So I got this e-mail today:
Dear Friend,
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 & his mercies and glory upon
my life.
I am Mrs. VIVIAN PAUL the wife of Mr. REES VIVIAN PAUL Pointer, my husband
worked with the Chevron/Texaco in Kenya for twenty years before he died in the
year 2001.We were married for 11 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$9.5M. (Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand
U.S. Dollars) with a Security Company in Europe Presently, this money is still
with the Security Company 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 London 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 anywhere 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 Security Company.
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 VS14}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 my
BANK in UNITED KINGDOM .
Please send all emails to:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Warm Regards from Blessed Mother
So, some stranger wants to give me 9 million dollars in the name of God? I knew religion was good for something!
Seriously though, you know there are people who are going to fall for this shit. Particularly the old and the brainwashed who think that because the G word is stamped all over the place it can't be bad.
Posted by Zoso at December 13, 2006 04:07 PMThis is a variation of what is known as a '419' confidence fraud scam. It's called this because 419 is the international country code for Nigeria, where most of these scams originate.
Learn more about how this works, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud
Some people like to toy with 419 fraudsters. The most popular site for this is 419 eater:
http://www.419eater.com/
- Jeff
Posted by: Jeff at December 13, 2006 08:55 PMGod,that site is so funny! I loved the scammers who photoshop heads onto bodies waaaaay to small. I think I spent a couple hours thumbing through there laughing my ass off.
Posted by: Zoso at December 14, 2006 09:06 AMI watched this episode of Dr Phil (we all have our dark secrets) and they talked to a bunch of women that fell for this kind of scam.
Only in this case it was "I'm a charming, handsome english guy, stranded in Africa. Please help me. Send me money for a plane ticket and other things..." Not only did these women it buy it but carried on online relationships with the fraudsters.
I don't know what disturbs me more: People willing to do that to another person, or the people disturbed enough to believe it.
Posted by: Sarah at December 14, 2006 06:59 PMWow, and I thought that I was gullible. Apparently not. There is no way in hell that I would fall for an email that said something like "Please help me, I'm stranded ______ (fill in the blank)." Then again, maybe gullibility isn't the issue here. This seems to fall more under the common sense category. Hmm... There are a lot of people lacking common sense. Apparently, people have found a good way to exploit the lack of common sense, through email none the less... idiots.
Posted by: Mia_Hoshifaia at December 17, 2006 11:39 PMyou have to remember that common sense is not taught in the home anymore.most of the people under the age of 25 in america are looking for that get rich quick scheme and will fall for about anything.me.i doubt everything even if it looks good,i have to question whats the catch.i've missed out on a few deals because of it.but they're marked up as learning experiences.
Posted by: pfeedbak at July 29, 2007 02:42 PM