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Bwahahahahaha!
Jun. 28th, 2006 10:59 amMost entertained today to receive an actual physical letter (as opposed to merely an email) for a 419-type scam:
( Of course you shall be handsomely rewarded for your part in this transaction )
Quite educational -- I'd been thinking this sort of thing was purely an online scam (because sending out letters costs real money and you can't hijack somebody else's equipment to do it). But when I Googled to check what the 'Nigerian number' above was, it turned out to have quite a history.
And at that point, it dawned on me (::facepalm::) that I really should have remembered Joseph Ady (scroll down), who was sending out scam letters back in the early 19th century, and whose activities forced a change in the postal rules in the 1840s to make the sender liable for the postage on refused unpaid items. (I think I even have a photocopy of one of his letters somewhere, as a result of being the underbidder on it in an auction.)
( Of course you shall be handsomely rewarded for your part in this transaction )
Quite educational -- I'd been thinking this sort of thing was purely an online scam (because sending out letters costs real money and you can't hijack somebody else's equipment to do it). But when I Googled to check what the 'Nigerian number' above was, it turned out to have quite a history.
And at that point, it dawned on me (::facepalm::) that I really should have remembered Joseph Ady (scroll down), who was sending out scam letters back in the early 19th century, and whose activities forced a change in the postal rules in the 1840s to make the sender liable for the postage on refused unpaid items. (I think I even have a photocopy of one of his letters somewhere, as a result of being the underbidder on it in an auction.)
