Why do people still fall for this?

[eliza61]

Just reading my email and low and behold I get the email saying I've got millions of dollars waiting for me in Nigera!

FROM THE DESK OF BELLO YUSUF
DIRECTOR,INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPT,
UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
TEL PHONE 234-08136773884

ATTENTION:BENNEFICIARY


YOUR INHERITANCE FUNDS OF $7.5M

THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR OVER DUE INHERITANCE FUNDS HAS BEEN
GAZZETED TO BE RELEASED, VIA KEY TELEX TRANSFER (KTT )-DIRECT WIRE
TRANSFER TO YOU BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE FOR FOREIGN OVER DUE FUND
TRANSFER. MEANWHILE,A WOMAN CAME TO MY OFFICE FEW DAYS AGO WITH A

LETTER,CLAIMING TO BE YOUR TRUE
REPRESENTATIVE.
HERE ARE HER
INFORMATIONS:
NAME JANET WHITE
BANK NAME: CITI BANK,YORK.
BANK ADDRESS:
NEW YORK, USA.
ACCOUNT Number: 6503809428.

PLEASE,DO RECONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE ,AS A MATTER OF URGENCY IF THIS
WOMAN IS FROM YOU SO THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BEHELD
RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING INTO THE WRONG ACCOUNT NAME.
THE RESERVE BANK GOVERNOR,EXECUTIVE, BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND THE SENATE
COMMITTEE FOR FOREIGN OVER DUE INHERITTANCE FUND HAVE APPROVED AND
ACCREDITED THIS REPUTABLE BANK WITH THE OFFICE OF THE
DIRECTOR,INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE / FOREIGN OPERATIONS,TO HANDLE AND
TRANSFER ALL FOREIGN INHERITTANCE FUNDS THIS SECOND QUARTER PAYMENT OF
THE YEAR.
HOWEVER,WE SHALL PROCEED TO ISSUE ALL PAYMENTS DETAILS TO THE SAID
MRS.WHITE,IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU WITHIN THE NEXT SEVEN WORKING DAYS
FROM TODAY.

CONGRATULATIONS IN ADVANCE.
BEST REGARDS,
BELLO YUSUF
DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPT,
UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.


Now I'm African american so I guess it's concievable that 300 years ago, some one in my family was from Nigera but pretty much for the last 200 we've been pretty much a citizen of the good 'ole USA.

Anyway I see a news report that these things still generate money.
How could anyone get this and not know it's a scam?

 

[clarabelle]

I think it must be the very elderly and the mentally impaired.
Seriously -I think the people who fall for this or either getting a bit senile or have a below normal IQ.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Or people that are depressed, at the end of their ropes and think they have nothing to lose?

 

[pogo791]

I must be on a number of mailing lists, since I get these about every other day.

At least the authors are trying to get more imaginative.

This week, I have had the dubious pleasure of receiving
- a message from my sister in Christ in Nigeria, who informed me of the terrible news that her husband had died, and that he had stashed away twelve million dollars which she didn't want to fall into the hands of the crooks who are at the head of the present government
- a message from the Secretary-General of the UN , who was kind enough to inform me that I have 400,000 dollars waiting for me, because I have been the victim of so much spam (and times must be tough at the UN, because the S-G apparently cannot afford secretarial staff who can write a single error-free sentence),
- an announcement that I had won the Coca-Cola lottery
and
- like Eliza61, an announcement that my not-quite next-of-kin had died, and for some reason he had left his huge estate to me.

I've also received a message from a bank in Canada telling me that my bank account there had been frozen, and in order to be able to access the funds, I would have to reconfirm my personal data. (Odd, since I don't recall having a bank account there ...)

Oh, well. All that money would have been nice for Christmas shopping ...

 

[FireDancer]

yeah, people that fall for phishing scams are kind of brain dead. I work in I.T. for a financial institution and these things are so obvious. The same goes for spam. If people didn't actually click on the links for spam there would be no money in sending out the messages. Likewise if people actually though before clicking on links in email and entering financial information in pages that don't even have SSL certificates let alone one with a proper chain of authority there would be no money in phishing.

In the example given there are so many red flags. First off, hello, Nigeria! Hotbed of Internet scams everywhere. Second, there is no contact information other than an address. Any correspondence like this would at least include a phone number (I also suspect it would be done via registered mail and not email). What official email will ever come in ALL CAPS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD?! I suspect that if the email header information were posted it would show at least one relay and would not have a header from Union Bank of Nigeria nor would the email originate from an email with them as the registrant.

I will give them credit though, at least they managed to use the name of an actual Nigerian Bank.

 

[stashbin]

I must be on a number of mailing lists, since I get these about every other day.

At least the authors are trying to get more imaginative.

This week, I have had the dubious pleasure of receiving
- a message from my sister in Christ in Nigeria, who informed me of the terrible news that her husband had died, and that he had stashed away twelve million dollars which she didn't want to fall into the hands of the crooks who are at the head of the present government
- a message from the Secretary-General of the UN , who was kind enough to inform me that I have 400,000 dollars waiting for me, because I have been the victim of so much spam (and times must be tough at the UN, because the S-G apparently cannot afford secretarial staff who can write a single error-free sentence),
- an announcement that I had won the Coca-Cola lottery
and
- like Eliza61, an announcement that my not-quite next-of-kin had died, and for some reason he had left his huge estate to me.

I've also received a message from a bank in Canada telling me that my bank account there had been frozen, and in order to be able to access the funds, I would have to reconfirm my personal data. (Odd, since I don't recall having a bank account there ...)

Oh, well. All that money would have been nice for Christmas shopping ...

That is so funny! I get those a lot too but never that creative!

My husband hits the reply button and tells them to go kill themselves...I told him that obviously they are not taking his advice because they are still sending the emails!

 

[agnes!]

Recently I've also gotten official-looking phishing scam-mail from "the IRS" and "Robert Mueller of the FBI". Strangely enough when I ennabled the actual headers they weren't from a .gov email...imagine that.

agnes!

 

[MrsPete]

I don't know why people believe these things. A few weeks ago I showed a similar letter to my middle-school daughter, and I asked her what she thought about it. She immediately recognized it for what it was: trash.

 

[agnes!]

That is so funny! I get those a lot too but never that creative!

My husband hits the reply button and tells them to go kill themselves...I told him that obviously they are not taking his advice because they are still sending the emails!

I know it's satisfying to tell them to take a hike but he probably should think about not "Reply"ing at all. Now they know for certain that your e-mail address is valid and can sell/exchange it with others.

agnes!

 

[puffkin]

If you have never worked with large groups of people (ie in retail or soemthing like that) you may not realize how stupid the majority of America is. I mean that in the nicest way possible....but there are just a lot of really dumb/gullible people out there.

I work with and most of my family is what I would consider moderately educated (all graduated high school and most have finished college or at least some post high school education) and some would still believe something like this. Now look at the millions of people who have no where near that level of education......see what I mean?

 

[Golf4food]

For the same reason that people who can't truly afford to waste the money spend hundreds or thousands of dollars each year one dollar at a time playing the lottery when they have a much better chance of being struck multiple times by lightning while indoors on a clear day...