Is Cameroon The Next Nigeria?

Going over the statistics for the Proxy List, I noticed a new trend. Over 27% of my unique users come from Cameroon. In fact these folks (Cameroonis?) have taken the top spot from the USA and pushed Spain down to #3 (I never did look into why Spain was so fond of proxies but they were always there at the #2 spot consistently).

Although I have been shown to be out of the loop on hardware issues, I'm generally well-informed when it comes to security. And my own Web site. I think.

So I hit up Google on the subject and found this story. Here is a telling excerpt:

Scamming has become a very lucrative business among youths, especially among university students most of whom have either abandoned studies or graduated and are jobless. Through this new-found medium of getting easy wealth, youths now drive posh cars and own the latest design of mobile phones. In the small University of Buea community, there is a new group of affluent youths who inundate bars on a daily basis and stay all day long in cyber cafes, luring and defrauding gullible people.

Arguably, scamming is one of the most booming and ‘admired’ industry that employs thousands of youths throughout the country. Police sources revealed to The Post that internet scamming greatly tarnishes the image of the country, eroding its credibility. Meanwhile, The Post learnt that it is difficult to charge and prosecute scammers since it is difficult either for the victims (most or all of whom are foreigners) to come to Cameroon and make claims in court or show evidence that they were defrauded by one individual or the other.

Also I found this recent article concerning cheap Internet availability in Cameroon. Check out the vid on that page for "Super Camerooni".

Whether this is a new development or just under-reported, it's news to me. I know the security lists have been mum on the subject (419 scams are usually brushed off, there's never any new info). Perhaps all African scammers are labelled "Nigerian" just to save column space. Regardless, Cameroonis are hitting the list like a red headed stepchild at Kroger's (local joke, I think). Scammers need proxies. I have proxies, which, for the most part, I have stolen from scammers (the database has nearly a million proxies - mostly dead - that came from a single scammer site).

Does that make me an accessory? I hope not. If it does I'd like a percentage for my trouble, thank you.