Nigerian Prince found after years of searching

Prince Abado Nockaderm

The Kingdom of New Orleans, Louisiana -- The Nigerian prince has finally been found, possibly with your money in his royal pants pockets. 

Turns out, he isn't from Nigeria at all--he's a good ole boy from down in New Orleans, or "Nawlins" as he probably calls it.

Police have arrested 67-year-old Michael Neu, of Slidell, Louisiana. He's facing 269 counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the New Orleans Advocate, a news outlet made of paper and ink.

The prince was involved in a phishing scam involving the mark getting an email from a Nigerian official who claims the mark has been named a beneficiary in a will and will inherit no less than $1 million. The mark is then directed to send personal information which is then used to con them out of their money, quite often their life savings.

"Most people laugh at the thought of falling for such a fraud, but law enforcement officials report annual losses of millions of dollars to these schemes," a police report said. People who fall for such a scheme are generally naive, greedy, desperate people who want to get rich quick, and most don't have any relatives in Nigeria who would put them in their will, so you can add the category of not very bright to the list.

It's like those people who "win" contests they haven't entered.

Neu allegedly wired money to co-conspirators in Nigeria from hundreds of scams. The investigation will take quite some time to complete as many involved in the crime live outside the United States.

Slidell police Chief Randy Fandal warned that people should "never give out personal information over the phone or through email, cash checks for other individuals, or wire large amounts of money to someone you don't know. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, it's a scam." Then he added, "And don't forget to floss and look both ways crossing the street."


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