Monday, April 11, 2011

Nigerian Scam

 I've got a cousin Betty, who along with her husband Orrin are absolutely wonderful people. I mean, they don't make them any better than these two. Anyway, a few years ago they were serving a church mission in Tonga and sent me an email warning me about a bad computer virus that was making the rounds. 
I don't remember the name of the virus but for convenience, I'll call it "Park Avenue." The email from Orrin and Betty said: "Do not open any attachments named "Park Avenue" or it will ruin your computer. They gave me info on news releases also warning against the virus.
I thought I'd have a little fun so I made up a document and titled it "Park Avenue." I sent it as an attachment back to them with a note recommending to them that they should open this cool attachment immediately. There was nothing in the doc but I'm pretty sure I scared them to death. I didn't hear from them for awhile afterward.

So the other day I got an email from these same relatives. Here it is...

Hi,
How are you? i do hope that you receive this email in good health. I am presently in Madrid, Spain, to be with my ill Cousin. She's suffering from a critical uterine fibroid and must undergo a hysterectomy surgery to save her life . I am deeply sorry for not writing or calling you before leaving, the news of her illness arrived to me as an emergency and that she needs family support to keep her going, I hope you understand my plight and pardon me.

So I want to transfer her back home to have the surgery implemented there because hysterectomy surgery is very expensive here, Am wondering if you can be of any assistance to me, I need about $2000 to make the necessary arrangement; I traveled with little money due to the short time I had to prepare for this trip and never expected things to be the way it is right now. I'll surely pay you back once I get back home, I need to get her home ASAP because she is going through a lot of pain at the moment and the doctor have advised that it is necessary that the tumor is operated soon to avoid anything from going wrong. I'll reimburse you once am back home.  Love, Betty
I knew immediately that they'd been hacked. It didn't sound at all like Betty. I deleted the message and marveled that the sender hadn't included an address as to where I should send the money. So today I got a letter that sounded more like my dear cousin...

Hi Everyone,  I was hacked this morning by someone in Nigeria.  Please know that we are here in Cheney and have NOT been to Spain and did not send that email asking for money. Don't ever send money without talking to the people before send it.  Hope all is well with you.  Ofa atu, Betty & Orrin 

So I decided play another little prank and sent her the following...


Dear Betty,

Oh my word! I sent you or I guess them a cashier’s check for $10,000. What do I do now? Can you send me a refund?

Love, Ben

I doubt that I'll hear from her for a while. 

P.S. I checked my mailbox for a few days and was a little discouraged that they didn't love me enough to send a check. They're just like all my blog readers! Finally, I called her but she didn't believe it was me. She accused me of being from Nigeria. I hung up on her.

I've got enough cousins I can lose one or two without it being any great loss.

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