I receive those emails from time to time, where the sender writes that her husband died and left behind 17 million dollars and she wants to share it. There are also other types of emails you'll be aware of. But do people really fall for this? It's hard to believe. Anyone tried replying for a laugh?
Our newspapers do an article every year about the latest victims - although I suspect many don't go to the Police out of embarrassment. I'm always amazed at how these people tend to be well educated and professional. As for replying - head over to 419eater.com and prepare to lose hours reading about how the scammers have been played for fools.
No, and you shouldn't either. Never give these scammers your e-mail address. Unless of course you want to be hacked, and receive tons of spam.
Although I do wonder if there is a scam to scam the scammers where you sell a "package" of standard letters, call scripts etc and therefore the people sending the emails are the victim.
I actually just had a conversation with this guy from my ship that almost fell for those scams. it was check scam, where they send you a check and you withdraw some money and sendit back to them. He said he deposited the money into his account, but told me he didnt send the money back and felt bad because he didnt. i just told him that the money was going to go away from his account in a couple days not to take any more money out.
Sadly, people do fall for those scams. One of the American news magazine shows did a story about the Nigerian scam several years ago. One of the men featured in the program was so thoroughly duped that he traveled to Africa to hand over his cash.
No haha you must not know about this scam. The scam is someone gives you a check with a large amount of money, you deposit it into your account (usually banks let you use some of your check deposited before they actually verify the check, this is for direct deposit obviously) So then they ask for alittle of the money back in exchange for the check, and you give them the money and a couple days later your bank finds out the check wasnt valid and they take all the money from that check out of your account and now your in the negative.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidy, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Unfortunately yeah, there are people out there who fall for those stupid emails. My guess as to how and why is desperation, vulnerability, and probably a lack of education about scams. Like sarahk said, 419 Eater is a great resource for seeing how these crooks operate. I'm also of the opinion that this is a lot more common than we realize, and a lot of victims keep quiet out of embarrassment. Sometimes the scammers will tell them not to tell anyone, so there's that factor as well.
At times for fun sake its good to reply and show that you're really excited. Then at the right minute just stop replying, then you see the fun and the scammer's anxiety. I have done it few times, but never share your personal details, Its real fun. Try it.
I'd guess some people do, if nobody did then why would these scammers still be doing it. However I feel that a very small percentage of people who get the emails would ever actually fall for it.
Recently, i watched a video where a brand in UK was selling bricks just solid bricks. And people lined up to get hold of one. If this can happen anything can happen.