Nine convicted for internet sex scams

how did they break a law? If it is illegal to pretend to be something you are not and profit from that there are a few other groups of people you should be arresting and putting in jail before these guys. Here's a few examples, Christians.

It is clear that if somebody drains money from account of somebody else, it is breaking law, no matter how they obtained information using which they did it. But I am rather surprised that in Sweden personal number and account number is sufficient to draw or transfer money from an account. Account number is typically not considered private information at all, and I suppose that for many people both these numbers can be found just by searching in disposed garbage .

It seems to me at least that the law is going over board at protecting the stupid. If you are dumb enough to give strangers details over the internet that can lead to this then that is your fault. I think that the plantiffs in that case should be charged with the crime of being stupid enough to waste the courts time to be honest.

Of course this is just going off the small amount of detail given from the article here, I am sure there was more behind it, but I can only comment on the limited coverage this article gives.

RoyceD I would appreciate if you stick to the "limited coverage of the article". The earlier comment to have Christians imprisoned is way o ut of line.

There are lots of wolves masquerading as sheep\shepherd but these people are easily revealed by their deeds. This does not make every Christian a fraud.

I am afraid your line of thought is very dangerous because you seem not to be able to tolerate people of differing views. I wonder what you stand for, because it is impossible not to believe in something and what ever you believe in is not neccesarily right or better.

A fool and his money are soon parted. Those losers got what they deserved. Now...should the scammers be punished? Well...yeah...they should...but I still think that its funny that they got their money snatched!

Couldn't believe the unsympathetic comments that some people have posted on this thread!

Professional Internet scam operations, in particular dating scams, exist in Nigeria, the Mari El region of Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines and several other countries. 95% of dating scammers are men working in organized gangs. They are very well-versed in psychology.

As for the argument that these men "deserved it", I've heard the same half-baked "sex tourist" arguments from the Russian scammers themselves to justify scamming perfectly respectable Western men who are looking for a partner on the Internet. "They deserve it". Why exactly?

Internet scamming is a crime, and most scammers are heartless criminals who prey on people's emotional vulnerabilities and brainwash/con them into sending money. Scam victims - naive though they may be for sending the money in the first place - are exactly that, victims! If a woman gets raped, are the clothes she's wearing at the time of any relevance? Of course not.

I have personally spent nearly two years helping the victims of dating scams with info and support, 95% of them are innocent men (and women), as well as baiting the scammers themselves - in other words, provoking them or wasting their time by sending them on fruitless errands to Western Union time after time.

If you've been scammed or would like more info about it, please check out this website http://www.delphifaq.com/faq/russian_marriage_scams/f2412.shtml