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PATH: BS | PT Barnum
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The Perfect Mark
Posted by Pile
(12856 views)      [E-Mail link]
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[Get-Rich-Quick] |
 "Late one afternoon in June, 2001, John W. Worley sat in a burgundy leather desk chair reading his e-mail. He was fifty-seven and burly, with glasses, a fringe of salt-and-pepper hair, and a bushy gray beard. A decorated Vietnam veteran and an ordained minister, he had a busy practice as a Christian psychotherapist, and, with his wife, Barbara, was the caretaker of a mansion on a historic estate in Groton, Massachusetts.
Worley scrolled through his in-box and opened an e-mail, addressed to CEO/Owner. The writer said that his name was Captain Joshua Mbote, and he offered an awkwardly phrased proposition: With regards to your trustworthiness and reliability, I decided to seek your assistance in transferring some money out of South Africa into your country...
Still, Worley, faced with an e-mail that would, according to federal authorities, eventually lead him to join a gang of Nigerian criminals seeking to defraud U.S. banks, didn’t hesitate. A few minutes after receiving Mbote’s entreaty, he replied, "I can help and I am interested."
The New Yorker has a great story about a prominent Christian leader who lets his greed overcome his commmon sense. His reward? Two years in prison and more than $600,000 in fines. When you read those goofy Nigerian e-mails, you think, "Nobody is stupid enough to fall for this stuff right?" Well, it seems that Christians are one of the scammers' favorite targets. They have the right combination of naivety and greed that makes them, "The Perfect Mark." |
READ MORE | 1 comment since 2010-04-20 09:43:32 | Comment on this Article |
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