Posted by By Nick Farrell on
NIGERIAN TEENS are supporting their families by buying and selling goods online using stolen credit cards.
NIGERIAN TEENS are supporting their families by buying and selling goods online using stolen credit cards.
One 14 year-old, who was interviewed by Fortune magazine, is aiming to become a millionaire from his local Internet café.
The kid, called Akin, buys laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs and the like, using stolen credit cards and aliases. The goods are shipped to safe houses in Europe, where they are mailed on.
He said that he had to set up the elaborate system because he didn't think Americans were dumb enough to send cameras to Nigeria.
According to Fortune, Akin is a Fagin character who hires other kids to extract e-mail addresses and credit card information from cyberspace.
He is also very careful about his education. He sets aside 20 percent of his earnings to bribe law-enforcement officials or teachers who complain about him cutting class.
Akin told the hacks that it was his God-given talent. "Our politicians, they do their own; me, I'm doing my own. I feed my family - my sister, my mother, my popsie. Man must survive."
Sheesh, when I was 14, I was playing dungeons and dragons.