A Nigerian Prince in Louisiana?

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

An elderly Caucasian man who is (clearly) neither Nigerian nor a prince has been implicated in hundreds of the infamous “Nigerian prince” email scams. According to Vice, Michael Neu of Louisiana’s arrest is “notable because—while the Nigerian prince scam has reached a certain level of cultural saturation—very few perpetrators get caught.” You’ve probably heard of the scam (which is so old it predates email): An African royal or government official emails to tell you that you’re due some sort of huge inheritance, but first you’ve got to give up your bank account information (or send money directly) to receive the windfall. It’s amazing that people are still falling for the almost prehistoric scam, which the New York Times points out existed even “before we started getting all-caps proposals in our inboxes,” when “con men in West Africa plied their trade by fax and paper letter.” As police in Louisiana learned, however, the con men can be closer to home. They charged Neu with 200+ counts of wire fraud and money laundering associated with victims across the country. To Neu’s dubious credit, he did have real connections in Nigeria, to whom he wired the money. Click here for more information on the scam (which hopefully will be a little less ubiquitous now that Neu’s no more).