African crown jewels

Got this e-mail a few minutes ago:

FROM MR DANIEL MAN
DEAR PARTNER
This message might meet you in utmost surprise however,it’s just my urgent need for a foreign partner that made me contact you for this transaction. I am banker by profession from HONG KONG working in west Africa and currently in DAKAR-SENEGAL in security company
I have the opportunity of transfering the left over funds $36.700.000.00 Million United State Dollars Deposited in a Trunk Box called CONSIGNMENT total cash in US DOLLARS belonging to the deceased client who died in the sharter plane which crashed on mount kenyan in the kenyan city of sumburu on 21st july,2003 this BOX can be move to any country of your choice where you can have access of it for our sharing
You can confirm the genuiness of the deceased death by clicking on this website :http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html
Hence,i am inviting you for a business deal where this funds $36.700.000.00 United State Dollars can be shared between us in the ratio 50/50 if you agree to my business proposal.
Eagerly waiting for your urgent response please.
MR DANIEL MAN

They’ve bumped their technique up a step, taking a real-life tragedy (you can click on the link, it’s safe) and perverting it into a spamming opportunity. You’d hope that most people would see through this instantly, but spam has to have some takers, because it would have disappeared by now if it were unprofitable. ~sigh~

Anyway, $36.700.000.00 million US dollars is what, $36 quadrillion? Dang, I could buy the whole earth for that! :P (Just imagine: the aliens finally show up, with an offer in hand (claw?) to buy our planet from us. And someone would sell, I just know it.)

Those tricksy Nigerians. This isn’t just spamming, though. It’s straight up scamming. The infamous “419 scam.” It’s sad that there are still people who fall for 419 scams, but even sadder that some of them believe the story so completely and get so wrapped up in their own greed that they often refuse to accept that they’ve been scammed even after they’ve been duped out of (at least) thousands over the course of several years, and even when the scam is explained to them. A fool and his money… as the saying goes… feed an entire African village. Wait, that is how the saying goes, right? :P

It’s perverse, I know, but there are a number of websites dedicated to scambaiting, where people play along in order to get the scammers to do amusing things.

Probably the best example of this is someone who got some would-be scammers to act out Monty Python’s famous Dead Parrot Sketch. Goodness knows what story the scambaiters concocted to get the scammers to agree to act it out.

And perhaps the most twisted part of all–the scammers actually have decent comedic skills!

(Oh, and since I’m already putting my poor taste on display, might as well suggest another classic one–a scammer who carved a replica Commodore 64 out of wood. Better than I could’ve done!

Just one? Golly you need to sign up for more free offers and have someone put your name in the restroom at an internet cafe. Monday morning, my junk mail folder at work will have at least 1000 emails promising me companionship from a jilted woman from eastern Europe, instant weight loss, large fortunes, and manliness. It takes about an hour for me to sort through everything. I’ll gladly trade you inboxes for a couple hours.

Rikker: Wow, I’m very, very, very tempted to get into this scambaiting thing myself. Vengeance on all those spammers and scammers! But vengeance is not mine, so I guess I won’t repay. ~sigh~ :P No, really, it’s rather satisfying to hear that some of them are getting their due. There’s got to be a fetid, slimy, rotting-flesh-smelling place in hell for all those spammers.

J: LOL, I get more spam than that, but Gmail luckily blocks most of it.