Allie+Bunch_Portfolio

[|Nigerian Email Scams] =( My overall impression is: This is a bit weak, you need to do more background research and make this stronger) = =**Social Issues:**= =**Ethical Issues:**= ( This section is a bit better, but there are more ethical issues, like should all senders be approved? should people be wary of all emails, greed, lying, misrepresentation, etc)
 * //What are the social issues associated with a particular IT development?//
 * The major social issue in Nigerian Email Scams is the fact that someone is being cheated out of a large amount of money. The fact that someone is willing to help out a stranger from another country says great things about them, but they wind up in a fraud that leaves many bankrupt. ( This needs to be developed more. Maybe the psychology of who is targeted or the massive trafficking in email addresses)
 * //How did this IT developement emerge?//
 * The earliest form of this fraud was via mail in the 1920's, but business was booming for the scammers as soon as email was introduced. The peak point was around 1991, when the Nigerian government had to issue a warning statement. ( References should be with this and you should use numbers if available)
 * //Who are the stakeholders who initiate/control or are affected by the IT development?//
 * There are many stakeholders that come from this. One is the person who is running the operation. They write the email, they choose who to send it to, and they work out all the logistics to keep all the loose ends tied. The second main stakeholder is the person at the recieving end. They are either affected by having to deal with another 'annoying spam mail,' or are seriously affected by falling for the lie and sending cash, ending up not being able to get any of it back. The third main stakeholder is the Nigerian government, who not only has to deal with catching those responsible, but also the negative press they get from it.( What about the ISP provider and/or consumers in general who have the web/email tied up these spurious emails )
 * //What are the advantages/disadvantages for the stakeholders?//
 * The only stakeholder who prospers is the one sending out the email. They get the advantage of power and money. However, all other stakeholders have a disadvantage with cost especially, in that the people falling for it lose millions of dollars, and the government has to put out funding to try and end the situation.((Look up costs associated with this (ISP providers having to create spam filters, litigation, etc..)
 * //What feasible solutions can be applied to overcome these problems?//
 * The biggest and most obvious solution is simply not to read messages that come into your inbox that look suspicious. The Nigerian government is also working with their EFCC on a project called Operation Eagle Claw that has already shut down over 800 fraudulent email addresses.( Spam Filters)
 * //What is the social impact of the IT development on human life?//
 * Frauds like these can greatly impact people, especially those affected directly, by making them suspicious of not only other countries, like Nigeria, but also of every email coming in. They may overlook someone who actually needs help or money. ( What about society in general and how about changes to email accounts free vs pay?)
 * //What are the social impacts on local and global communities?//
 * Nigerian email scams are just one more thing that drives countries apart because one is stealing money from another, even if all of Nigeria isn't partaking in it. Also on a local level, others living in Nigeria deal with their country being looked at as one of the "email fraud capitals" because of the people around them.


 * //What are the ethical issues associated with a particular IT development?//
 * The entire Nigerian email scam system is one big ethical issue. People are lying to cheat people out of huge sums of money and, for the most part, getting away with it. The victims are also sometimes doing something that could be unethical, too, as a fair percentage of scams involve claiming they are exploiting "legal loopholes" to get rich quick. Is the whole concept of "easy money" ethical?
 * //Who is responsible?//
 * By taking on Operation Eagle Claw, the Nigerian government and the EFCC take on partial responsibility for taking what action they can to end the problem, but the responsibility is just as much that of the reciever. They are responsible for knowing what is a scam and hopefully reporting it rather than getting sucked in. Is anyone responsible for the fact that exploiting rich foreigners is sometimes the only good way to make a living in some of these countries, or that westerners are so quick to jump for easy money? Is the US gov responsible for protecting its citizens from being scammed? Is the scammer responsible? (oh, and it should be "receivers").
 * //Who is accountable?//
 * The sender of the email is held accountable for their actions, but many times the reciever is accountably for buying into the fraud and sending away their money.
 * //What policies, rules, or laws apply to the situation?//
 * Law 419 is one of the most well-known law numbers, as similar email fraud that comes from places outside of Nigeria are generally called "419 scams." It imposes many safekeeping, reconfirmation, and disclosure requirements with business transactions to protect you and your money.
 * //What are the alternative ethical decisions?//
 * The only alternative would be to not respond or read any incoming emails that you don't know who the sender is. In what ways is this an ethical decision? I also think there could be a lot more than just this. Perhaps around the balance between protecting people from scams and "let the buyer beware"
 * //What are the consequences of these decisions?//
 * If you don't look at anything from unknown senders, you may miss something important coming from someone that you know, but don't have their email address.

=Portfolio-Rough Draft ( You should be much further along here! see above) = ==Ms. R- can you help me find some statistics? I haven't been able to find any. Also the extent of losses, ie. this person has lost blah blah blah, and this person even lost blah blah blah. Also can you think of any pictures or images I could put in to bulk it up? I feel like the portfolio as a whole might be kind of short. == = = = = __Criterion A: Presentation of the Issue__ To open the portfolio, I will talk about the logistics of the Nigerian email scams. Then I will give some statistics as to how many people fall victim each year, how much money people have lost, etc. Popsubculture State Government PDF Minnpost

Bankruptcy. Foreclosure. Especially during these rough economic times, these are words people do not want to hear associated with their bank account. But ??% of Americans are falling victim to a seemingly non-violent crime that has been booming since the invention of email: Nigerian Email Scams. A type of Advanced Fee Fraud (AFF), these emails are centralized around the sender’s goal of retrieving the bank account information of the receiver. They will use false authority, pleas for help, promises of a payoff, and other methods of manipulation in order to convince the recipient that they are legitimate. For the ones who buy into the scam, money losses can be huge as the scammers will either ask to be large sums of money, or use the bank account information to siphon money. [131 words]

__Criterion B: The IT Background of the Issue__ Here I will discuss the usage of post mail in the begininning, then how the development of email created a business out of it.

Although the Nigerian Email Scams weren’t widely known until around the late ‘90s, when email developed, the concept has been around for much longer. Beginning with post letters, the earliest record of a scam such as this could be traced back to the 1920’s. This was called the “Spanish Prisoner Con.” It was a letter sent to well-to-do businessmen regarding the wrongful imprisonment of the son of a wealthy Spanish family. The “family” was asking for money to smuggle the boy out, with promises of generous compensation for the businessman once the boy had successfully escaped. The ones who bought into this however, ended up sending money time after time as the numerous “escape plans” failed. But now as the world has moved away from snail mail and into the electronic age, the scammers have gone high-tech as well. Email has provided them with a fast gateway to the rest of the globe and created a business out of it. They are able to operate in the privacy of their own homes, or even from the numerous internet cafés in the area. The ease of email provides the scammers with a means of outreach to people everywhere as well as a simpler way to remain anonymous. When sending out emails from public computers, the IP address cannot be tracked back to the sender as a post letter could. Emails are also less personal and can be sent in a matter of seconds to massive amounts of people. [247 words]

__ Criterion C: The Impact of the Issue __ In this section I will write about the effect these scams have had on the relationship between Nigeria and other countries. I will also write about what legal courses people have taken to get their money back, and if these have worked. Nigerian Spam Quatloos Crimes of Persuasion

1995: a man named Lois A. Gottschalk from Santa Ana, California got entangled in a complex Nigerian Email Scam that went on in secret for over 10 years. He wired money to various people and banks in Nigeria in order to get his “cut of the profit” at the end of the deal. But as the years went on, the “end” got further and further away, resulting in the loss of $3 million from the family fortune. His son, Dr. Guy Gottschalk, filed for a court order restricting his father from sending any more funds to Nigeria in 2006. The Gottschalk story is a prime example of the fact that these detailed scams can blindside even those who are highly educated, as Lois was. He was the neurosurgeon who made a name for himself by discovering and announcing President Reagan’s diminishing mental ability in 1987. But despite with the extensive amount of money lost, Lois Gottschalk got off with only embarrassment and financial damages. Also in 1995, the US Secret Service located and rescued seven US victims from Nigeria, finding one other murdered, after they had traveled to make deals or reclaim their lost money.

Not only do these scams affect those involved in sending the money, but it also puts strain on global relations of Nigeria especially, and also several other countries in Africa that the emails are coming from. Nigeria is now viewed as the “email fraud capital of the world” and many people do not trust the country, the people, and their government outright because of how much money has been lost to them over the years. [270 words]

__ Criterion D: A Solution to the Problem Arising from the Issue __ At this point I will present the information about Operation Eagle Claw, as well as what the American and English governmental forces are doing to end the scamming. FBI

 Due to the spread of this problem, finding one single solution will be a difficult task. There are already two big organizations working towards abolishing the business, one here in the US and one in Nigeria. Here, our FBI frequently issues statements and reports as to the newest email scams coming out, with their website stating that upon receiving one of these emails, immediately send it to the Secret Service, your local FBI chapter, or the US Postal Inspection Service. In Nigeria, the government is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the recent creation of Operation Eagle Claw which works with high-security modalities helped along by Microsoft. Just in the first period that the project was in operation, over 800 scam email addresses were shut down, with 18 arrests of high-profile cyber crime organization leaders. Chairperson of the anti-graft agency of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, states “We expect that Eagle Claw...will be 100 per cent operational within six months and at full capacity. It will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails.” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But this is a tall order even for an operation with such high support. On a much smaller level, email providers can tighten their spam blockers to cut out all incoming scam emails. Email users can also report all scam or suspicious emails to the locations listed above. [235 words ]

__ Criterion E: Selection and Use of Sources __ Here I plan to use the articles embedded in this site as well as others I find along the way. This section confuses me-is it just a bibliography?