Nigerian 419 Scams Are Magnets For The Naive

There is a cancer in cyber space that has shown no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Yup, those old Nigerian 419 scams have not only gained steam, they’re practically exploding into inboxes everywhere. With the ever-growing fear of identity theft, the last thing that the common computer user needs to be stressing about is spotting scams, right? Hmm, perhaps this is a copout?

What can we do?

Honestly, the biggest problem is a lack of education and understanding about how simple it is to spoof something on the Internet. Besides phishing, the Nigerian 419 is a growing threat that may require some drastic action. Recently I had one person suggest that we should simply blacklist the entire country until they decide to get a handle on this. My response was perhaps a little jaded: I simply suggested that we instead, blacklist everyone outside of our home country. That way our PC using society can continue traveling down the current path of blatant ignorance and remain safe at the same time!

Obviously I was being sarcastic, however I do have one solution that I honestly have a difficult time supporting myself. In simplest terms, we require a training course on the ins and outs of basic Internet usage. Much like a license to drive, you have to demonstrate that you possess the basic skills to use the Internet. Yeah, it’s pretty extreme.

OK, and now for why I hate the very same idea with a passion: I am a guy who has grown tired of all the mindless laws randomly put into place with little or no understanding as to their long term consequences. So how could I possibly get behind such a law as stated above? Licenses for the Internet? No way man. I would rather watch my neighbors continue to be naive and broke, personally. So in the end, I guess we will have to rely on personal responsibility rather than asking the government to “do our thinking for us”.

I realize that it may sound like a stretch, but I think that there may still be some way to appeal to the private sector for educating folks with the purchase of every new PC. Bingo! There we go! Even though it only works for new PC purchases, if there was a disclaimer offered with a mandatory scroll down so it could not be skipped, perhaps we can begin limiting the damage done by the naive? Eh, just thinking out loud….

[tags]computer,scam,nigerian,magnet,naive[/tags]