I cannot believe how gullible some people are

[skygazer]

I get scam emails all the time and laugh about them, wondering who the hell actually is stupid enough to take them seriously.

Well, people I know take them seriously.

A girl I work with (who, admittedly is not the brightest crayon in the box) came in all excited a while back because she "won the Canadian Lottery!"

I said, "Did you buy a ticket in the Canadian Lottery?" She said no but she received an email telling her she'd won. :eyes:

Yesterday, my SO came home and informed me that his co-worker had told him (excitedly) that Microsoft was merging with AOL and giving out cash to people who forwarded this email he'd gotten. :eyes:

And this guy is NOT stupid (or at least I didn't think he was until yesterday). I just don't get it - I guess a sucker really IS born every minute.

[AlCzervik]

1. check this out, i thought it was really sad. this was in my local paper this morning.

i do feel bad for this guy, he should have known better but i do have sympathy for him.


Sweepstakes scam fleeces Florin-area man

The 74-year-old paid about $125,000 and took out a home loan.

By Hudson Sangree - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, September 5, 2007

James Williams got the first letter in February. It said he had won $450,000 in a sweepstakes and was required to purchase an insurance policy against identity theft before the money could be sent.

The letterhead read "American Federal Direct Consumer Protection Agency" and bore an official-looking seal. In April another letter came that said he had won $4.5 million and again instructed him to buy an insurance policy.

Over the months, Williams received dozens more faxed letters, some that purported to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service, the Sacramento County grand jury and Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo.

The faxes had letterheads that appeared to be copied from government Web sites. They instructed Williams to pay various fees and taxes, generally in amounts of $2,000 or $3,000, before he could receive his lottery winnings.

"The homeland security must charge $2,700.00 in order to be able to approve all clearences (sic)," said one letter signed "Richard L. Skinner," the agency's inspector general.

By the time Williams realized last week that it was all a scam, the 74-year-old great-grandfather said he had sent about 40 wire transfers totaling $125,000 to Costa Rica and other locations.

He borrowed the money using his Florin-area home as collateral and took cash advances on his credit cards.

Williams worked as a clerk for nearly 50 years for the Air Force and then as a civilian at McClellan Air Force Base.

He said he was taken in by the official-looking letters, even though they were often poorly written and misspelled.

Sending the money to Costa Rica made him suspicious, he said. And his friends, daughter, ex-wife and even Western Union warned him he was caught up in a sweepstakes scam.

"I didn't want to believe it," Williams said Tuesday. "I thought I had the money coming back, like an investment."

"I look in the mirror now and think, 'Stupid fool,' " he said.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/360968.html

[skygazer]

3. Stupid fool, indeed

Honestly, I have a hard time feeling sorry for people in these situations. If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't.

Words to live by.

[northzax]

6. still, he's talking about it

which is a good thing. scammers stay in business many times because people are too ashamed to admit they have been conned to ask for help.

[ThomCat]

2. It's sad, but there must be a lot of suckers out there.

Otherwise the scammer's wouldn't be sending this stuff. They must be getting someone.

And the more pathetic the scams, the more depressing it is, because you know they're still making money off of this. :(

[skygazer]

4. Exactly

Someone's falling for it. Sometimes I think the human race deserves extinction. :banghead:

[redqueen]

5. Idiocracy, dude.

It's not fiction. I'm about convinced of that by now.

:grr:

[skygazer]

7. No critical thinking skills

One thing I've noticed since I've gone back to school is that almost no critical thinking is taught. Tests are almost always multiple choice or true/false - I've had one professor who gave essay tests (tough class but I was glad to have someone who forced me to think and analyze).

It's no wonder kids know next to nothing when they graduate high school (and not much more after college, a lot of times) and it's no wonder people are so easily duped. They don't think.

[redqueen]

8. It's up to parents to teach critical thinking.

*sigh*

Today I have so little hope.

[Left Is Write]

19. While I don't disagree that parents should teach critical thinking skills...

I also believe that it's something lacking from today's general education.

[redqueen]

20. Oh yes, definitely.

I just seem to have come very close to the extremely cynical conclusion that the failure to teach critical thinking isn't a bug, but a feature.

[Left Is Write]

24. I think so too.

[DS1]

9. still ? that money for email thing was going around in 1997

:puke:

[skygazer]

10. Exactly

And why would anyone believe such a thing? What possible marketing value could it have? People are greedy and want something for nothing so if you tell them they're going to get it, they seem to fall for it.

Amazing.

[DS1]

11. The first one I heard was that Bill Gates was trying to put the US Mail system out of business

and converting the whole country to electronic mail - in order to make more people by Microsoft Windows

( and sometimes AOL )

I'll bet the source email was an aol.com account

[Left Is Write]

12. I know people who still believe random business travelers are losing kidneys left and right.

[skygazer]

13. What, they just drop out?

:P

[Left Is Write]

14. No, they are STOLEN!

STOLEN by unscrupulous black marketeers who drug the travelers, slice out their kidneys, then leave the hapless victims in bathtubs full of ice! It's an epidemic! It's happening everywhere!

[skygazer]

15. Those evil meanies!

You know, I wondered what my uncle, the travelling salesman, was doing in a bathtub full of ice but he's kind of odd anyway and I figured it was some pevvy thing on the side. :think:

[triguy46]

16. Why the bathtub of ice? I had a kidney yanked out...

2 years ago and they put me in a hospital bed.

[Left Is Write]

18. To keep the unfortunate traveler alive, of course.

Until he comes out of his drugged haze and can call 911 from the hotel room phone, thoughtfully placed near the bathtub by the wiley butcher.

[triguy46]

22. Ok, so as myths go, you keep people alive by keeping them on ice.

Interesting concept, physiologically lacking, but makes for such a good story.

[Left Is Write]

23. Yep. You slice 'em open, swipe a kidney, and stick the victim in the tub.

Simple!

[triguy46]

25. "Suture Self" the how to perform surgery at home book.

[Left Is Write]

26. ...

:spray:

[Deep13]

17. You all won't be laughing so hard when I get my check from Nigeria. nt

[RebelOne]

21. I have a few gullible friends who forward those

hoax e-mails to me all the time, such as the Bill Gates one. I always send the Snopes.com link back to them, but they are really dense because the e-mails keep coming.