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"Spammed" or Is It "Scammed"?

By
Real Estate Agent

Is there no place we can go without opening ourselves up to the "I have big money I'll share with you if you'll help me get it into a U.S. bank account" email?   Today I received the first of this type from Localism via AR.  I've gotten them before from various sources, and as "leads".  Today's email had a bit of a different twist.  Instead of inheriting from an uncle, being a widow, bank officer, etc., this one claimed to be from a 17 yr old whose father had left him money and his mother had died when he was very young.   The story goes on to say that he went to the bank to get the money and they wouldn't let him have it because he as too young.  He was told that he would have to have a guardian assist him in withdrawing the funds before age 25.   

So, if you receive an email from joel_akum@yahoo.com with a Subject: Dear Aunty or Uncle, just send it to spam...since there is no button for scam!  Too bad there's not somewhere to forward these emails so that the "scammers" could be caught in their own game...kind of like the NBC Dateline "To Catch a Predator".

Comments (2)

Jeff Fulgham
T.U.P. Realty - Tupelo, MS
Broker E-Pro ABR

the thing to do is try to figure out how to scam them back, LOL

I hate those too. I have actually sent some of those to the FBI website.

May 31, 2007 09:32 AM
Renee L. Norton
Birmingham, AL
Jeff - Good idea.  If you think of a great way to scam back, please share it with me.  I could have asked that everyone who views the post forward all of their "spam" to the email address as a reply from Dear Aunty.  I wonder if the FBI actually does anything with the one they get.  I think I sent one about 10 years ago.
May 31, 2007 02:31 PM