True Tale #8: Stalling the Scam Artists

"This letter is to inform you that I am not a member of Al-Qaida (sic),that I do not participate in any money laundering activities, and that I do not sell drugs in the fictitious town of South Park. I also solemly (sic) swear that I did not kill Kenny." Click on the Image to View the Full Version.

Immediately after this site was launched, the "two cents" mailbox was hit with the ever-popular African Inheritance scam. It's a rich bit of irony that a site dedicated to annoyances received one of the most annoying Spams to ever hit the web. Recently, one of our readers contributed a clever way to con the con artists perpetuating this hoax. Here's the story:

The African Bank Scam spam has burgeoned into a full-time and quite lucrative activity for many people. In case you aren't aware of it, the short story is some variation of this: You are informed by a supposed banker in Africa that a large some of money has gone unclaimed, usually a few million dollars. This person would like your assistance in withdrawing the money - that is, "transferring" it to your personal bank account. The benefit to you is a substantial cut of the money. So, after you provide all of your information, this person bilks you for everything you own. Although this sounds ridiculous, naïve Americans lose millions of dollars every year.

There are a variety of ways to get back at these scam artists. My favorite takes only a minute or so every day. Simply create a fake e-mail account and "play" with them. I begin by offering my assistance. When they ask me for my bank account information, I inform them that my bank will not allow any transactions to be made unless they provide me with some sort of documentation that the money they want to transfer is not associated with terrorism, drugs, or money laundering. I insist that they scan and e-mail the document with a photo attached. When they send the document, I usually state that there is some type of error, usually associated with their broken English, and ask them to redo it. Sometimes I ask them to create a document with a completely ridiculous statement. It is unbelievable what you can get these people to write! I continue this game for about a month, asking for new documents and clarifications. When they begin expressing their annoyance, I create a new e-mail account and start the process over -- with the same person!