I'm currently having fun with a scammer trying to make me ship my laptop to Africa. As coordinates to sending money, I gave him address of Police head office in our city :)

What? This guy seems legit...

They're doing it on Yahoo calendar as well. I received something like this and deleted it.

@Tigerman_McCool: Especially with all the spilleng mistakes *grin*

@chouchou: Brilliant!

My buddy and I once pissed off an overseas scammer. He wanted to buy my television, valued at around $650. He sent a bogus check "backed" by Citibank.

The "buyer's" name was different from the name on the envelope, which was also different from the name on the check. After a call to Citibank, I verified that not only was the account number printed in the wrong place on the check, but the account did not even exist [big surprise.]

The scam was a double-whammy: not only would he have gotten a television, but the fake check was one of those "overpayment" scams, in which he sends around $5000 more than the amount of the item and asks you to pay it back.

We told him we would ship the television right away, but that he needed to pay shipping, because we had already begun the process of refunding his $5000 and did not have the money to ship it. He was going to pay for the television to be picked up and shipped via UPS. We took an old broken television, shot it, placed fireworks inside, and dragged it behind an ATV for a while. Basically, the television was mutilated.

We took the casing from it, filled it with all the broken parts of the television and other various useless components, along with a giant framed blowup photo of the television he thought he was getting, and placed them inside the box for UPS to pick up; right about this time, it had taken long enough for him to get his refund and he had not gotten it; he got suspicious and canceled the whole deal. So, we didn't get scammed out of a television or money, but it would have been glorious if the prank had gone through.

I'd like to meet a Nigerian named "Patrick Moore!"

My Google gmail account rarely gets any spam but earlier this week I got on of those Nigerian scam emails which I deleted immediately.

Everyone who likes to see these guys scammed back should check out 419eater.com. It will brighten your day...

@mmcnary: I love when the stories that end up with random Nigerians getting tattoos or being forced into Monty Python sketch remakes. That site is one of the best things to happen to the internet.

The funny thing is regardless of how the scam reaches you, it's the same approach all the time. As long as you are familiar with it, you'll be safe no matter what.

Scam artists might be clever with how they try and hook you, but they aren't too bright in other areas.

@Smitherd:
I hardly think you pissed him off...
And if you had shipped it you would have been the ones in trouble anyways.
Shipping fireworks??
Yeah please do that...
:rolls eyes:

@GrandizerGo: Yes, we should send live venoms snakes and spiders instead.

How about the P-P-P-Powerbook?

[easynetworknyc.com]

@GrandizerGo: Not shipping fireworks, lighting them.

@GrandizerGo: We lit the fireworks inside the television to destroy it while we still had it.

Obligatory link to 419eater.com!