Thursday, February 5, 2009

Scam-O-Rama

You've got them, I've got them, we've all got them. An e-mail shows up in your box with the header URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSITION. You open it up and it says:

ATT:MANAGER/DIRECTOR/C.E.O

I am fifty year old widow (the fourth wife) of the
Late President MABELA KABILA of the Republic of Congo.
My husband was the formal President of D.R.C. who was Assassinated by
one of his own body guard on the 16th Of January 2001 At the mid-term of
the rebellion which is still in my Country, my two sons, my daughter and
I went out of Congo according to my husband's Instructions before His
death because the fate of our country was yet to Be decided. We came
with sealed diplomatic baggage TO South Africa, that contains US$18.5Million.

Since then, I have been looking for a reliable and
Trustworthy person to help me transfer the money into
A foreign accounts overseas ...


That's right, it's the advance-fee fraud, aka the 419 scam. A whole culture of fraud has grown up among the shady internet cafes of Lagos, Nigeria. Inevitably, this has led to the rise of a counter-culture devoted to baiting the 419 scammers. One of the leading scam-baiting website is Scam-O-Rama. Here you will find scam-baiters taking on the personae of Harold Stassen, Mal Reynolds, Betty Crocker, and Geoffrey Chaucer as they prank the Lads from Lagos. The site also includes a 419 FAQ, 419 scam news, links to various government and police sites, a 419 haiku competition, and much more. If you'd like to see internet scammers being punk'd by smartass would-be victims, check out Scam-O-Rama.

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