The insatiable human greed is legendary but at some point people are just insane – beyond greedy. The other day I received one of those “forwarded” emails from someone who apparently still have my email, saying:
“Here something that you might want to read it was on the news .
Subject: FW: PLEEEEEASE READ!!!! It was on the news!
Dear friends,
Something to share with all of u. Would u believe if this is true? Read on….. For those who need money badly and this is one opportunity to try it! I’m an attorney, and I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
Dear Friends,
Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.
Regards.
Charles S. Bailey
General Manager Field Operations
[CONTACT DETAILS REMOVED]
I thought this was a scam myself, but two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on, Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a cheque for US$24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this Bill Gates is the man. It’s all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least US$10,000.00.
We’re not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother’s girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game. She showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped “Paid In Full”.
Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. ”
I, of course, deleted the damn thing. But this person who still had my email wasn’t enough for the apparently promised $245 they “will receive” from forwarding it to me, and the continues money pyramid they will receive to all the people they sent it to and those after them who also forward it as well. No, that was not enough for them. What do this particular person do? Send the same damned email again to me the next day! What the fUuuuuuuuck?
Then I realized, greed is what is at work here. People are losing hundreds of millions of dollars each year to such an amazingly absurd and poorly constructed scams by some high school dropout sitting in an internet cafe in Lagos or Abuja because they are so unbelievably greedy. What is more unbelievable is that most people who fall for this 419 (named after an internet cafe in Lagos, Nigeria – duh!) scams are doctors, lawyers, accountants, pastors, engineers, etc. because their greed is beyond insanity – like pedophiles who watch Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” and still show up for “To Catch a Predator” sting operations, which by the way isn’t deterring pedophiles from seeking to molest children.
But back to my point, what would it take for people to understand that noooo one is going to give them millions of dollars only if they send a small “transaction” and “handling” fees in order to receive millions of dollars they apparently all the sudden inherited from their long lost uncle or get 50% of that dead African dictator’s widow’s frozen fortune only if they help her by sending the transaction charges she needs to get her millions of frozen dollars from the bank. Or receive $245 just “by forwarding” Bill Gate’s email. The sad fact is, many people not only fall for this age-old poor con job, they fall for it multiple times. What a sad, sad reflection of human nature that is.
It is no surprising that most of the world’s problems since human existence can be attributed to human greed – wars, poverty, conflicts, imperialism….
The East African Philosopher 