On 12/07/2012 4:45 PM, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:


Cheryl wrote:
On 2012-07-12 1:14 PM, Matthew wrote:
Snip tale

This is certainly a scam. I got a couple of these - one, a year or so
ago almost word for word the same supposedly from an aquaintance who
was actually out of the country at the time, so some people in our
circle panicked a bit, although I think no one sent money.

All it means is that someone's managed to fake an email from Winnie.

One of the ones I got was actually a bit funny, when you stopped to
think about it - this person was supposedly in dire straits and
absolutely penniless and without ID, but could still send emails and
make arrangements to receive money...

W-e-l-l--- there ARE "internet cafes" and Western Union, but why would
anyone but family or a really intimate friend be likely to lend money in
such circumstances? (Also, that's one reason developed countries
maintain embassies - to assist citizens who have that kind of misfortune.)



But Internet cafes and Western Union tend to want payment or ID or both
from the 'penniless' person! I suppose you could make an international
collect call, but you still have the problem of being able to identify
yourself to get the money, and of course you can't get on a plane these
days without at ticket AND ID!

Getting repatriated as a distressed citizen isn't all that easy either,
especially if you're not near an Embassy, but naturally a real victim
would be dealing with the local police, the Embassy (if they're in a
capital city with one - I think this one wasn't) their insurance, their
immediate family, etc.

And I must admit that although one of my first thoughts when I got that
one purportedly from a friend who was in the country although not the
city named, was 'Why on earth would she email ME? We've always been
friendly, but she's got lots of friends and relatives who are much
closer to her and most of them probably have more money than I do'. And
then I thought, it's in good English, but doesn't really sound like
her... So I wasn't at risk of sending money to a crook, and since a lot
of the addresses that had been stolen were for people in a smallish
group, it was easy to get word out that it must be a scam, and then word
directly from our friend, horrified that someone had broken into her
email account.

--
Cheryl