My boyfriend Abdullah

[Barbara]

Do you know that this scam orginiated from pre-e-mail times. I got a letter like that in my company about 15 years ago.
And I read an article in a magazine some years ago that explained how many people really fell for it. They tell you to transfer all these millions from Nigeria you have to give them a little money (like 5000 Dollar) to bribe some people. And people paid it. Then next time they need a little more. And people continue to throw good money after bad money.
I read about a business man who even travelled to Lagos to get his money back. They brought him in a big bank and he spoke to a very honest person there- turns out there was a corrupt guy at the bank who rented his desk out for an hour to help with the scam!!!! You could write novels about these stories!

I never forget the good old saying "there is no such thing as a free lunch "

[pomtzu]

I get at least 3 or 4 of these every day - from Nigeria, the UK among other places. I'm a multi-millionaire several times over every day. Wouldn't that be nice if it was real?????

[Medusa]

It's bad enough that people think that they're going to claim a lot of money but they also give out their pertinent information. Many times these emails will include a form that they want me to complete which includes my bank account number, my routing number, etc. It's difficult to believe that people would fall for that but they must or the scam wouldn't continue.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Do you know that this scam orginiated from pre-e-mail times?

I got a letter like that in my company about 15 years ago.

I never forget the good old saying "there is no such thing as a free lunch"

I got a couple of those "original" real paper letters, too!!
Seems to me it was longer than 15 years ago ... but who's counting?

I remember showing it to 'Max' at the post office ... it had a "real" foreign
stamp and postmark; hand-addressed; "official" stationery; the real thing!
'Max' just >grinned< from ear-to-ear ... "Your first one, huh?"
She did her best to 'splain that they came in batches - and EVERYone got
one, sooner or later. "Toss it" was her suggested solution.

I called the Postal Inspectors to report that a 'Mail Scam' was afoot ---
call me back for the details!
A Postal Dude called back a day later ... all gung-ho and excited about my
"New Mail Scam" ... till I read him the letter.

He tried to be polite and sympathetic --- but his real suggestion was the
same as Max had given me - "Just toss it, and be happy you didn't reply."
And I thought I was 'special' ...

[Laura's Babies]

Gee whiz! Have I missed making a new friend by deleting all my spam without reading it?

I read a long detailed story about a guy who scammed THEM right back by leading them on that he was going to do everything they wanted him to do. It was the funniest thing I ever read and it went on for months!

Wonder what would happen if we started filling up their e-mail boxes with junk?

[pomtzu]

Wonder what would happen if we started filling up their e-mail boxes with junk?

I tried that for a while. Didn't work! I've gotten 5 already today and it isn't even noon.

[pomtzu]

Ok - it's six now today and this one had a totally different twist. I've never seen this one and it kinda pi$$ed me off too.
This was from an "American soldier" in Iraq. A large sum of money was found in a barrell outside one of Saddam's old palaces, so he and some others confiscated a share of it. His share is $2 million and is in a safe place and he wants me to help get it to the U.S. - of course I will be justly rewarded for my effort!!! And he doesn't feel badly about stealing it and this is just compensation for all he has been thru over there - being shot and wounded and a survivor of 2 suicide bomb attacks - and just last week his brother-in-law was killed in a roadside bomb attack.
Now this one really stoops lower than low in my book!

[Medusa]

Ok - it's six now today and this one had a totally different twist. I've never seen this one and it kinda pi$$ed me off too.
This was from an "American soldier" in Iraq. A large sum of money was found in a barrell outside one of Saddam's old palaces, so he and some others confiscated a share of it. His share is $2 million and is in a safe place and he wants me to help get it to the U.S. - of course I will be justly rewarded for my effort!!! And he doesn't feel badly about stealing it and this is just compensation for all he has been thru over there - being shot and wounded and a survivor of 2 suicide bomb attacks - and just last week his brother-in-law was killed in a roadside bomb attack.
Now this one really stoops lower than low in my book!

Yes, I agree, that is low. I don't know if I've received that one because I hadn't gotten any in quite a while and I usually just emptied my spam folder w/out reading them. What disturbs me is that they obviously know that I'm an animal lover and I used to get email about helping them to get a little Yorkie out of the country, if I could just send money to this woman who just happened to be a minister's widow (good grief!). Otherwise the little innocent Yorkie was going to be PTS. I have all kinds of spyware on my pc but they obviously know that I shop online and/or post on PT.