[Brad]

It's really amazing how many people in Africa are just bursting at the seams with money. First all those rich, philanthropic businessmen wanted to bring their riches to America and share with us common folks. Now it's born-again Christians! How swell of them.

Well, I know where I'm moving once I graduate. The streets must be paved with gold... nay, platinum over there!

Rawk!!

Return-path: faith@brain.com.pk From: faith@brain.com.pk Reply-To: meli_Pointer@echina.com Dear Beloved in Christ, It is by the grace of God that I received Christ,Having known the truth, I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God´s mercy and glory upon my life. I am Mrs Melissa Pointer the wife of in the Mr Harry Pointer, my husband worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Kenya for twenty years before he died in the year 2001.We were married for twenty-seven years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians. Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of US $3.5M. (Three Million Five Hundred Thousand U.S. Dollars) with a Bank in Europe. Presently, this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I can not come over. Presently, I'm in a hospital in Kenya where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations any where in the World. Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them. Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand and collect the Funds from the Bank.Contact email meli_Pointer@echina.com I want a person that is God fearing that will use this money to fund churches, orphanages and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner. Hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of Attorney who is in Europe as he will be the one to assist you in Laying claims for this funds . Yours in Christ, Melissa Pointer .

[BuonRotto]

Aw, I wish I kept my Nigerian scam email from a few days ago. Apparently, I have a relative named Mark Dabrowski who worked for Shell over there for years and has passed away, leaving his riches unclaimed in a bank account since he has no direct inheritors. Once I'm able to prove my identity with proper SS# and my checking account info, I'll be rich! rich! RICH!

[Chinney]

Holy Rollers, I am excited - it sounds like another sure-fire financial bet! I know that I will be sending my banking information to them to allow for the transfer of funds.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by BuonRotto Aw, I wish I kept my Nigerian scam email from a few days ago. Apparently, I have a relative named Mark Dabrowski who worked for Shell over there for years and has passed away, leaving his riches unclaimed in a bank account since he has no direct inheritors. Once I'm able to prove my identity with proper SS# and my checking account info, I'll be rich! rich! RICH!

Wow! You must be my cousin, because he offered me the exact same deal!

[BuonRotto]

Ooh, I better give him my info before you do! I want it all for myself. Mwahahahahahahaha....

[SKMDC]

David Pogue (nyt tech writer, OSX missing manual author) had a house sale fall through because the woman buyer didn't have the down payment because she was expecting her "nigerian money" to come through and alas it did not.

[pscates2.0]

Oh. My. Gosh.





Wheeee!

Did Pogue write about that somewhere? Linkitude? That's gotta be a funny story.

[BuonRotto]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/te...GUE-EMAIL.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/te...GUE-EMAIL.html

login required for the NY Times. appleinsider has a NYTimes login:

username: appleinsider
password: appleinsider

[SKMDC]

i'm looking for it, i got in his circuits email which is just a little odds and ends column he sends out on thursday, i can't find a link to it at his site or the nyt.....screw it here it is:

1. From the Desk of David Pogue: Connecticut Real Estate and the Nigerian Connection ================================================== ========== Over a year ago, my wife and I moved to a new town in Connecticut, horrified by the budget-related deterioration of our public school system. It was literally the best move we ever made. The only drawback was that even now, a year later, we haven't been able to sell our old house. We've dropped the price three times, but nonetheless haven't had so much as a nibble of interest (maybe because nobody is particularly interested in moving to a town with a deteriorating public school system). Anyway, you can imagine our delight when our realtor called to say that we'd received an incredible offer from a buyer: full asking price, cash on the table, with the deal to close in one week. My wife and I hung up the phone, stared at each other in disbelief, and then looked around for a chicken to sacrifice to the real-estate gods. Our euphoria was soon cooled, however, by a few mysterious red flags. First, the woman who wanted to buy the house showed up for the inspection -- but didn't have enough money to pay the inspector. Odd. Second, the inspector found a few small things that needed fixing -- but the buyer didn't ask to have them taken care of before the closing. Unusual. Finally, our lawyer told us that the woman didn't expect to have the funds until the day before the closing. Peculiar. We figured that something was a tad fishy about the whole thing, but what are you gonna do? We decided to play along, just in case she was for real. Now, by this point, you're probably wondering what any of this has to do with technology (the ostensible topic of this weekly newsletter). Here it comes. Sure enough, the closing never took place. The woman called the realtors and lawyers, apologized, and let them know that the money she was expecting never arrived. "I just can't understand what went wrong," she told them. "I was ASSURED that the money was on its way. The Nigerian lawyer PROMISED!" My jaw fell open so far it practically dented the floor. I didn't know whether to cry, sue or laugh hysterically. It turns out that this poor, deluded soul had fallen for one of the most widely perpetrated -- and, I thought, most widely known -- Internet scams on earth. "DEAR SIR OR MADAM," the spam e-mail message begins. "I am Ahmed Jaidi a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Mr.Mark O'Reilly, a national of your country, who used to work with Chevron Oil Company in Nigeria. "On the 21st of April 1999, my client Mr. Mark O'Reilly and his family was involved in a fatal auto crash in Lagos. I am contacting you to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client. Particularly, the finance company where the deceased had an account valued at about $14.7 million dollars. "Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 4 years now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin, so that the $14.7 million dollars can be paid to you, and then you and me can share the money, 60% to me and 40% to you." If you're clueless enough to contact the spammer, he leads you on for a few weeks with paperwork and those dizzying dollar amounts, getting you so excited about your upcoming wealth that you may even make plans to buy a new house in Connecticut. Of course, a few weeks in, Mr. Jaidi (or whatever the bogus name is) reports that he needs just a few thousand dollars to grease the palms of the Nigerian finance department to get this deal wrapped up. With visions of a new life dancing in your head, you fork over $3,000 here, $2,500 there. And then, of course, you never hear from the guy again. I'm guessing that anyone savvy enough to sign up for a technology newsletter is smart enough not to fall for such a simple scam. But if you're ever in doubt about this or any other e-mailed pitch, I beg of you to check it out first at www.snopes.com. It's a clearinghouse of urban myths and Internet scams. You might also want to check out the Circuits article about e-mail vigilantes who turn the tables on the scammers. http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technol...C0A9629C 8B63 I sort of wish it weren't called www.snopes.com, because that address makes little sense and doesn't clue anyone in to its actual purpose. But it's a great site, a well-researched encyclopedia and a highly entertaining read. Whether it's a million-dollar windfall from Nigeria or an unexpected full-price house offer, you can see this story's moral coming a mile away. "If it's too good to be true..." ----- Forum: David Pogue's Columns Share your thoughts on the feedback board. http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinio...ndex.html?8cir

[pscates2.0]

Ahh, good stuff. He handled it well, being able to laugh about it.

That poor woman was dead serious too. That's just sad. Sad.

[SKMDC]

yeah it's kind of sad.....and this christian angle, well it's probably gonna reap a windfall. If they send money to PTL, 700 club, etc they'll probably fall for this.

(PREEMPTIVE WARNING, THE NEXT LINE IS A JOKE!)

stupid freakin' christians!

[pscates2.0]

(PREEMPTIVE WARNING, THE NEXT LINE IS A REQUEST!)

Find a new freakin' punchline!

[Kickaha]

Oh just make a quick edit and it's all better:

freakin' stupid christians!

There. Now it's the stupid subset.

[murbot]

For some reason, otherwise smart people turn absolutely shit-for-brains dumb when they open their email. I can't explain it.

My mother-in-law gets email forwarded to her all the time from a co-worker (realtor), and I get a chuckle out the things that this woman actually believes. She seems like a really smart lady, she's successful at work, etc. But holy christ, sit her down in front of a computer, and that Forward button just calls to her like a flashing light on a slot machine.

As of this morning, I'm going to email her back every time she sends something over. This morning, she forwarded an email about some guy named George Arlington who has a kid with cancer, and they can't afford treatment... but AOL and ZDNet have teamed up to help out! They'll pay 35 cents for every email that gets forwarded. AOL will track the email and count how many people get it.



So, I type "aol paying money sending email cancer" into my Google bar, and the *first* link is this:

George Arlington Leukemia and Brain Cancer Hoax - Charity

I emailed her back saying that I had something she might find interesting, and dropped the link in.

Maybe if I do this enough, she'll stop with the forwarding... or at least delete one person from her gargantuan email group.

[Kickaha]

I introduced my family members to snopes.com as they sent me the first hoax letters.

I also CC'd everyone else in the family when I did so.

Nothing like a little embarrassment to reinforce good behaviour.

[pscates2.0]

I did that too, finally. Straightened a couple of people right up!

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 (PREEMPTIVE WARNING, THE NEXT LINE IS A REQUEST!) Find a new freakin' punchline!

nah, throw 'em to the lions, i say....fundamentalist and "devout" people of all faiths have been killing each other for eons over their "imaginary" friends, all of whom espouse peace love and understanding.....
the lions i say!

what's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding?

[kscherer]

If there is one thing that e-mail has done for the gullible, it is to increase their gullibility!

Oh the security jobs this crap creates. Wonderful stuff! The Attorneys General of every state in the Union must have exercise classes in the morning to prepare themselves for the uncontrollable laughter generated from America's gullibility!

[Chinney]

Originally Posted by SKMDC yeah it's kind of sad.....and this christian angle, well it's probably gonna reap a windfall. If they send money to PTL, 700 club, etc they'll probably fall for this. (PREEMPTIVE WARNING, THE NEXT LINE IS A JOKE!) stupid freakin' christians!

This is not the first time that I have heard of the scammers trying a ‘Christian’ angle. My uncle is a priest and a few years ago he received a letter from a Nigerian ‘official’, written in very poor English, but with official-looking stamps and insignias, saying that a certain wealthy Nigerian, deeply devoted to God, had died and had willed his entire estate to my uncle’s parish. (Why a Nigerian had willed millions to a parish halfway around the world was not explained.) To get the money, the parish was to follow up with a contact that was provided. The letter did not ask for any cash for ‘processing fees’ up front, but I am sure that would have been the next step.

My uncle sent the letter to my mother, who forwarded it to me, asking if I thought my uncle’s parish should follow up on this. To be fair to my uncle, however, this was before the Nigerian scam was widely known in public. I told them that I thought they should just trash the letter.

[pscates2.0]

Just to mix it up a bit, you'd think these folks would a) change the country/region and b) alter the story a tad.

[curiousuburb]

There's Lions and scammers... together in Kenya.
Bank email spammers... together in Kenya.
Kenya, Kenya, Kenya...

[Dave]

Originally Posted by curiousuburb There's Lions and scammers... together in Kenya. Bank email spammers... together in Kenya. Kenya, Kenya, Kenya...

Wow, Kenya looks like a pretty cool place. And everybody's so happy there. Maybe I should move.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by Dave Wow, Kenya looks like a pretty cool place. And everybody's so happy there. Maybe I should move.

Animated, it looks cool.

Live, well... uh...

[generic_member#1429]

This video spoof was posted on boing boing a few months ago. Its so funny I had to register to share it with you guys.

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by generic_member#1429 This video spoof was posted on boing boing a few months ago. Its so funny I had to register to share it with you guys.

Welcome to AN.

Usually a good idea to open your posting career with comedy.

Talk to SKMDC about usernames before the chant starts asking you to shorten yours.