My First Scam E-mail

Now I know what you guys are talking about

[Mcadieux]

I hear you guys talk about The Nigerian scams all the time, but this is the first time I have ever gotten one. The best part is my website doesn't sell anything. The e-mail is so horribly written who would actually believe this? Anybody think of anything "Nice" I should write back?

<snip>

Didn't think the e-mail would violate TOS since it wasn't anything "official"

[edited by: Woz at 11:36 pm (utc) on Mar. 29, 2005]
[edit reason] no emails please, see TOS#9 [/edit]

[kaled]

Don't ever reply - you'll go onto another list and get loads and loads of rubbish.

Kaled.

[mole]

They also send out the same sort of stuff by every means imaginable - I've even had hand-written letters from them.

(Hand-written spam - kinda defeats the object of the exercise doesn't it?)

[Mcadieux]

I found a site about Nigerian scams they said there have only been two reported people that have ever been scammed. One was for $1000 the other for $30,000. I hate to be either of those guys.

[kaylowe]

I have had many, many of the Nigerian scam things; I just blow them off, along with the "phish". I am getting them all the time now. The one that blew me away stated that "it is important that you not log in to your internet banking for 48 hours while this update is taking place". I just ROFLOL on that one.

Sure, fool, I'll give you my name, account numbers and passwords, personal information, and as a bonus, I'll give you 48 hours to clear out my bank account!

The sad thing is that many have been victim to these "phish" scams. They look so real in so many ways.

Kay

[ControlEngineer]

My first contact with the Nigerian scam was over a decade ago when I first set up my engineering business and my business address became a matter of public record. My e-mail was through AOL, CIS, etc. After about a month I received a letter from some public official, on official looking letterhead, in Nigeria. The English was, well, far better than my Nigerian will ever be.

I asked a friend who collected foreign stamps if he wanted them. He said that most Nigerian stamps were counterfiet. The government of Nigeria looked the other way because the scammer brought in money and helped the local economy.

At that time, as I soon found out, the scam was well known amoung business owners. But then along came international e-mail.

[diamondgrl]

I found a site about Nigerian scams they said there have only been two reported people that have ever been scammed. One was for $1000 the other for $30,000. I hate to be either of those guys.

Well, I've read stories about lots of others. As PT Barnum says, "There is a sucker born every minute ..." But that was before the population explosion. Now there are quite a few suckers born every minute.

[EVOrange]

Here is some good reading on a guy who scams the scammers,
The Brad Christensen Exhibit [quatloos.com]

EVO

[Mcadieux]

Well I got another one today so it looks like I am on "The List" This lady wants me to help her get her husbands 1.4billion out of the country. Looks like this is my lucky day. No more websites for me :)

[Rosalind]

There are a number of websites dedicated to baiting the scammers and posting the resulting email conversations online. Some of them are good for a laugh (I can't remember any of the urls though).

[2by4]

" I found a site about Nigerian scams they said there have only been two reported people that have ever been scammed."

I know a guy who fell for a nigerian scam email. Anybody stupid enough to fall for something that transparent deserves whatever happens to them as far as I'm concerned. Without suckers PT Barnum's old saying 'there's a sucker born every minute' would have to be abandonned, and then what would happen to Nigeria's burgeoning high tech sector?

[PatrickDeese]

I found a site about Nigerian scams they said there have only been two reported people that have ever been scammed. One was for $1000 the other for $30,000.

Um. You need to do better research.

Crackdown on £8.4m African sting [scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com]

US State Department's Report on Nigerian Fraud:

www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/naffpub.pdf