Nigerian Scams Are Not For You

You've probably received or seen one of these:
a terminally-ill Nigerian prince / director of a massive corporation / dieing nun / disgruntled US soldier contacts you urgently, asking you to move a large sum of money, promising you can keep a share. All they need is your credit card number and banking PIN...

It looks like a scam, sounds like a scam - of course it's a scam. But who on earth actually believes these things? If you've ever wondered why these scams are so blatant, here's why...if you were just too smart for the scammer and saw through the tricky plot - it simply means you were never the target in the first place.
A recent study has found that email scammers really aren't interested in appearing believable...because it would just be too expensive if everyone fell for it.
The research conducted by Microsoft - "Why do Nigerian scammers say they are from Nigeria?" - found that the OTT scam email, complete with typos is a simple cost-effective way of weeding out intelligent people, leaving only the dumb and dumber to hit.
Principal researcher Cormac Herley: "Our analysis suggests that's an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage. Since his attack has a low density of victims, the Nigerian scammer has an over-riding need to reduce the false positives. By sending a mass email that filters out all but the most gullible, the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select."
It seems to work. Just last year a Nigerian man was jailed for 12 years after scamming US$1.3 million. In 2008 an Oregon woman lost $400k to a similar scam. Every month or so, someone goes down in a screaming heap here in NZ, bemoaning their recently-raped bank account.
So next time you open a scam email and think to yourself: "Why do they bother?", live happy in the knowledge you're not the target at all!
Which is a bit of a shame really, coz the current total I'm due to collect via Nigeria so far is over $4.1 billion!!!

Panic Button

You're more likely to die in a car wreck on the way to the airport than you are in a plane crash.
Right. Thanks for that. Just one of many helpful bits of advice dished out to people with a fear of flying. Hardly reassuring, really.

But there’s a new app that is! The VALK Foundation (a Dutch group that's a partnership between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the University of Leiden) has launched an app called Flight App VALK.
The VALK Foundation was one of the first centres for research and fear-of-flying treatment in the world, and has organised three world conferences on the subject. Its app (for iPhone, iPad and Android users) is the first scientifically-developed, web-based treatment for people who suffer from mild to moderate fear of flying. It says up to 30% of adults are fearful fliers.
The Flight App is designed to help relax passengers before and during flights by educating users about aerodynamics, flight safety and turbulence. It explains the sounds and sensations they can expect during departure, flight and landing.
And, if a passenger's flight stress reaches a panic level, they press a special 'panic button' which provides audio and written information to help decrease stress levels.
Perhaps most importantly, the Flight App can be used during the flight in the airplane mode. Once downloaded, the program doesn't require internet connection in the air.
For myself personally, the reassuringly sexy imagery created by that classic 10CC song I'm Mandy - Fly Me always got me through...

Is Da Devil In Da House?

Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment machines it has in an underground bunker.
The Wall Street Journal says Tehran continues to defy pressure to stop its atomic work and also the threat of Israeli attack. In the time when Israel increased talk of air strikes, Iran was rapidly increasing the enrichment capacity at an underground site. It also continues to block international inspectors from another suspect site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accuses Iran of cleansing a military site south of Tehran, to prevent it from verifying it wasn't used for atomic-weapons development. The agency also says Iran conducted weapons research after 2003, the year US believes it stopped a structured weapons programme.

But Iran repeatedly denies it wants nukes. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defends his nation's rights to develop nuclear power, but says it's a "big sin" for countries to use nuclear weapons: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has never been after nuclear weapons and it will never abandon its right for peaceful use of nuclear energy." So if its intentions are peaceful and non-military, why won't it allow inspections? Surely this would ease military tensions???
Israel continues to call for aggressive pre-emptive action, while US wants any military option put on hold until after its elections.

Khamenei constantly reiterates Iran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, yet its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to tell the West to go fuck itself. His belligerency may yet force the military hand of 'The Great Satan'. So ironically, is the Devil already ensconced in the Iranian house? By slapping the West's face as often as he can, blocking inspections, defying sanctions, advancing his country's nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad is slamming the door on a peaceful solution. He may be the man who pushes the Middle East into a nuclear-triggered WWIII.
Will the REAL Great Satan please stand up?