# Explain this scam to me

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-scam-to-me/683382>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 10, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-scam-to-me/683382 "2014-03-10T21:15:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-scam-to-me/683382/41 "2014-03-14T09:26:20Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Hey, maybe we’re mispocha? They seem to be dropping like flies down there. Seems to happen every 3 weeks. :rolleyes:

Well, apparently I do have (or once had) some distant kinfolk in Florida. I met some of them, for the first time, at my father’s funeral (in Los Angeles). Seems that some distant kin, a few generations back, owned a fabulous tract of waterfront land on a cape in Florida. Then, for some reason, some Big Government agency condemned the whole area and forcibly bought it from them under Eminent Domain, for some reason.

Fast forward a few years . . . that fabulous tract of land became Cape Canaveral.

ETA: As a matter of fact, I happen to have in my fambly, not one, but _three_ genealogies: My father’s father’s family, by father’s mother’s family, and my mother’s side. Maybe you’re there somewhere!

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-this-scam-to-me/683382/42 "2014-03-18T00:21:39Z")

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> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> It’s a 419 scam - the front end of these takes one of several forms:  
> [ul][li]We found a suitcase full of money bearing your name, and…[/li][li]I am a wealthy, dying widow in need of your assistance/stewardship of my charity bequest…[/li][li]I am a banker who discovered an unclaimed fortune and need your assistance in embezzling it[/li][li]I am a rich businessman/prince/whatever and need assistance moving my funds[/li][li](and in this case) I am a lawyer looking to embezzle an estate by presenting you as the heir[/li][/ul]{…}

All, more or less, variations of [_The Spanish Prisoner_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Prisoner),

> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> {…} Whatever exact details might apply, I’d bet good money that the scam would be recognizable to any con man of the last two hundred years. {…}

which dates back to, at least, the late 16th century. I’ve no doubt that it’s even older in its basic details,

> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> {…} you’ll {…} be asked to enter into a supposedly profitable arrangement (appealing to your greed), to be kept secret (to prevent your friends exposing the scam), and they’ll start pumping you for ‘advance fees’ for as long as you are gullible enough to keep paying.

CMC fnord!

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