I want to cry.  This story is so sad.  My heart goes out to the family.

Very sad story indeed.

Unfortunately, the email weasles out there are conning people out of money every minute of every day.

If everyone would follow simple rules such as those below, the email weasles would go away:

1. Assume ALL unsolicited emails are SCAMS. Period.

2. Never click on a link in any email you receive.

3. If something is "free" then it should cost ZERO. NOTHING. No bank account or credit card information should ever be required. Bogus claims such as "we just need your account information for verification only" means it is a scam.

Another favorite of mine are those companies which offer something for "free" and then want a shipping, handling, or other "fee" for it. If there is ANY fee or cost then it is NOT free. If someone offers something for free and then wants some other fee, then they have lied to you. SCAM.

Believe it or not, I have a really good friend that I work, and fish with that fell for a very similiar scam.

His wife was supposibly playing some internet lottery. (I'll get back to that one) they recieved (from Candada) a check in the mail for 5800 dollars, along with a letter stating that he had to pay 1800 dollars in processing fees. His first instinct was, its a scam. but his wife conviced him that it was probably from the website she had been visiting and that it was legitimate. He went to the bank and deposited the check. after three days, THE CHECK CLEARED. the money was deposited into his bank account.

home free....right?..not quite.

he withdrew the 1800 bucks, got a money order and sent the money to the given address in Canada!

He never said a word to me.

guess what happened next. 7 days later he goes to draw out 20 bucks so we could go fishing at his banks atm. his account had been frozen! he went inside the bank while I waited in the truck. he came out with the most horrid look upon his face. he told me the entire story.

The check for the Lottery was a Fraud. how it cleared the first time, I don't know. I do know this.

I told him, "you know I keep up with Lottery's. you should have come to me and ask for some advice!"

"you should have trusted your first instinct and not listened to your wife."

The only legal Lotteries in the US are the State/Multistate funded lotteries!

The Powerball and The Cash 5 are the only legal lotteries in NC right now.

all the others are operating illegally, or are a scam.

Personally, I would never play even an out of country lottery. There was an American that won the Spanish El Goro. when he went to the lottery office to collect, The Spanish bastards refused to pay him because he was not a Spanish Citizen!

No Legitimate Lottery will ever CONTACT YOU and INFORM you that you are a winner. they would rather see you not collect! it is your responsibility to identify yourself as a winner and claim your prize!

He should have gotten some advice,

They better never send me one of those scam Lottery winning Checks.

I WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE POLICE STATION TO SET UP A STING OPERATION!!!

Moral of the story.

never get involved in any buisiness deal that you know nothing about, without consulting an unbiosed outside expert.

unless you were a stock annalyist, CPA, finacial planner, with a buisiness degree, you wouldn't invest your retirement into a company without first checking it out would you?....if you had never even purchaced your first home, you wouldn't buy into real estate without an apprasial, or at least a realitor advice? would you?

I could have saved my friend alot of money, had he have seeked my advice. and even if I didn't know what to tell him, (which I did) I have had enough experience with Lotteries that I could have directed him down the right path. 

needless to say I had to spot him the gas money to go fishing that day. what are friends for?.

I only wish I could have saved him the heartache of loosing 1800 dollars!

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

 Corrections...

7 days later he goes to draw out 20 bucks from his banks atm machine so we could go fishing.

we weren't fishing at his banks atm...LOL

unless you were a stock annalyist, CPA, finacial planner, with a buisiness degree, you wouldn't invest your retirement into a company without seeking an experts advice? most of these people wouldn't either. why should you? even if you were such an expert yourself, I would hope you would have the wisdom to at least check the company out for yourself. 

I won't even try to fix the spelling....its late, I'm tired.

but I think you people get my point.:)

The best advice is not to open contact with criminals no matter how savy you think you are.  Yes the person at the other end of the email is often a teenager, but they are working for real criminals who think nothing of doing you in.  To them you are nothing more then cash cows to be milked. No words you type are going to cause them the least concern no matter how dirty or threatening, they will laugh and move on to the next potential sucker forging your email address as the sender. 

The woman who killed herself must have cared more about her reputation then her family, (who should have been willing to take her in). 

BobP
 

I'm so sorry for the woman.  She must have been so depressed after the stark realization she had lost her lifetime savings.

The elderly become feeble-minded as they get older.  That is why they are easy prey to the con artist. 

We should revere our elderly, instead of victimizing them.

I hope the people that did this to her will suffer for a very long long time and die violent deaths. 

Some people just don`t care what they do to other people. They only care about money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a scam e-mail I received today.  This is why so many people fall for this crap.  These people should be shot!!!

 
 
Dear Sir/Madam,
 
It is obvious that this mail will come to 
you as a surprise. This is Because we have 
not met before but I am 
 
sending you this email due to the 
circumstance surrounding the health of my 
dad, Mr. Christopher
Ikpomwonsa.
 
My name is Collins Ikpomwonsa, the eldest 
child to my dad, I am 15 years old, a native 
of Edo State, 
 
Nigeria. I know very well that, you are 
going to take this message as one of those 
junk messages. But 
 
believe me, it is real from the dept of my 
heart. I cannot claim my dad to be heal, 
when he is not.
 
Like I earlier told you, my dad is very 
heal. He is suffering from cancerous ailment 
and stroke. Doctor 
 
said he can live with the stroke for the 
rest of his life, so long as he is able to 
maintain good diet and have 
 
a well regulated blood pressure. But the 
problem we are having now is that of the 
cancer. He has limited 
 
time to go about the operation. He has been 
referred to have the operation done in 
Germany, but no funds 
 
to start up with. Doctor's report has been 
acquired for the application of visa at the 
German embassy 
 
here in Nigeria. The problem now is, there 
is no funds to start up with. Not even a 
transportation fare 
 
that could be used from my State, Edo State 
to Lagos State, where the Embassy is 
located, not to talk 
 
about the ticket fee and the treatment 
expenses in Germany.
 
My family is a very poor on we barely eat 
from hand to mouth. And there is no security 
for us to acquire 
 
a lone for this, and we have not been able 
invest in the NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE 
 
SCHEME(NHIS), because there is no money to 
do it with.
 
So due to the above, I have decided to go 
into begging and soliciting for funds from 
people to help my 
 
poor family in this circumstance that has 
befallen us. Please, in the name of God, and 
for Humanity sake, I 
 
am pleading for help from you, it does not 
matter how small it is, it could make a 
dying life survive. I 
 
know God will with his abundant wealth will 
refill it for you in thousand folds.
 
Immediately I am through with sending you 
this mail, I will go back to the street to 
continue begging from 
 
people over here.
 
I am sorry if this is going to get you 
inconvenienced, please do not bother your 
good self. Because, I do 
 
not want you to please me, while displeasing 
your self. But, if you know you have enough 
to help my poor 
 
family with, please do help, and God will 
bless you.
 
You can contact me with the below email 
address and phone number:
Email: collinsikpomwonsa@yahoo.com
Phone: +2347031154801
 
 
Thank you so much for your response.
 
Your Child,
Collins Ikpomwonsa.

I sent this fraud a n e-mail telling him I had money to send him.  I'm waiting on a response.

I know someone that has won two fairly large online contests.

What happens when you really win is they call you.

They say, "is this Mr. So and So?"

When you say yes, they say, "Mr.  So and So, you have won $XX,XXX from the such and such contest"

"We have your name and address as Such and Such is this correct?"

When my friend replied, "So is this kind of scam where I have to send you money first?" They replied, "No Mr. So and So, a when you win a real contest you are never asked to pay any money of any kind." 

"Mr. So and So, we are going to send you an affidavit to sign and notarize stating that you are who you say you are and live where you say you live Once we receive that affidavit back we will mail you a check for $XX,XXX."

A day or two later you get an affidavit in the mail that asks you to confirm that you really are Mr. So and So and live at Such and Such Address. It only asks you to sign for this information. It does not ask you for your social security number, drivers license number, or any banking information. They do not ask for any fees of any kind, not even for the cost of them shipping you the affidavit.

A few weeks after you mail in the affidavit you will receive a check.  

I would agree with you, but she was only 72 years old! That isn't old by today's standards.  Except for those unfortunate individuals who are afflicted with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, the mind is usually the last thing to go.  Many great artists are creating brilliant works at 80.  As you probably know, Normal Mailer died last week at age 84.  He completed a novel last year.  A really silly show with Charlie Sheen called 2-1/2 Men has Robert Wagner (age 77) as an occasional guest.  He's still hot! (well, I think so)  Roger Moore (be still my heart!) who played James Bond until he was 58 is currently an Ambassador for UNICEF at 80 years old.  Former Pres Carter is 83 and visited Darfur last month to promote peace with Rev Desmond Tutu (he's only 76)   Henry Kissinger, born 1923, still advises our world leaders on international relationships.  Barbara Walters is 78.  At age 88 Mike Wallace decided it was time to retire from 60 Minutes.  (I agreed)  However, if 91 year old Walter Cronkite wants to come back to anchor the evening news again, I'll be watching.

Well, I think I've made my point that most people do not become feeble-minded as they get older, just those who stop using their minds in the first place.