One gay gals' musings and observations while travelling on the streetcar
Posts tagged e-mail spam/scams
Bell Curve
Apr 12th
I got this in an email and thought it was fake. It turns out it’s true:
The Situation
In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.
Cookie and Coco
Mar 3rd
I like to think I’m pretty smart when it comes to spotting scams and hoaxes, especially ones that circulate via e-mail. I only forward stuff that has made me laugh or that I think other folks will find interesting. I never, ever forward anything that has to do with religion, forward any sort of chain message or anything looking to raise money so that some six year old Guatamalen boy can have two mystery testicles removed from his forehead. I think I help keep my contacts’ inboxes’ clutter free.
On the off chance that I get something that I’m not sure about, I head on over to Snopes and do a search on it. Most of the times, it turns out to be spam or just an urban legend making it’s way through the interwebs. The “delete” button in my inbox is used often.
When I got an e-mail from S the other day about two labradors who needed a home. S had received the e-mail from our friend Darla who had received it from a co-worker. A quick search on Snopes didn’t turn up anything. Thinking that the person who initiated the e-mail was a co-worker of Darla’s, I let myself believe that Cookie and Coco really were in need of a home.
Reply Me Immediately
Feb 23rd
I’ve been getting a fair bit of spam lately in the e-mail account I set up for the blog. So far, it’s all been the kind of spam where I learn I’ve inherited boat loads of money or I have the opportunity to get some expensive diamonds from Nigeria. I have yet to receive the kind of messages that let me know I can easily make my penis bigger.
Just today, I received an e-mail which promised me I could share in a fortune of $22.5 million (US). (Click on the picture to read the message.)
I’ve been using e-mail for almost ten years now (yes, I was a late bloomer) so I’ve learned to disregard these types of messages as soon as they arrive in my mailbox. The subject line alone (REPLY ME IMMEDIATELY) was an easy enough indicator that this was garbage.
But I got to thinking. These types of scams have been around as long as e-mail itself has been. Surely, they would have gone the way of the VHS tape by now if everyone deleted them. Which begs the question, what kind of idiot reads and responds to these blatant schemes?
Let me introduce you to John Rempel, a 22 year old unemployed Mennonite man who lives at home with is parents. Rempel thought he struck it rich when he received an e-mail that said a long-lost uncle had died in England and left him almost $13 million. All he had to do was send some money to pay the lawyer’s to process the paperwork. So, like any trusting young man, he sent money. Lots of it.
I felt bad for Rempel until I read that he flew to England and met with strange men in an alley and gave them $10,000. Says Rempel, “I was happy. I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is real, because I met them and everything.’”
Rempel didn’t exactly have a money tree growing in his backyard so he borrowed the funds from family and friends. No one ever questioned why he needed the quantities of money he was asking for. It sounds like everyone just assumed the proceedings were legitimate and they’d get paid once Rempel received his inheritance.
It wasn’t until he was stood up at a New York airport by the men who were supposed to bring him his inheritance that the police got involved. By that point, he’d already given the thieves $150,000. There was nothing the police could do since Rempel never knew the real names of the people he was dealing with.
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Is it because he’s from a small town? Did this small town boy truly believe that he could trust these strangers? Is it because he firmly believed that God was looking out for him and all would work out in the end? Was he related to George W. Bush?
I just can’t believe that no one ever stopped him to question why he needed to keep sending money to strangers. Worse yet, he flew to England and handed over $10,000 to people he didn’t even know. All because they sent him an e-mail and signed their messages “God Bless You.”
I don’t think Rempel will be online very much for the next few years. He’s going to be too busy working multiple jobs paying off his debts.
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