Sorin Mihailovici is making a movie about the Nigerian scammers.
419: the Nigerian Scam is about the scam e-mails that people receive daily. The Internet is flooded with e-mails promising money-making business proposals, lottery win notifications, and fabulous inheritances. This is the story of how one man’s involvement with such an Internet scam ruined his life. Before I started shooting, I myself exchanged a few e-mails with real scammers from Nigeria and Ivory Coast. They even send me “documents†certifying all kinds of positions and deals that they have. The inclusion of this real correspondence with the scammers gave an added level of realism to my film.
I hope the movie goes viral, goes on CNN all major news outlets so that people will be cautious about the traps set on the web’s ruthless anarchy. The price of true freedom only available in the newly discovered digital landscape.
While I don’t think an ‘eye for an eye’ type justice will come to all of the third world country online scavengers, I do believe there is hope for potential victims. My hope is in the spark of awareness that can be ignited by media like Sorin Mihailovici’s movie or this little blog. If I can help even one person NOT send a penny to an online liar, then I feel like these words I publish are worth it.