I mentioned in my previous post about getting another scam email in my junk folders lately. Such was the case with this, which was brief, and it was the name listed more than anything else that made me want to look more into it.
I, Friedrich Mayrhofer Donate $ 1,000,000.00 to You, Email Me
personally for more details.this is the second time i am writing you do email me back if
you receive my first mail to you.
Regards.
Friedrich Mayrhofer. It's the sort of name you expect perhaps belonging to someone who's managed to avoid war crimes prosecution for seventy years. Actually, it's not. I checked the name, and it turns out that Mr. Mayrhofer is a Canadian who a year or so back won one of the lotteries here with two family members. Furthermore, there are a number of articles in newspapers when you've checked his name indicating that someone out there has co-opted his name for the purposes of internet scamming. It has nothing at all to do with the man himself.
So of course this is a scammer. While it's short and completely devoid of the usual scammer stories by a widow/ daughter/ secretary/ confessor/ bartender of the late dear husband/ benevolent tyrant/ general/ righteous minister/ drug lord, it originates from the same circle of demented scammers in some third world hellhole. It starts with the email address itself, which upon looking at country codes for internet email turns out to originate in Morocco. That's kind of a long way away from Canada, but in the right part of the world for the vilest of the vile (no, not the Dancing With The Stars production, though they are revolting): internet scammers.
And then there are the usual tell tales of a scammer who's not really working with English as their first language. The poor sentence structure and absence of punctuation where there should be punctuation. The capitalized words, like Donate, Email, Me- none of which should be capitalized. And the offer of a big amount of money to a complete stranger, with the details yet to come. All hallmarks of that wretch of a human being, your typical internet scammer.
And now here they are, dragging a lottery winner's name through the mud.
Do they have some sort of quota? Like "one dumb sucker believing this crap for every five thousand emails we send out?" Whoever they are, all I can say is this: rather than continue with this line of work, why don't you go out and relax?
Go skydiving. Without a parachute.
Scammers are not only annoying, they're insulting--because the believe we're stupid enough to fall for their lame attempts to con us.
ReplyDeleteSadly, they make enough money off suckers to keep going!
DeleteYeah. I agree with Norma. They're like our politicians. Scammers. They insult our intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know!
ReplyDeleteI really do wonder just what their success rate is. I will be *really* mad if they somehow have a higher income than I do...
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to believe that anyone would fall for the drivel in that email.
ReplyDelete@Norma: that's true.
ReplyDelete@Jennifer: unfortunately they do.
@Shelly: they really do.
@Meradeth: I would too!
@Mari: and yet it happens.
I still can't figure out why people even do this.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me occasionally that there is no hell, no means of getting revenge on those people who have brought death and destruction to so many. I mean, really, Hitler's gonna get a bye? Something's wrong with that picture. Scammers, spammers and their ilk, which not in the same category as the Hitlers or Trumps of the world, still should face some terrible retribution for their machinations.
ReplyDeleteDo you Google all your spammers? If you decide to stalk him, may I come along?
ReplyDelete