Crispin, I recall an editorial in Omni Magazine many years ago on how to dispose of nuclear waste. They proposed dumping it in some uninhabited area of desert and surrounding it with a simple chain link fence at a distance safe from the radiation. On the fence at regular intervals would be posted the following sign: "IF YOU GO BEYOND THIS POINT, YOU WILL DIE." Their theory was that, yes, there would be people who would ignore the sign, enter, and die; this would have the effect of raising the average level of human intelligence by a small fractional percentage. I kinda liked the idea (this was many years ago, when there wasn't the concern about someone stealing the stuff). I bring this up because it has some commonality with your feelings on the 4-1-9 scams, but perhaps not as much as might appear at first blush. This past Christmas, my 84-year old mother asked for and I gave her one of the $99 "e-mail stations" from Radio Shack. We celebrated our family Christmas at my brother's, and while I had preconfigured everything and paid the annual fee to the provider, Mom still hasn't been able to get it hooked up and working at her home. She even enlisted the help of a couple of octogenarian friends who also received e-mail stations from their children. I'm going back to Ohio to visit my parents in April and will be spending some time tutoring on how to use e-mail. Mom asked for the gadget because it's about the only way she is going to be able to correspond with her children (a different and even longer discussion). What's a laughable scam to you and me, perfectly comfortable in today's technological age, makes me worry about my mother and senior citizens in general. Many of them are baffled by technology that we take for granted. I don't think my parents even have an ATM card. Part of the reason I didn't get mom a full-blown PC was the security maintenance a PC requires. I figured the e-mail station doesn't present much of an attack profile. However, things like e-mail scams that prey on people's emotions can be all too effective not only on the naive who perhaps deserve our scorn, but also on the frail who need our help. I hope that your heart has some room for them. Best wishes, Scott Hoffman > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-crime@private > [mailto:owner-crime@private]On Behalf Of > Crispin Cowan > Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 12:07 AM > To: IWS Newsfeed > Cc: crime@private > Subject: Re: CRIME urgent (PUBLIC AWARENESS ADVISORY REGARDING "4-1-9" > OR "ADVANCE FEE FRAUD" SCHEMES) > > > IWS Newsfeed wrote: > > >PUBLIC AWARENESS ADVISORY REGARDING "4-1-9" OR "ADVANCE FEE FRAUD" > >SCHEMES > > > >4-1-9 Schemes frequently use the following tactics: > > > We all owe a debt of gratitude to the 419 scammers, for improving the > average IQ of the American populace by killing off the morons > & chumps > dumb enough to fall for this crap. > > Yes, I'm kidding, and yes it is in bad taste, but I don't > care :-) I am > just stunned that anyone falls for this. I know, no one ever > went broke > underestimating the intelligence of the American public (just look at > www.bodacion.com :-) but this idiot scam is just beyond belief. > > Have any of you police officers ever delt with 419 victims? Are they > really dumber than a bag of hammers? Or is there something > strange about > this offer that makes otherwise intelligent people fall for it? > > Crispin > > -- > Crispin Cowan, Ph.D. http://wirex.com/~crispin/ > Chief Scientist, WireX http://wirex.com > HP/Trend Micro Immunix Secured Solutions > http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/solutions/iis/ > Just say ".Nyet" > > >
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