Tom,
Nope, Abdul won't send you the 4 million bucks until you include your mother's maiden name along with your PIN & bank account number.

I'm still waiting for Bill Gates to reward me for forwarding all of those emails.

"Abdul won't send you the 4 million bucks until you include your mother's maiden name along with your PIN & bank account number."

Thanks starspinners, I'll get that to him right away. I knew he seemed like an honest guy.

One semi-serious question, has anyone heard of someone who REALLY has fallen for this scam of foreign government money or Abdul's claim that somebody had just died. It seems that nobody could really be that stupid or ignorant, but......

Apparently so, Tom....
http://money.cnn.com/2002/03/19/pf/taxes/q_taxes_scam/

Renee

60 Minutes did a segment a few years ago about an American clergyman who fell for the scam and went as far as to travel to Nigeria to meet the scammer. In that case, the money was intended for a charitable cause, rather than personal enrichment, but the church ended up losing a large sum of money and I think the clergyman's life may have been in danger at some point. Sorry I can't remember the details -- it was quite a while ago.

Like you, Maitai, I can never believe anyone would fall for something so transparently fraudulent, but you gotta believe there's one born every minute.

PS If you google "Nigerian mail fraud" you can learn more than you ever wanted to know about the subject, including who falls for it.

You just gotta read this one. Really, you will be astounded.

http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend19_20020419.htm

"The State Department links 15 killings or disappearances of Americans abroad to 419 fraud. Since 1995, at least eight other Americans who were lured to Nigeria have wound up being kidnapped or held against their will, according to the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria."

ira -- please forward my $500,000 to Hotel Le Sirene in priano, I have reserved a room for you and your wife also.

mmr,

That is soooooooo tempting.

Marilyn, that story is just so unbelievable. Thanks for the link, makes for great entertainment.