Inbox is empty. Suggestions for topics, people?

When I'm not receiving the bogus emails, the blog is suspended. I'd like to have something related to put here for when there's no message to post.

Readers, send me your thoughts.

Meanwhile, best of the season to you & yours.

Why do I keep those social accounts open?

That's a question I began to touch on, but this is the more involved answer.

1) Sometimes I do make a contact resulting in a new friend.
2) It can be very entertaining, if not especially bright.
3) The collecting of the emails here provides a reminder to count my blessings.
4) Exposing the scammers seems like the right thing to do.
5) ... and finally, keeping those accounts open allows me to compare how different sites work, and who targets them. The number of scam mails wa-a-a-a-ay outdoes the nice guys, but I won't toss out a little baby just beacuse of too much bathwater.

Here's a relic: wa-a-a-ay before this blog was born!

Going through some ancient emails I happened upon a bit of nostalgia that, I think, represents what I might have received had I ever (in seriousness) responded to the initial scam letters:
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From: aisha
Sent: 7/26/2005 12:22:41 PM
To: {they sent to the wrong address}
Subject: Re: Why your funds have not been released
Dear Sir/Madam,
RE: CONTRACT PAYMENT CONFIRMATION ORDER
I am compelled to write you in respect of your contract fund remittance, which transfer has remained unsuccessful.
I am very sure that you must have lost hope of ever getting your fund transfer released especially after all the frustrations, endless disappointment and broken promises in the hands of some officials.
However, I am writing you because i am familiar with the history of this fund release.
My privileged knowledge and acquanintance with this payment issue is due to my closeness and association with the immediate past Governor of the central bank of nigeria ,Dr Joseph Sanusi, who i worked with from 1999 until his voluntary retirement in may last year and in addition to the current position which i still maintain within the Bank.

Therefore, the information i am about to disclose is classified and should be treated as such and must not be revealed to any other nigerian official no matter your cordiality and closeness. This request must be noted in view of the fact that the current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ,Prof Charles Soludo is yet to be briefed on some outstanding issues and information by his predecessor and other top officials of the Bank who are not political appointees and who have worked in the bank for more than 2decades.

Briefly, I am quite sure that you must be wondering the reason behind the non-release of your contract fund after our Government officially granted approval for its remittance.
I may also believe that you would have received countless, unconfirmed and spurious payment Advices and remittance instuctions from some officials indicating that they have granted approval for the transfer of your fund.
You may have also been directed to visit different cities and countries with the instuction that your fund would be releaseed at such payment post or that your fund could be delivered to you at your residence.

All these are cooked up stories from impostors who wish to extort money from you while they do not have any knowledge of the true position of your fund transfer.
Meanwhile, i would like you to note the following.
(1)Our government has granted irrevocable payment approval for your fund remittance.
(2) Official release of this fund according to the record from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and Ministry of Finance have been duly effected and documented.
(3) Your fund is presently being held at the HSBC bank international Ltd.(details available with me).

However for the avoidance of doubt, the reason for the non-release of the fund by the Correspondence Bank is due to the fact that the Bank has not received any direct instuction about the beneficiary of the outstanding amount as the fund is still being held in the name of the original contractor, ELBLAN IND.S.A. LUXEMBOURG,(details availble with me), in view of the non provision of a proof of ownership of the fund.
The original contractors in collaboration with a top official of the Trade & Exchange depatment of the central bank has been rolling the fund with the Foreign Bank and the interest is shared amongst the officials.

If you are very certain that you will not disclose this information to anyone, get back to me and i will give you further directives on what you should do immediately. Thank you, Yours Faithfully DR IDRIS USMAN.
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Just think ~ this kind soul is trying to save me from unscrulous people who would take advantage of my trusting nature, and wants to make sure I get my money ... oh ~ wait: WHAT money?


*sigh* ... dimbulbs.

*DANG* ... forgot to post one today!!

I received a 'come-on' from .. hehe, a WOMAN (who, again, obviously pays no attention to whom she's addressing ~ I mean COME ON, if you're gonna scam people, at least increase your chances by aiming at the right targets .. which means, essentially, READWILLYA) who wants to meet me and live in my home to be my 'one and only forever', as was the gist of the letter.
I copied it with the immediate intent to paste it here, but got distracted by someone talking to me and, before I could stop myself, copied other text for the one talking to me.

GAHHHHH!!!! ... not only that, I had deleted the message (and emptied the trash), so it's gone. Oh well .. you get the idea.

Doofus didn't even get my address right ...

Yahoos comin' outa da woodwoik ... always wonder how, if something isn't addressed to ME, I get it anyway!
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From: Paul George
Sent:December 11, 2007 3:41:58 AM
Reply-to:paulgeorge_26@yahoo.co.uk
To: you@prod.shaw.ca
From Paul George
Hello ,It is a pleasure meeting you at last for i have waited for this golden moment.I am Paul Georgemanager in one of the prime bank in southafrica.Six months ago ,mylate customer died in a fatal accident and was buriedat the statecemetry.My late customer (Sir Michael Mcguigan ) hasan account with a credit balance of twenty six million dollars($26,000,000:00),which has been dormant for avery long time.All efforts to contactthe named beneficiary to late Sir Mcguigan 'sestate,with thesupplied information proved futile.My good friend ,amcontacting you because i want you to claim this money with me. i have thenecessary information and documents that would enableus this claim.Pleasekindly send me your urgent reply to enable me knowwhich other stepto take towards the claim of this money.Regards,Paul George
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I went to that Snopes site and was reading about Nigerian and other sorts of scams. The page is at http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp.
I do strongly recommend reading it if you've not done so already at some point. Here I am, snickering at the thought of how stupid it is for these scammers who don't seem to realize others are doing the same thing .. and then I read that page about how successful it's actually been!!
Now THAT is scary.
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Incidentally, Ribeye, should you happen to read this entry, please would you note I'm changing the blog title because of how this thing shifted its focus. It will have a new name in a week, so the link you have on your blog will have time to reflect it.
Thanks!

SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM ...

"I DON'T LIKE SCAM!!!!" .. just then four Vikings at a nearby table begin to sing ...
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From the desk of: Hon. Senator David MarkPresident of the SenateFederal Republic of Nigeria.
110, Burma LayoutGarki,Abuja-Nigeria.
Cell Phone: + 234-703-2701156
Dear Sir,
I am Hon. Senator David Mark from Abuja-Nigeria. I need your confidentialpartnership. There is a box of money which I secretly despatched to America twodays ago and I need your assistance to help me to claim the box of money.

Thetotal amount in the box was $3Million [ all in $100 bills ].I do not want the Government of this country to notice this money. Hence, I needyour help urgently. If you can assist me to claim this fund in America, you willretain 30% of the $3Million as your share of the deal.

Please can you urgentlyhelp me out ? Kindly respond on time so that I would make you the beneficiary ofthe box of money and it will be released to you without delay.As soon as I get your response, I shall give you other vital information asregards the particular place where this box of money is in America.

It is worthyto inform you that this box of money was secretly despatched to America two daysago by a Diplomat. This was done under a very confidential arrangement. Andright now, the Diplomat is waiting for me to give him the name of thebeneficiary whom to deliver the box of to.

Therefore, as soon as I receive yourpositive response, I shall intruct the Diplomat to deliver the box to your doorstep.Then after the delivery of the box to you, it will be your responsibility tolodge the fund into your personal account pending my arrival in your country tomeet with you for the disbursement of the fund. I need to sneak into America tomeet with you. This is matter requires an urgent/prompt attention.

Waiting for your urgent response.
Hon. Senator David Mark
Cell Phone: + 234-703-2701156
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Oooohhh, I'm a *SIR*!!! ..

.. this blog began as a mildly amusing collection of misguided emails intended to charm me, and has plummetted into a cesspool.
Now I keep it to provide examples of the seemingly unlimited number of sheer IDIOTS who obviously assume they alone have discovered a secret key to untold wealth ... to say nothing of their (horrendous) literacy skills. It's one thing if English isn't one's first language, but come ON.

All you scammers/potential scammers ~ what could possibly possess you to believe this will improve your life? .. and why do you choose a method that is designed to cheat others?
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*sigh* ... just makes me wish I could thwack them with a fish. Seriously! I'm always so tempted to answer them, just to ask what WHAT WHAT on EARTH are they THINKING??? WHY do this? HOW become so deluded as to resort to spam/scam? .. and WHO would be thick enough to fall for it?

That's the scary part: obviously somebody HAS fallen for it, because it must work to some extent or it would stop, wouldn't ya think?

The loathed "Dear" from a smarmy stranger

This winner thinks I'm going to be all in a tizzy because he 'chose' me. Whhooooohh!!!
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(http://www.pricelesspartner.com/)
From: alexcsn
Subject: Hello Dear
Hello Dear,
My Name Is John Brown, I am just a new member on this website "PriceLessPartner" And my aim of been signed up on this website is for me to meet my own partner, which ibelieve it will surely happen by God's grace.
My mind tells me you are the lucky woman, so please do not hesitate to pay attention to my message and get back to me as soon as u can.
John Brown.
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To: alexcsn
Subject: Re: Hello Dear
.... 'lucky', eh.
Well, I appreciate the compliment, but as I said I'm here ONLY for FRIENDS, nothing more.
Unfortunately I'm not good at responding favourably to being called "Dear" by people I don't know.
Good luck
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Sorry Dude ~ I only give my time to those who actually make the effort to READ THE PROFILE.

Ya-HOOOOoooooWOOooohhH!

I wonder why these yahoo users who peruse the singles sites are not apparently aware of each other. Don't they ever receive this sort of thing?
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From: cscp193826
Subject:hello
Message:
Hello, My name is Eric, i just finished going thru ur profile and i liked what i see,i must say thats a lovely pic u got there.i'll love to get aquinted with u if u dont mind u. hopefully this mail will find you in a perfect state of mind and good healthy condition. While going through the dating sites today, I came accross your profile which I personally find interesting and charming and decided to drop you few lines just to say hi,I am looking for a long term relationship in a woman of your kind who unerderstands the need to love and be loved. I have taken time to see the age difference between us but this is really within my choice of age range and I have no problems with that.I sincerely find you and what I have read so far from your profile very interesting and I will like to know and hear more from you. Included here with this mail is my email address through which you can reach me. eric_michael004@yahoo.com ERIC
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"I will like to" ... it's beginning to seem as if all these emails are from the same person posing as many others.