Another ... but not to me! .. eh??!

This is one of those scams. It was not via the social sites but directly to my hotmail address, or so it seems; maybe the sender found me somewhere. Actually, after re-reading it, it seems it IS through a social network; my profile is mentioned.

Dunno ... Oh well. Here it is, including contact info in case you get similar:
------------------------------------
From Miss Marie Ahmed
From: marie ahmed Sent:November 29, 2007 6:02:45 PM
To: mh_441@latinmail.com (mh_441@latinmail.com) (how do you like that: it wasn't even to MY ADDRESS!! This isn't for me at all, so why/how did I get it?)
FROM MISS MARIE AHMED01 BP RUE 14 ABIDJAN COTE D IVOIRE. (look familiar?)
EMAIL- (MARIEAHMED_012@YAHOO.CO.JP) (not to mention the SHOUTING)
DEAREST ONE,GOOD A THING TO WRITE YOU.
I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU-THIS HOWEVER IS NOT MANDATORY NOR WILL I IN ANY MANNER COMPEL YOU TO HONOUR AGAINST YOUR WILL YOUR PROFILE PUSHED ME TO SEND YOU THIS MAIL, I AM MARIE AHMED 19 YEARS OLD AND THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF MY LATE PARENTS MR.AND MRS.HASSAN AHMED.MY FATHER WAS A HIGHLY REPUTABLE BUSINESS MAGNET-(A COCOA AND OIL MERCHANT)WHO OPERATED IN THE CAPITAL OF IVORY COAST DURING HIS DAYS.IT IS SAD TO SAY THAT HE PASSED AWAY MYSTERIOUSLY IN FRANCE DURING ONE OF HIS BUSINESS TRIPS ABROAD ON THE 24TH.NOVEMBER. 2003.

THOUGH HIS SUDDEN DEATH WAS LINKED OR RATHER SUSPECTED TO HAVE BEEN MASTERMINDED BY AN UNCLE OF HIS WHO TRAVELLED WITH HIM AT THAT TIME.BUT GOD KNOWS THE TRUTH! MY MOTHER DIED WHEN I WAS JUST 4 YEARS OLD,AND SINCE THEN MY FATHER TOOK ME SO SPECIAL.
BEFORE HIS DEATH HE CALLED THE SECRETARY WHO ACCOMPANIED HIM TO THE HOSPITAL AND TOLD HIM THAT HE DEPOSTED THE SUM OF THE SIX MILLION,THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS.(USD$6.300,000) DEPOSITED IN A SUSPENCE ACCOUNT WITH ONE OF THE LOCAL BANKS HERE IN ABIDJAN,IVORY COAST IN FAVOUR OF ME AND I WILL LIKE YOU TO HELP ME TRANSFER THIS FUND TO YOUR ACCOUNT.

NOW I AM JUST 19 YEARS OLD AND A UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE AND REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.THIS IS BECAUSE I HAVE SUFFERED A LOT OF SET BACKS AS A RESULT OF INCESSANT POLITICAL CRISIS HERE IN IVORY COAST.THE DEATH OF MY FATHER ACTUALLY BROUGHT SORROW TO MY LIFE.I AM IN A SINCERE DESIRE OF YOUR HUMBLE ASSISTANCE IN THIS REGARDS.YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS WILL BE HIGHLY REGARDED.DEAREST YOU WILL NEED TO HELP ME PROVIDE A GOOD ACCOUNT WHERE THIS FUND WILL BE TRANSFERED IN YOUR COUNTRY.AFTER WHICH I CAN JOIN YOU IN YOUR COUNTRY TO COMPLETE MY UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.
NOW PERMIT ME TO ASK THESE FEW QUESTIONS

1. CAN YOU HONESTLY HELP ME AS YOUR SISTER?
2. CAN I COMPLETELY TRUST YOU?
3. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT IN QUESTION WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU AFTER THE MONEY IS IN YOUR ACCOUNT?
PLEASE,CONSIDER THIS AND GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.THANK YOU SO MUCH AND MAY GOD BLESS US.
YOURS SINCERELY ONE,
MISS MARIE AHMED
Las más bellas del planeta, en Miss Mundo 2007 http://www.starmedia.com/entretenimiento/especiales/misses.html
------------------------------------
These people trying to scam others are unaware of how many have done the same thing.

okay, I broke down and replied to him ..

This guy needed a spoken-to, and I didn't feel like letting him go on untold ...
----------------------

Sent To:cscp194026
Subject: with respect ??
Message Sent:Johnnie, while I think the picture is of a very VERY handsome man, I wonder if you're unaware of the hundreds of emails I've received from men who are saying very similar things to me.

For starters, we've never met, and I don't respond to strangers who call me 'Dear'. I'm curious how you can be so sure I'm right for you. Not only that, but if you actually HAD read my profile, you'd see that I'm not even here for dates at all. I'm here only for friends. No more.

It's been my consistent experience with yahoo email users that these 'too good to be true' messages are, in fact, NOT true. I can't even be certain that's YOUR picture, or if it is, how recent it is.
You say lots of wonderful things and you present as a 'catch', but I don't believe you're on the level, and for that reason, I regret the answer is NO.
Please do not ever email me again, or I'll report you. I'm not the slightest bit interested in you now, or ever.
May God show you what IS REAL, not this drivel you're trying to pass off as sincerity.

----------------------

This fellow had a very VERY handsome pic .. but

He uses a yahoo address, which right away blows his cover; *sigh* ... another scam.

It's just one more ploy the scammers are pulling; instead of posting their own pictures, they find a photo of someone who is drop-dead gorgeous (basically someone who has his choice and would not need to resort to the typical spiel sent indiscriminately out to hundreds of *they hope* unsuspecting lonelies .. but that if he were so desperate, he has deeper issues than just being single!) and I'll grant sometimes it IS that guy's picture, but it's several years old, taken back when he still had good (or any) hair & teeth.

---------------------

2007-11-20 (http://www.singles.org/)
From: cscp194026
Subject: Hello
Message: Hi Dear, How are you doing today hope fine ,well am cool .this is the first time am using this dating site ,i was looking through single profile and i noticed that yours was different thats to say i like your pics and profile and i will like to get to know more about you ,pls go through my profile and se if we have alot in common ,for i know you are what i am looking for in a relationship and i hope i get to know you better . I am looking for a God fearing ,honest and truthful woman ,some one who will be there for me and the kids some one to be honest with for ever and watch the kid grow ,some one to get old together and above all some one to be a prayer partner .feel so free to write me back at john_albert2003@yahoo.com ,stay cool and God bless . Johnnie.
---------------------

These messages are also worded strategically with intent to instill a guilty conscience if the women turn them down, ... i.e. "how could you be so shallow and unwilling to give this really nice guy a chance?" The good looking picture is added for extra punch, making the sell even more aggressive.

The hapless uninformed are led to believe this man is on the level, because he's a sincere believer in God, and does things for the poor, helps in his church, values family, marriage and children, spends daily time reading his Bible, etc etc ... blah blah blah ..

I mean, those qualities and morals are all good, right? They are considered top-notch on the sites that draw these scammers to use whatever desire there is to trust a potential new mate.

Couple the pic with the puppy dog pitch and you have a recipe for heartache aimed at the naïve & unrealistic.

Consider this, then, a general warning to avoid users of yahoo email addresses.

Of course there are always exceptions but as a rule IF YOU DON'T KNOW the person, for safety's sake, presume it's a scammer.

If you're on a social connection website, likely many of the users have yahoo addresses, so watch for how wordy their first introductions are. Not only that, but a key tipoff is the poor literacy. Their text shows English may not be their primary language. For example, "i will like to" is inconsistent with the guy's picture. He's trying to pass off as a Caucasian, but his syntax ~ "I am looking for a God fearing ,honest and truthful woman ,some one who will be there for me and the kids some one to be honest with for ever and watch the kid grow ," .. shows he is trying wa-a-a-ay too hard to seem good at his English.

Watch out for these discrepancies in typed speech.

By the way, I'm not suggesting that foreign men are to be avoided. It's not the nationality that concerns me, but the attempt to disguise it by using a fake photo and having worded their messages in such a clumsy way that it's obvious they're scamming.

Honesty is international, as is dishonesty.

Also, if they're saying things that seem 'too good to be true', well .. that's the major red flag, especially if they don't know you either, and are slathering praise upon your profile, saying they think you may be the one, etc. They, like this twerp, may also begin with a term of endearment. This is highly inappropriate when they don't KNOW you!!

A legitimate note from a real seeker would be more awkward and shy. He would probably not know how to articulate more than something like "hi, I read your profile and I thought I'd say hi." .. y'know, bland and boring.

It's the overcharmers who are like too much caffeine and sugar; the rush is followed by the inevitable crash.

The 'boring' ones are the substantial types who, if allowed time to come out of their timid shells, will most likely prove the most loyal and strongest of character.

This just in ..

~ from another one of the few sites where I *actually do* meet nice people, but as always there are the ones who just don't pay attention ....
---------------------------
2007/11/19 (www.fusion101.com)
From:aminat
Subject: Hello,
Message:Hi there,hello how are you doing? i hope fine and i pray that the Almighty God will always make you fine. well, my name is Paul David. i am a citized of USA but reside presently in the UK. Incase you dont have much time to go into my profile i want to give you a briefing about myself.Although i am not a christain by birth but im now a born again christain. i love kids and i love offering arms to the needy. i am an accountant by profession but by calling i am a talented preacher and i also go on christain missions.i love singing and playing musical instruments mostly on sunday services.i love the base and acoustic guitar.i also play violin. im new to this site and my mission here is to search for my fortune.....a woman i will spend my life with.......a God fearing darling. while i was breezin thru the site, i saw your profile and thought i would be nice to contact you. its really lovely and i wont mind a reply from you. Incase you need to know more about me feel free to ask i will provide all the answers at my best. anyway my email address is paul.david20@yahoo.co.uk and feel free to add me so as to have a chance to share ideas and talk better. bye and may GOD bless you. i will be awaiting your reply."
---------------------------
It's the yahoo address that predominantly gives these fools away. Evidently it never occurred to them that OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT DO THE SAME THING ...

Here .. the waiting queue

Well, as promised ... I've posted the recent foibles of my adoring clueless wonders. How they manage to completely re-invent me is staggering. My profile is deliberately worded so as to REJECT this kind of attention, as well as REPEL it. I am on the sites using the provided option of "just buddies", yet I get this stuff.
They blithely, obtusely troop on, utterly ignoring the fact of what I said, and tell me how my profile made them just HAVE to get to know me!

If they indeed read said profile, they're stupider than I thought, and if they didn't, well.. they're still stupid because they think it will get them somewhere to try selling me all this delusionally self-aggrandizing, insipid drivel.
--------------------------
2007-11-15 (http://www.singles.org/)
From:cscp193951
Subject:Hello Belove.
Message: Hello Belove. Calvary greeting in name of our lord Jesus Christ. My great pleasure sending you my special greetings, How are yeah doing , geuss you doing very great I when through your profile and I like what I saw, if you don't mind I would really love to know more about you , me I am big into music , I lead & play worship at varies different event ,I have lead worship at my church for the past 6 years ,I play guitar bass kayboards & drums.gosple music is my passion , I live the christian life to the best of my ability. I am interested in you after going through your profile in single.org and feel I should know you better. you are free to send me via email collinshorton1@yahoo.com My best reagrds and Happy weeked . Sincerely Collins.
--------------------------
2007-11-9 (http://www.yourchristianzone.com/)
From:patrick001
Subject: Hi Angel
Message:Hello baby i am Patrick by name i found ur profile nice and lovely i am single and looking for someone as beautiful and lovely as you are..i am an honesty man.i lost my wife few years back.i work with an animal research company and i am an hard working man.i came across ur profile and i will love to get to know much about you.because i have the feelings that we can work something out and be the best couple if things work out well.i got a duagther whoms name is Becca she is just 9 years old.Have been the one taking care of her since i lost her mother and i think is time i have someone to be her new and take care of her due to the nature of my Job..if you want to know to much about you can you IM with my yahoo screen name at (patrick1010000) and you can also email me directly to my email address at (patrick1010000@yahoo.com ).i will like to meet and i will also like to know much about you sweety.
--------------------------
2007-10-26 (http://www.singles.org/)
From: cscp193493
Subject: hello victoria
Message: Hi am jeff george johnson,i was searching through the net and i saw ur profile and immediately my attention was brought to it,which irealy likes everything about your self description and ur looks.i thought within myself if only u can be the right partner which i ve been asking all days from God.i ll be very grateful if only my proposal of knowing u better is been granted.am really loking forward to hear from u soonest,here is my mail address caringandlovingheart@yahoo.com thanx from jeff george johnson
--------------------------
2007-11-15 (http://www.singles.org/)
From: cscp193572
Subject: Hi beauty
Message: Hello,Hi *Angle Well i would like you to know that i came across your profile and was stunned,deemed­ it fit that we should get to know ourselves as i am a man with so much to learn and also so much to give out,i heart skipped a beat for a slight second when i saw your profile and said to myself that knowing you would be great and that if i ever had the chance to chat or talk to you i would make sure you enjoyed every bit of our conversation,s­o please do me a favour and allow us know each other by sending me your yahoo address so i can add you to my messenger and there we can really talk and know more about ourselves.here­ is mine so you can add me to yours or send an email to me and i promise to reply it okay. eric_29online@yahoo.com Eric.
---------------------------
* (Freudian slip? .. we see he has an angle .. LOL)
... *sigh* .. by the way I quit answering them. They're idiots.

I'm returning within a week.

My Dad just passed away yesterday, and I need a bit more down time.

I already have a few new messages to post here but one is on another computer disk so I'll get them all here when I get back.

Thanks to all for your patience and understanding.

WizeChiklet