I get a fair amount of spam. My favourites are the ones from cousins or other relatives of deceased Nigerian Gemerals and Managers of State Companies etc. I am offered a share of a humungous sum of money which is just waiting to be shifted out of the country. All they need is my bank account number, passowrds, name and address etc.
I usually write back and say that they will appreciate the business sense of putting it into an escrow bank account in a safe haven. (I'm actally not sure what an escrow account is, but I see it on TV all the time and sounds good). I usually suggest British Virgin Islands or the Caymens, adding that I don't trust Swiss Banks as they often cooperate with the FBI, Interpol and the CIA or any other security organisation you care to add in.
I then tell them that I want them to deposit $50 dollars into my PayPal account, which is half the cost of establishing the escrow account. Things usualy go very quiet after that..... Occasionally they write back horrified with the 'dear uncle, don't you trust me' routine.
At that point you can tell them that there are many stupid, dishonest people in the world and that I feel sure that my 'new friend in X country' would not try to cheat me. But if they are not able to deposit the $50 dollars, I ask for their contact details and promise to pass the information on to friend of mine who worked in the South African Security Services. He has helped many people in the past - because I never heard from them again !!
Such correspondence always brightens up my day. Strangely enough no one has deposited $50 dollars yet. But I live in hope!!
Owen Donnelly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please remove this footer before replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH JOBS
http://OHJobs.drmaze.net
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSING EDUCATION
http://www.aohne.org.uk
