I know I am optimizing in search engine's because...

I absolutely love to bait these #*%(%^#%#@.  I lead them on as long as I can.  After a while they learn that you're not going to give them any information and leave you alone... but if it stops them from duping one other person... it's worth the time.

Cameron

And some of their stories....I can't believe people fall for them.

Susan:  I am so glad that your SEO efforts are finally paying off.  Just make sure you continue to use the words "Nigerian real estate" in each of your posts.  <silly smile>  Maybe you could write a specific Localism post, too?

Susan, they are no longer only coming out of Nigeria. I am now getting these spam letters from Ireland, United Kingdom and Bahamas.  They either want their account information, or want to
send you millions of dollars in exchange for  you helping them get the money out of their country.
Also they pretend to be attorneys of deceased relative and they are so happy they found you so
they can get the money over to you.  It's frustrating - I wish there was something besdies the
DELETE button to get rid of them.  Dagmar Sands

My first letter like this I felt so bad for the child who lost a parent and was in need of money. Glad I had heard about these absurd scams or I may have been duped.

Susan,

I have more tips in my blog article Write a Great Realtor Blog. It may help you as well, and I'd really appreciate it if you would contribute to it!

Happy Selling!

Christina

I get a bunch of those letters.

Keep on blogging.

Bill

Susan, there are a couple of things you can do. Most of these spammers use free email accounts. You can forward the email to the free email service and they will delete the account (e.g., abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@hotmail.com, etc.). It probably won't stop it, but you can take one of them off the net for a little while at least until they open a new email account.

The other thing you can do is use your easy button, the "Delete Key".

Yeah, the scammers and spammers have become out of control. So much so, that I wrote a blog about it called Genious, Criminal, Insane or All of the Above, and it has been one of my most popular yet!!!

I have seen so much spam it doesn't even phase me anymore. The craigslist scams are much more devious because they are getting hard earned money out of their victims. I used to love craigslist but do not not use it anymore. I really feel badly for the victims.

Susan,

     I have only received a few of them, and I don't even think I have read all of any of them.  You can pretty much tell from the title of the email(if it makes it to my in-box and not spam folder) what the email is going to be about.  Think about it this way, for every one of us out here trying to make an honest living, there is probably one of these people thinking up scams.  We can only hope they get caught and prosecuted at some point.

http://activerain.com/blogs/joshandkathyschmidt

Hi,

Just a small way to ensure your Email address dont go in wrong hands. I have seen MAJORITY of Real estate agents displaying their Email ID on website in Text format. These Emails ids are picked up by various bots and spiders and used for various purposes.

So AVOID displaying Email ID and use contact forms. They are cheap, more useful and Safe.

its funny, if these scammer would only their hard work and ideas on better things, who knows what they can do and accomplish,right?  I mean, it takes hard work and dedication to come up with a good scam and succeed at it.  If only, if...

Susan,

I suggest using a contact form. The mail will be then sent to your mail id. This way for initial contact , the propective client doesn't have to know your Emailid. ONce, you establish contact then you may give out your email id.

If you have to show email id, show it on image or flash, like you have done in your site. http://www.etemecularealestate.com/ . Bots cannot read them or have difficulty.

You have used Contact form like i mentioned above on http://www.etemecularealestate.com/f-dash.asp?Page=generalrequest.html

But 1 mistake. Your webdeveloper has used your email id like this <input type='hidden' name='sendto' value='TopProperty4You@aol.com'> 

Which agains makes your EMail id public for Bots and email harvesters.
Ask your webcompany to remove that. Trust me you will get lot less spam mails

One important thing though offtopic: you have used a flash splash page on your Index page which obstructs Google and search engines in going further in to your site and read them. Also, you are using frames to show pages. This is also not search engine friendly. YOu should address both issues urgently

Scammers are coming from just about everywhere now. Its just that Nigeria is kind of where it started. But its sad because I know Nigerians and all Nigerians are not scammers. Great post.

You MuSt read this story of a nigerian scammer getting tricked into getting a tattoo: http://www.419eater.com/html/okorie.htm