Friday, June 25, 2010

Meta-scam

I just received an email from Mr Ban Ki-Moon. As you might expect of the holder of the world's most prestigious diplomatic position, he was very gentlemanly in his greeting: "How are you today?" he opens, "Hope all is well with you and your family?"
Having put me at ease with his folksy turn of phrase, the secretary general then proceeds to the big news. He tells me that he is writing "to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world. The UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$500,000.00"!

Prof. Stephen Lea of the University of Exeter has examined the characteristics of scams and the people who fall for them. He finds that previous victims are consistently more likely to show interest in responding to a scam. It seems Mr. Ban Ki-Moon is paying attention to this research.

1 comment:

Kevin Denny said...

So people who are stupid, stay stupid. That figures, I suppose.