People Do Fall For Nigerian 419 Scam
from the the-gullible-and-the-more-gullible dept
I find it amazing that anyone would give thousands of dollars to some random person in a country thousands of miles away who "just happened" to pick their email address. However, as we've pointed out before, the Nigerian money scam (also known as the 419 scam) has been picking up steam for years, thanks to email. The latest reports are that at least 16 Americans fell for the scam last year including two who ended up losing over $70,000 each. The FBI thinks the actual number of gullible people is much higher - since only 1 in 10 people normally report being the victim of a fraud, and victims of the 419 scam are generally even more afraid of reporting it. I received three copies of the scam email myself this week, and it seems so obviously fake. Even if I was completely clueless, I think I would want to know why they chose me before I started dishing out cash. Also, out of curiosity, has anyone ever received one of these that wasn't written in all caps?
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Not in all caps
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Re: Not in all caps
money one. I was so pleased! I've been using the
internet since early 1990, and they'd never
picked me before! It's nice to see that search
engine technology is finally getting good enough
to data mine email addresses that have been
carefully hidden for years.
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Report your 419 spams
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Forwarded mine to Scotland Yard
Phillip.
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Re: Forwarded mine to Scotland Yard
However, I got two identical Nigerian e-mails next to each other on my inbox, both claiming to be the supreme muckity-muck of some bank in Nigeria. The only difference between the two was the name of the schmuck. So I forwarded the two e-mails to each other with the following comment: "You should have a chat with this guy. He's doing your job and stealing your money."
Never heard from either again.
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