419ers in the 237: You make me want to live blog.
The sun has almost set on the golden age of the Nigerian email scammer and I admit to having been more put off hearing about the scam-baiters than by the scammers themselves. Maybe you think so too and you were utterly unsettled by the Ghanaian Dead parrot monty python skit, in which case you should definitely not listen to this NPR segment between minutes 6 and 30.
But hey guess who’s sitting beside me right now, in the cheaper of Limbe’s two cyber cafes? Scammers! Two of them, writing back to the numerous people who responded to their posts in various UK classifieds sites about Siberian puppies for sale. And Irish Bull Terrier puppies for sale. And something called a Cardian Welsh Corgi? A Puppy.
When I saw these guys the other day pouring through google images saving shots of little dachshunds in grass and of baby boxers on leopard print pillows (yep), I actually thought they might just be really into puppies. Some people are.
But then from my chair a couple feet back I could not help but read the following, from one ShellyR@somethingsomething :
“[…] Why do you not know anything about the mother of the pup? It just seems strange. Why is there an agency involved???”
Her triple punctuation suggests serious skepticism, and I don’t she’ll bite the bait when the time comes.
And just now, in another excerpt from another correspondence, presumably at an earlier stage in the thread:
“Thanks for getting back to me about my cute babies at home. I would love to meet with you personally but I am in Dundee Scotland they could be delivered to you today by a pet transportation agency…”
Don’t do it Miriam, don’t do it!
And just now, typed out in a subject box as they listen to Mariah Carrey on their surprisingly decent mobile phone speakers and debate whether or not she sings in pidgin:
“They love childrens and they are health certified!”
They are NOT!
Anyway I’ll be making no attempt to interfere with the scams. They’ve seen me seeing them, they’ve asked how much my laptop costs, and I need to continue to share office space with them. Which, I know, makes me kind of complicit. Maybe I should ask for a cut. I’m sure they could use an English editor.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could come up with a way to scam the scammers now that you’re on the inside.
maxfreedom
September 22, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Y’know Jane, I spend an alarming amount of time on the internet looking at pictures and video of kittens; cute, furry kittens, and occasionally hairless kittens. (No, this is not a euphemism.) Although… I could turn my Persian Kitten scam into a Russian Bride scam now that I think of it.
Bilbo (Douche) Baggins
September 22, 2008 at 10:58 pm