Email Scams Surge as $100 Laptop Rolled out
Across Nigeria
By Jay Effkay ◦ 11-Dec-2007
"Dear Sir, I would like your help to recover $25m
left
by the deceased General Obomjayo in his bank account..."
by the deceased General Obomjayo in his bank account..."
Internet watchdogs are reporting a huge surge in
the number of email scams following the introduction of the $100
laptop in Nigeria.
The $100 laptop project has delivered 6000 units to schools across rural Nigeria in the first phase of the global scheme.
School children are encouraged to use their laptops to find pen-friends in the West with which they can communicate and share ideas.
However, early reports indicate that savvy children
have begun lucrative email phishing schemes, with several hundred
thousand emails being sent to unsuspecting users around the world
every week.
"This laptop has changed my life", reported Kruma Ombaniyma, 17, "before my family was so poor, we could not afford to buy new shoes for school. Thanks to the phishing emails I can send from my laptop, I have already made $50,000 from stupid, rich westerners".
With plans to provide every Nigerian child with a laptop by 2010, it is estimated that remittances from email phishing scams could account for 65% of Nigeria's GDP within twenty years.
The $100 laptop project has delivered 6000 units to schools across rural Nigeria in the first phase of the global scheme.
School children are encouraged to use their laptops to find pen-friends in the West with which they can communicate and share ideas.
"This laptop has changed my life", reported Kruma Ombaniyma, 17, "before my family was so poor, we could not afford to buy new shoes for school. Thanks to the phishing emails I can send from my laptop, I have already made $50,000 from stupid, rich westerners".
With plans to provide every Nigerian child with a laptop by 2010, it is estimated that remittances from email phishing scams could account for 65% of Nigeria's GDP within twenty years.
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