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Friday, September 10, 2010

Darwin Awards, local version

The following item appeared on the "Police Log" section of my hometown's local newspaper yesterday:

A 51-year-old man was scammed out of approximately $50,000, Lt. Donald Wakeman said. The man received a cold call telling him he'd won $3.5 million and a new car in a Jamaican lottery in January 2010, and he proceeded to communicate back and forth via e-mail and telephone with persons pretending to be associated with the lottery.

In order to receive the $3.5 million, the man sent various amounts of money over the next eight months, which would purportedly cover fees and expenses.

"Unfortunately, he fell victim to a scam that has occurred for quite some time now all across the country," Lt. Wakeman said.
Italic
Haven't these kinds of scams become somewhat of a joke? Most emanate from Nigeria, not Jamaica, but it should be obvious to everybody by now that this is what they are. You have to wonder, how could a guy be this naive at 51? Had he gone through his entire life with blinders on?

One of the anomalies of my hometown newspaper is that when someone from out of town gets arrested here, they'll print his name, but when someone from the town is arrested, they usually just list his age but not his name. I'm dying to know who the guy is, though.

Mostly 'cause I have a couple things I wanna sell him.

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