.

I think it is sad that some Nigerians would be involved in this knid of scam business.AS a nigerian, I am highly appalled. However, it is sadder that responsible Americans would be interested in this kind of sheddy business. This is simply greed stupid. Why would you expect to reap where you didn't sow? Every one needs soul searching at this advent. And from the spirit of greed, Jesus deliver us.