OK, so, you’re contacted by somebody who apparently is either successful enough or interested enough in running scams that they spend effort and time on it to spam you and start chatting you up.
Am I the only one here getting nervous?
That is, at some point they are going to try their tricks. It does look a little bit like a sport, or a puzzle, to see this coming and dodge it. I can see where that could be fun.
But, how sure are you that you’ll outsmart them?
For example, what if their plan is to look like an old and uninspired scam when, in fact, they are going to pull something new and different? A sort of a metascam, you might say.
How? Unless Crandall Spondular actually sends Mssr. Charle real honest-to-god money, how can it possibly be an expensive game? The only way these scams work is if you give the scammer money or information allowing him access to your bank account. There is a possible threat, and that’s that Mangetout will piss off the scammer enough that the scammer will track him down and do something bad to him. But Mr. Spondular is a professional wrestler, so surely he can take care of himself.
I’ll have to admit, I’m just a little wary of this one that he hasn’t merely thrown up his hands and stormed off, but I think that’s more down to stupidity than malicious tenacity.
But I’ve not been specifically targeted for this one - 419 scams like this are absolutely rife on the internet - I get dozens of emails every week trying to hook me into some scam or other (last couple of weeks, it was mostly fake notifications that I’d won the Euro Millions lottery)
This is the funniest thread I’ve read in a long time!
Do you mind if I use the name “Crandall Spondular” as the name of my protagonist in my next short story? I’m writing a cyberpunk type work next and I’m trying to emulate Philip K. Dick’s style. (Which is very difficult, by the way.) I’m really trying to make it as fucked up as I can, while still being readable. (Also difficult.)
I think a lot of these scammers are from Europe and they’re a bit more canny than the African mob. I’ve not yet succeeded in an email conversation lasting more than about two or three rounds with them.
What I do now with the lottery scammers is to reply “Wow, that’s amazing! How do I collect the money?” (Ignoring that the instructions for doing this are included at length in the email). About half don’t bother replying to me - the others invariably send back a brusque demand for personal and banking details. I send them a nice email saying “all the info you need is in the attached document”. the document is actually a PDF containing nothing but a full page colour photo of a naked, hairy fat bloke’s arse - I hope they view it in a public internet cafe when someone is looking over their shoulder.
I’d like to see a thread entitled “Ask Crandall Spondular for Money Here!”, wherein dopers could post their neediest and most grammatically incorrect scams.
Well, I’m just enormously impressed that the Western Union offices there in London (where the scammer purports to be) are open in the middle of Sunday night.
I’ll wait until later before replying as it’s sometime after 3 in the morning in New Jersey (where I want the scammer to think I am).
Have you asked Mrs. Sandra Dickson to help you straighten out this mess? I’m sure she’d be upset to know how her agents are mishandling the transaction.
I did consider that, but I think this guy is actually a different scammer who is trying to pick up the threads from where the previous guy(s) gave up - when they realised I was playing them - I reckon this one must have just found my email address and the name ‘Crandall Spondular’ written down or printed out somewhere, or maybe the previous lads left the machine logged in or something.
