I guess you’ve got to give the scammers credit. They never stop trying.
And that’s the scary part, isn’t it?
Because, really, it means one thing: These despicable thieves really do fool enough people to make it all worth their while.
We expose scams every week, thanks to reporter Jake Hutchison’s excellent “Scam of the Week” column that runs Tuesdays. It’s a great read for two reasons: It alerts people to scams, and Jake reports it in a first-person way that any person can relate to.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t always understand how these things work, and it’s usually not as simple as “someone is sitting in front of a computer trying to scam me.” But at some point real people do become involved if they think they’ve got a sucker on the line. So, on this particular Saturday morning, I decided to take the bait.
As always, the exchange started with an email from somebody pretending to be an acquaintance. In this case, the name happened to be … Shirley. (No, really.)
“Happy New Year! How are you?” the email began. “Hope everything is good with you. I need a little favor. Thanks, Shirley.”
I get about 10 of these a week. Sometimes I write back under the misbegotten notion I’ll be clever enough to screw up their day. I decided this would be one of those days.
“Hi Shirley!” I responded. “Great to hear from you! Sure, old friend, I’ll be happy to help in any way I can. And by the way, for the love of God, please tell me…
