Posts Tagged ‘scams’
Evidence the recession is hurting everyone.
The recession is hurting everyone.
When adjusted for comparison to the last big recession, national unemployment is around 9.5 percent, 18 metropolitan areas have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent and Detroit, poster city for economic ruin, posted a 22.2 percent rate to start the year. American families lost 9 percent – $5.1 trillion – of their net worth in the fourth quarter of 2008.
In addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars already spent on bailouts, the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it would spend an additional $1.2 trillion (free registration may be required) to buy up assets in an attempt to jump start the flagging economy.
And the pinch is being felt worldwide – Morgan Stanley economists in London revised their 2009 global GDP growth estimate from -0.3 percent in February to -1.2 percent this month.
But the real sign that the recession has taken hold is scammers and con artists are changing their tactics. I received this e-mail today from Rev. David Johnson:
JOHNSON ENGINEERING COMPANY,
26, V-Island Road,
Ikeja Avenue,
Lagos-Nigeria.
Dear Friend,
I am Rev.David Johnson from Canada, I have been an international contractor that collects contract from Big Companies and countries, I got involved in one contract in Nigeria which my payment was refused, I was down and almost lose hope.
After 2 years of this contract, I later talked to God to assist me in getting
this money. I made a vow to benefit someone with the sum of Nine hundred thousand United State Dollars (USD $900,000) draft payment if my payment could be approved and to my surprise I was called upon by the Nigeria Government sometimes last month that my contract file have been looked into and it is ready for payment.I never believed it until I was advised by my Pastor and later moved down to Nigeria and to my unbelievable surprise I was paid this money.
Due to my pledge to God I have agreed to show the person that i will be sending the Nine hundred thousand United State Dollars (USD $900,000) through ballot system on the internet which happened to be your email so you are lucky. What you have to do now is to get in touch with my secretary Mr Robert Dennis and instruct him on how to send your USD $900,000 Bank draft to you.
BELOW IS THE CONTACT OF MY SECRETARY
Mr Robert Dennis
Office Phone : +234-708-404-4359
E-mail address: robertdennis002@chatdd.com
Send to my secretary your contact address and telephone number,let him make arrangement for the shipment of your draft to your doorstep and also you can give him a call to confirm your address.What I want you to believe now is that this is the opportunity which God have promised you this year so it is better you have it in time before it goes again from you so contact my secretary in time.And for your information presently i am in the United Kingdom for another contract so i want you to go into prayer with me for the success of this
contract.
With Best Regards,
Rev..David Johnson.
OK, so really the only things that changed were invoking God and saying he’s from Canada, Canadians being infinitely more trustworthy than any other nationality. I hear they don’t lock their doors up there.
If you can get past that, you’ll see it’s just the same old, tired Nigerian scam that’s been online since 2000. Look, it talks about Nigeria before Rev. Johnson even introduces himself. Why does a Canadian reverend have an engineering business in Nigeria, anyway? (Probably because he’s some sort of international super spy, but he can’t tell you that. Not this early in the game, and not through a transmission as insecure as e-mail.)
Of course, there’s the same request to contact somebody else entirely and the same atrocious grammar. Then again, he is a Canadian, so he probably knows English and French, and he does business in Nigeria and the U.K. Imagine how you’d sound if you started out saying things like “aboot” with that ridiculous cadence and then got all screwed up from those accents they have in Nigeria and the U.K. Poor man, it’s a miracle he can still form a coherent sentence.
In any case, keep an eye out as scammers stoop lower to stay afloat during the recession. You never know – one day they may break away from tradition and send you an offer that’s original and feasible if you’ve suffered a recent head injury.
