Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Forgive Me if I'm Skeptical: Nigerian E-mail

I've been in Japan for awhile, a notoriously safe island country. Its people definitely posess a naivete and gullability befitting such a safe and orderly island culture. I suppose some of this has naturally rubbed off on me.

Moreover, my father has even at times accused me of being a "bleeding heart liberal," and I plead guilty as charged on many counts. Yesterday, I even had a student at Asaka JHS try to slap a large piece of tape on my back with "fool" scribbled in Japanese. (Wow! Nobody ever thought of doing anything like that before!) My folks can verify that I even flunked kindergarden! (The kids on the playground never let me forget it either!) And I'll be the first to admit my Neanderthal demeanor and poor table manners leave people thinking that perhaps I'm not playing with a full deck.

But do I truly look so boneheaded as to respond to the following?

With Respect,

I am Olivier Thomas and My sister is Rosemary Thomas. Our parents Mr. and Mrs.David Thomas were assassinated here in IVORY COAST. Before my father died, he had SEVEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS kept in a well concealed trunk box and deposited with a security company here in Abidjan. I want you to do me a favour to receive this fund to a safe account in your country or any safer place as the beneficiary. I have plans to do investment in your country, like in real estate and industrial productions or any other profitable sector in your economy. This is my reasons for contacting you. Please if you are willing to assist me and my only sister, indicate your interest by replying.
Thanks and best regard.
Olivier Thomas

Seriously, to all Nigerian/Ivory Coast email scam dudes out there, if you want to swindle me out of my money, the least you could do is use my first name! Get a clue Olive Boy!

2 comments:

The Pittmeister said...

So your first name is a bunch of symbols? Weird!

Tyler Beal said...

I was having trouble with the html. You can only cut and paste text into the html when you are posting.
Then I changed the font to make it look more like a letter and it turned into wingdings!