This morning, I found in our e-mail inbox one of those infamous "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope, 'cuz I'm trapped in England(UK); all my things were stolen and I need you to wire me some money, stat" letters. It was (as is usual in these cases) cleverly disguised as an e-mail from someone I know-- a fairly distant relative who has never written me before (didn't even know they had our e-mail address, actually), but that only made me all the more curious when I saw the name. Fortunately, I knew about the scheme... plus I'm skeptical/cautious by nature... plus I figure I'm about the hundredth person down the list of contacts this woman would think of in an emergency... so no, that sum of $2,160 (weird number!) will not be leaving our bank account today. But good try, whoever you are.
I've heard about this type of scam before, but I think this is the first time we've seen it in person. So much more personalized than the traditional Nigerian scam where you have a princess or some other wealthy foreigner (possibly even an elderly widow) who just happens to pick you out of nowhere to offer the OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. (All you have to do is wire them some money to cover some trifling little fees to free up the cash, and then they'll shower you with a portion of their wealth-- just because they like your e-mail address-- and sometimes because they know you're a good Christian!)
In such a world as this, since it's not possible for me personally to do anything about these **** scammers, I guess the best thing to do is try to feel honored that they finally got around to us. ;o)
