6/12/2006

I'm in trouble

Today I had the most surreal Internet email related experience. I'm under e-arrest!!
Here's the story.

In a previous post I've been talking about check scams, but it seems I fall into a new one that I didn't know about.
The scam works like this. You're offered a part time job as a "payment representative", your job basically is to receive checks for this company, deposit them in your account, take your cut and send the remaining amount to the company by Western Union or Moneygram.
In the previous "modality" (nigerian scammers love this word), the scammer do send you a check that will bounce after you cash it and send the money. With this new "modality", they never send you one. They say they do, they scan the check for you to see and after a while they come up with this new twist: the agent in charge of sending the check has been arrested for money laundering.
At first is not a big deal, just a small missunderdstanding, everything is being worked out but there is this small problem that may get you in trouble. The agent has mentioned your name (he sang like a canary) and the police may want to investigate you, however their lawyers have everything under control, paying a small fine all will be settled. So you have to send the money for the fine and you can get it back from the next payment.
As you can imagine, I don't want to pay the fine. I had no choice but to turn myself in to the local police, I told my employer that I did and that the FBI is also interested in the case. They checked all the evidence I've got, all the email messages, etc. They are reporting to the Nigeria police department and I'm really confused about it, aren't they in the UK?
I though that they'd get at least a bit curious about it but this guys are real pros, not even the smallest reaction. They moved on with the script I guess, they put some pressure on me and I didn't gave so they called the UK police to take over. And they did, Inspector Johnson Johanson mailed me from a Yahoo free mail account and (I assume) put me under e-arrest.
The hilarious part of all this stupid story is that I've been read my Miranda rights by the UK police over email.

Dear James,
You have the right to remain silent as whatever you say will used against you.
We are working in collaboration with your government.
We are out for you. I have given an option to your partner in crime and both of you refused to cooperate.
Please be aware that Mr Imodu Innocent is right here under out custody and has made conffessional statement as regard your ilicit deal with Mr Jones.
Please cooperate and get freed.


Maybe there's a Miranda act in UK that I don't know about but my guess is that this idiotic morons are spending too much time in front of the tube.

Anyway, my plan was to get some checks and now that I see they're not going to send any is time to close shop and move on.
Darn scammers, they're not even good to have some fun.

Today we say goodbye to:

nelsonatems@yahoo.com
barristeranthony@walla.com
un.project_2006@yahoo.com
ayalasystem@yahoo.com
ecpromo1@yahoo.co.uk
linux_bankplc@linuxmail.org
emmanuel_agent044@yahoo.co.uk
emmanuel_agent04@yahoo.co.uk

May their e-souls rest in hell...

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