Posted on 03/22/2008 2:56:15 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
I received an e-mail today from “Todd Williams a staff of Natwest Bank plc London.” He told me about 12.5 million pounds in his bank, and offered to split it with me if I would “stand as [the deceased’s] next of kin for the fund release” in my name. This e-mail is an example of the Nigerian Scam.
Originally, the grand sums that were available to be split up were supposed to be held in Africa. Now, the locale of the funds has spread. But the bad grammar and poor proof-reading suggest that this is from the same area of Internet scammers.
The amazing thing is that anyone who has the ability to read English and operate a computer on the Internet still falls for this scam. The word is out. The scam is obvious. But sending 10,000 e-mails to find just one sucker is easy enough. And one sucker a day can provide an excellent, if illegal, income.
But this column is not about the Nigerian Scam. It is about the uber-Nigerian scam, one that Americans are practicing on Americans, even as we speak, with a sadly high degree of success. It’s called a presidential election. Some applicable quotes are in order.
“You can't cheat an honest man so never smarten up a sucker or wise up a chump,” is both a memorable line and the source of the title of a 1939 film starring W.C. Fields and Charlie McCarthy. It is also the theme of the award-winning 1970 film, “The Sting,” starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. It is also at the heart of any film or movie in which anyone seeks to cheat anyone else by counting on the victim’s own greed. And it is also, sadly, at the heart of American politics today.
Next quote: H.L. Mencken, “An election is an advance auction of stolen goods.” Final quote: Alistair Cooke, at the end of his towering 13-part television series entitled, “America,” he quotes an Italian fruit vender on a New York street, “There ain’t no free lunch.”
Now it’s time to apply those principles in real life. Remember the Hillary Clinton commercial that showed her wrapping presents at Christmas time? At the end she starts to wrap another “gift” for the “people,” which was, I recall, “universal kindergarten and child care.” Anyone who thought at all as a result of seeing that commercial had to realize it was directed at people who wanted what she was offering, and were either too stupid to realize these things have costs, or wanted to have them as long as someone else paid for them.
The point was not to scam the viewers out of money, but out of votes.
Example two: Barack Obama is in favor of largely the same list of give-aways that Hillary is, plus a mandated $95 billion dollar aid package for foreign nations to “end poverty.” There are two errors in this proposal – who will pay for it (US taxpayers) and its faulty logic. Zimbabwe is filled with natural resources but has been turned into a poverty-stricken, crime-filled dump not by a lack of money but a lack of competent leadership. Compare with Singapore, which has little land, no natural resources, a crowded population and yet it is one of the most prosperous nations outside of the West.
This is an odd scam, since it doesn’t offer benefits to any voters, except to the left-wing do-gooders who think that undeveloped nations might become prosperous and stand on their own, if only the developed nations would hand them buckets of cash. (Of course, the fact that prior buckets of cash wound up being stolen by the leaders of those nations escapes the attention of such voters.) Still, the goal is to scam votes.
Example three: John McCain’s two actions which most upset Republicans who are now stuck with supporting him are the illegal alien amnesty bill (which failed) and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform” bill (which passed, unfortunately). Both of these were scams of the American people generally, intended to gain votes for McCain from specific groups.
The amnesty bill was intended to gain the support of illegal aliens who would have become legal. It was also intended to gain votes from legal immigrants from Hispanic nations, who had already become citizens. But it so happens that those legal immigrants who waited their years and paid their dues do not support the idea of open borders and amnesty. Nobody likes a line jumper.
McCain’s campaign finance “reform” bill is an unusual scam in that the cost was not paid in money. The freedom of the American people to use TV to talk about incumbent politicians was the price to be paid. As usual, the benefit to be gained was votes from people who were too short-sighted to see or did not care about the price for an end result that they thought was “good.”
I call these uber-Nigerian scams because they all work on the same premise. The target has to want something for nothing, a free lunch of some description. Start with that attitude and you wind up with a victim who has been cheated out of his wallet, or his vote, or considering the impact of taxes, cheated out of both. But it can only happen if the target has a touch of larceny in his heart, because....
All together now, “You can’t cheat an honest man....”
- 30 -
About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu He is running for the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina.
- 30 -
John / Billybob
Preach it, Brother!
Some guy has a site where he scams these scammers. The back-and-forth emails are there, along with some pictures he got the scammers to take of themselves. Hope someone knows the site and can post a link. It’s funnier than Zombietimes “Hall Of Shame!”
There are several. Off the top of my head:
And let’s not forget FR’s own lowbridge!
Unfortunately, virtually no one stops to put a price tag on anything. How great would it be if ANY proposal ANY political hack makes MUST be accompanied with a tax, the funds from which will be used to pay for the new program. Perhaps then people will learn the no-free-lunch lesson...although I doubt it.
http://www.419eater.com/index.htm
Good one!
The list wouldn't be complete without the grand daddy of the all:
The list wouldn't be complete without the grand daddy of the all:
Ain’t it the truth!! Most of what the ‘Rats are selling these days is Nigerian with barely improved spelling...
Freepmail or ping me on the thread to be added to the John Armor for Congress ping list.
I’m one of them that scams the scammers!! Each time they write me I play along, and give them my address, have them send the bogus check, and just keep the checks. I LOVE IT!! i think it keeps them busy and makes them spend their NOT hard earned money on our USPS, UPS or FEDX system to send the checks. ALSO, if they are busy with me, they won’t spend as much time ripping off the innocent people around the world. Most people that have been taken are greedy, and have never heard, “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”
I invite all you out there to write them back and play along. If you don’t want to give them your address, give them the address to the nearest Police station or FBI office.
They will eventually stop, right??
I hope they burn in hell.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.