I seem to have been getting an increased amount of spam email recently, but it is to my old email address which I'm in the process of phasing out, so it's not too much of a bother, as I just delete it all, though occasionally take notice of the subject lines just to see what tricks they're using now. 'Hey, remember me?' and it's ilk are still quite popular as are 'a Russian woman wants to meet you!' and all sorts of 'XXX Hardcore!' type things. There's a thought - how about a kind of Daypop of spam, listing the current top 40 spam emails doing the rounds? Yes, it would be utterly pointless, but how would that differentiate it from most of the web?
Anyway, on to the main point I was trying to make. Yesterday, two of my spams were that favourite of the spam charts - 'Urgent Business Assistance'. Yes, my name had been specially chosen from a business website to help a group of 'businessmen' get either $25 or $35 million out of Nigeria. Obviously, I deleted them both (though now I've found that sending them on to your local police might be of some help in tracking them down) but it reminded me of something I've thought many times before, usually on receiving one of these emails, which is: Is it wrong of me to feel absolutely no sympathy for people who lose money to the majority of these scams?
I say 'the majority' not all because I've heard of (but not seen) a slight variant on the scam that says the money is from a dead relative of yours, and in certain circumstances the scammed person might be in a position where that could be the case, but in the rest of them, well, I really can't find it in me to sympathise.
Why? Well, let's look at what's happened. These people have received an email from a total stranger (for an example of these emails, Snopes have a collection here, as part of their excellent page on the 'Nigerian Scam') who is effectively offering them something for nothing, and making quite clear that they're getting this something as the result of an illegal activity - impersonating a dead man, providing your bank details to allow millions of aid money to be embezzled from a country etc. To almost anyone reading this, it's quite clear that they are being asked to take part in a criminal conspiracy, usually to defraud a third world government, and often the money they are going to receive comes from a criminal conspiracy anyway (see all the letters supposedly from relatives of Mobuto Sese Soko of Zaire).
Effectively, people have given up money to these people in the hopes of receiving millions illegally - and then complained when it turns out their 'business partners' were lying! Somehow, despite their rush to the police to get them to investigate these fraudsters, I doubt that they'd have been willing to declare this income for tax purposes afterwards. I'm not saying the fraudsters who pull off these scams are nice people, or that they shouldn't be prosecuted, it's just that I don't really find any sympathy for wannabe criminals who get ripped off by other criminals.
Anyway, on to the main point I was trying to make. Yesterday, two of my spams were that favourite of the spam charts - 'Urgent Business Assistance'. Yes, my name had been specially chosen from a business website to help a group of 'businessmen' get either $25 or $35 million out of Nigeria. Obviously, I deleted them both (though now I've found that sending them on to your local police might be of some help in tracking them down) but it reminded me of something I've thought many times before, usually on receiving one of these emails, which is: Is it wrong of me to feel absolutely no sympathy for people who lose money to the majority of these scams?
I say 'the majority' not all because I've heard of (but not seen) a slight variant on the scam that says the money is from a dead relative of yours, and in certain circumstances the scammed person might be in a position where that could be the case, but in the rest of them, well, I really can't find it in me to sympathise.
Why? Well, let's look at what's happened. These people have received an email from a total stranger (for an example of these emails, Snopes have a collection here, as part of their excellent page on the 'Nigerian Scam') who is effectively offering them something for nothing, and making quite clear that they're getting this something as the result of an illegal activity - impersonating a dead man, providing your bank details to allow millions of aid money to be embezzled from a country etc. To almost anyone reading this, it's quite clear that they are being asked to take part in a criminal conspiracy, usually to defraud a third world government, and often the money they are going to receive comes from a criminal conspiracy anyway (see all the letters supposedly from relatives of Mobuto Sese Soko of Zaire).
Effectively, people have given up money to these people in the hopes of receiving millions illegally - and then complained when it turns out their 'business partners' were lying! Somehow, despite their rush to the police to get them to investigate these fraudsters, I doubt that they'd have been willing to declare this income for tax purposes afterwards. I'm not saying the fraudsters who pull off these scams are nice people, or that they shouldn't be prosecuted, it's just that I don't really find any sympathy for wannabe criminals who get ripped off by other criminals.
Nick got away with this at 6:45 PM
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