Yesterday, I received one of those emails from a
supposed-immigrant, fleeing their country.
They were offering me half their money to help them smuggle it out of
the country, so the government wouldn’t get it.
After giving it two or three minutes of careful deliberation, I decided
that it seemed legitimate. I mean why
wouldn’t a complete stranger from Sao Tome & Principe reach out and offer
to give me half of 5 million Dobra (which I would later find out was only a
little over $215)? So, I supplied the required
bank account information as requested and waited. A few days later, I received another email
from the same person with the following message:
“Dear Sir,
To be honest, I sent the previous email with the goal of cleaning out your bank account. I have successfully done this many times before, preying on people’s greed. However, upon logging into your bank account, I was surprised to find that you had no money at all. I was more surprised to see a negative balance of $25, a fee assessed for maintaining too low of a balance. I realized at this moment that you were worse off than I could ever be, so I deposited $30 in your account to pay the fee and give you a little something to get you started in the right direction. I hope your endeavors prove more prosperous, and maybe I can steal from you in the future.
Sincerely,
