Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 11:27:25 GMT -5
Found in my inbox today:
Subject: Hello From: Thomas
Hello,
My name is Thomas from USA and i'm a Geologist.
I understand this is not the appropriate way or platform for such form of introduction, but i am only taking the chance to see if i will be lucky to get a response from you.
I am looking for woman who is honest and sincere in wanting a serious relationship,someone kind and caring, with a good sense of humor,someone who knows how to treat a man and make him feel that he is important to her.Most importantly,someone who does not lie or play head games.
I am a widower,my wife died some years ago and I have been single and alone since then.It is time now to let go and move on.I have been blessed with a lovely daughter whom i cherish so much and she is 16years old.
I am a happy person, responsible,honest, considerate, caring,sincere,serious and have a good sense of humor.Please let me know if you are interested in having a serious relationship with me.Age or location is not a barrier.All i need is TRUE love.
Am sorry if i invaded your private space. Apologies. I would be glad to share more about myself with you and send you some of my pictures.
With Love,
Thomas
I've run into a hundred types of spam in my years, but this kind is new.
I give up. Scammer? Crazy? Genuinely desperate?
How successful do you suppose he'll be?
Have you ever received anything like this?
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 27, 2017 11:31:17 GMT -5
No misspelled words and good grammar. Must be serious. Now why did he pick you?
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 11:39:32 GMT -5
No misspelled words and good grammar. Must be serious. Now why did he pick you? I'm pretty sure he didn't "pick" me, given the address he sent it to is clearly that of a male. I'm no doubt one of 10,000 BCCs. I'm just curious about what the intent is. Is it a scam? If so, how does it work? Would even 1 in 10,000 recipients reply to something like this? Is it legitimate in the sense that it's actually a guy soliciting a relationship? I don't understand it, and things I don't understand make me curious.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 27, 2017 11:43:09 GMT -5
I was just kidding. I am surprised at the spelling and grammar. They always give away spam to me. Also I never open an email with the subject "hello".
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on Mar 27, 2017 11:51:45 GMT -5
Likely a scam looking for older single rich women to respond. He'll fall in love, whisk them off their feet, then take all their money.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 11:52:20 GMT -5
I was just kidding. I am surprised at the spelling and grammar. They always give away spam to me. Also I never open an email with the subject "hello". I do since I get legitimate e-mails from friends, family, and acquaintances with subjects like "Hi", "Hi [Virgil]", "Hello", and "How are you?". They're especially popular with cold call e-mails, possibly because people don't know what else to put as a subject line.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 27, 2017 11:54:31 GMT -5
I usually get more specific subject lines from family and friends. Like "WTF did you mean by that?"
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 11:54:58 GMT -5
Likely a scam looking for older single rich women to respond. He'll fall in love, whisk them off their feet, then take all their money. Maybe. Although I can't even imagine what would be going through the head of an older, single, rich woman who responded favourably.
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on Mar 27, 2017 12:02:40 GMT -5
Virgil, didn't you ever watch You've Got Mail? Some people are just SO lonely that they'll respond to anyone who seems the least bit kind. And scams like this aren't new. This is just the current version. After all, who WOULDN'T fall in love with a widower who adores his teen aged daughter and loved his wife? It's sad, but women do respond to these messages or they wouldn't continue to pop up in one form or another.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Mar 27, 2017 12:04:33 GMT -5
Yes, I"ve gotten plenty of emails. Usually a Saudi Arabian prince who wants to use me as a US bank.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Mar 27, 2017 15:30:20 GMT -5
Thomas is looking for someone gullible enough to respond. Thomas will then initiate a correspondence, skillfully persuading the target to share her hopes and dreams with him, which, amazingly, will be an exact match for his hopes and dreams. They will eventually make plans to meet (Thomas will turn out to be located at some distance from the target). At the last minute, there will be an emergency of some sort that will delay the meeting. Maybe Thomas' mother became ill, maybe there was a business setback of some sort, maybe an expected payment did not arrive. Whatever it is, it will require money. Thomas will lament the fact that he and the target cannot meet, but he must deal with whatever the emergency is, only he doesn't have enough money. It he has chosen his target well, she will be so invested in her supposed "relationship" with Thomas that she will be more than happy to provide him with the money he needs. A few months down the road, they again make plans to meet, but, Oh, no! Another emergency has arisen. And, golly, this one involves money, too.
Rinse and repeat until the target wises up or runs out of money.
There was an article in the Washington Post a couple of years ago about this sort of scam. I forget what it's called. It might be an example of catfishing or maybe not. I don't remember.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Mar 27, 2017 15:39:52 GMT -5
Why did it go to your inbox. All spam goes into my spam folder. Only emails from addresses that are in my contact list get to my inbox. Guess all email accounts aren't equal.
Some poor widower looking for someone to darn his socks and balance his checkbook/online account or gonna steal some dumb woman blind. And no last name?
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 27, 2017 17:20:24 GMT -5
My BIL lost about $18,000 to some woman in Thailand, cause he was lonely. BIL had a massive heart attack and died right in front of the computer. She probably dumped him and that caused him to have a heart attack.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 19:08:23 GMT -5
buystoys , dannylion : It bewilders me to no end that people could still fall for scams like this. As I see it, there should be precisely zero overlap between the groups "people with a bank account who're able to send and receive e-mail" and "people who believe responding to 'Thomas' is a good idea". There has to be a practical limit on the spread between IQ and EQ, and IQ has to be at least 85 to use e-mail. Do these old, rich women not have at least one person in their lives who can put up the red flags for them?
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 27, 2017 19:09:16 GMT -5
My BIL lost about $18,000 to some woman in Thailand, cause he was lonely. BIL had a massive heart attack and died right in front of the computer. She probably dumped him and that caused him to have a heart attack.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 27, 2017 19:23:54 GMT -5
My BIL lost about $18,000 to some woman in Thailand, cause he was lonely. BIL had a massive heart attack and died right in front of the computer. She probably dumped him and that caused him to have a heart attack. Thank you, it was not good. Exactly 51 weeks to the day from when my sister died, her husband was found dead from a heart attack by cops, cause his friend couldn't get into the home. BIL was alive the night before cause he talked with his friend. Thing is BIL had no history of heart problems.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Mar 27, 2017 19:35:45 GMT -5
buystoys , dannylion : It bewilders me to no end that people could still fall for scams like this. As I see it, there should be precisely zero overlap between the groups "people with a bank account who're able to send and receive e-mail" and "people who believe responding to 'Thomas' is a good idea". There has to be a practical limit on the spread between IQ and EQ, and IQ has to be at least 85 to use e-mail. Do these old, rich women not have at least one person in their lives who can put up the red flags for them? Well, this old lady has a credo that I have lived by " you might get in my pants but you will not get into my pocketbook" But I learned at a very early age to sit with my back to the wall and eye n the door so maybe I'm just on guard for stuff like this in my old age.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Mar 27, 2017 19:42:56 GMT -5
buystoys , dannylion : It bewilders me to no end that people could still fall for scams like this. As I see it, there should be precisely zero overlap between the groups "people with a bank account who're able to send and receive e-mail" and "people who believe responding to 'Thomas' is a good idea". There has to be a practical limit on the spread between IQ and EQ, and IQ has to be at least 85 to use e-mail. Do these old, rich women not have at least one person in their lives who can put up the red flags for them? These are not necessarily old, rich women. They are often not-necessarily-young women with access to some amount of money or access to credit of some kind that can produce money. According to the article, the amounts start out small and the requests do not start until the scammer is sure he has the mark firmly convinced she has met her soul-mate. I suspect these are just lonely women who want to believe the line they are being pitched. In the vacuum of isolation, the fairy tale seems plausible. The scammers are very skilled and the women are generally isolated and without the usual defenses people who interact more in the world have developed. They are lonely, probably depressed, and want very much to believe the lie. They may have fantasized about just such an encounter. The scammers are often communicating and getting money from more than one woman at a time. They drop them when the money runs out or when they start to question the relationship because the promised meeting never takes place.
And it's not just women. Men, too, are targets and can be taken in just as easily if they are lonely and isolated and without the necessary radar.
It seems difficult to believe that anyone would respond to some random communication such as you received, but people do. They want to believe, so they just ignore everything about the situation that is telling them it is a scam. The human ability for self-delusion is infinite.
Also, some people are just stupid about some things.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 27, 2017 22:09:50 GMT -5
Maybe it's just a way to send a virus if you open it.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 28, 2017 2:56:49 GMT -5
Maybe it's just a way to send a virus if you open it. Years ago (I'm talking 1990's) there used to be ways to execute client code in a privileged environment by opening an HTML-formatted e-mail. An attacker could theoretically get access to some of your browser info, cookies, etc. Such exploits were extincted by 2005 at the latest in all decent clients. The worst thing that can happen by opening an e-mail today is the sender determining who opens it and when. Most clients prevent even this by default. The only way to pass a virus through e-mail is to attach executable code and get the recipient to download and execute it. Why anyone in their right mind would do this is also beyond me, but the malefactors have their methods I guess.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 28, 2017 3:04:47 GMT -5
Regardless, I still don't open email from people I don't know.
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resolution
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Post by resolution on Mar 28, 2017 5:34:27 GMT -5
Likely a scam looking for older single rich women to respond. He'll fall in love, whisk them off their feet, then take all their money. Maybe. Although I can't even imagine what would be going through the head of an older, single, rich woman who responded favourably. Some people are just naturally gullible and it is almost impossible to protect them. I was able to stop one of my coworkers from wiring $1000 (from a credit card) to help her friend who was stranded in London. I was able to get her to call her friend on the cell phone to confirm if she was really stranded, and of course her email was hacked. But I literally stopped her on the way out of the office to go wire the money. This is the same coworker that didn't realize that her cousin (the mortgage broker) had put her in an interest only loan until it reset and her mortgage doubled.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 28, 2017 8:52:06 GMT -5
Maybe. Although I can't even imagine what would be going through the head of an older, single, rich woman who responded favourably. Some people are just naturally gullible and it is almost impossible to protect them. I was able to stop one of my coworkers from wiring $1000 (from a credit card) to help her friend who was stranded in London. I was able to get her to call her friend on the cell phone to confirm if she was really stranded, and of course her email was hacked. But I literally stopped her on the way out of the office to go wire the money. This is the same coworker that didn't realize that her cousin (the mortgage broker) had put her in an interest only loan until it reset and her mortgage doubled. Hacked e-mail accounts are in a much higher class of attack. Like you, I wouldn't send money to an unfamiliar address based on e-mail alone, but unlike these random third party e-mails, I wouldn't condemn anyone who did as gullible. They're probably guilty of having a crummy password through. Most people are.
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wyouser
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Post by wyouser on Mar 28, 2017 10:42:45 GMT -5
Virgil, look on the bright side, He doesn't need access to your bank account in which he would place 20-30 million and from which you could keep a handsome percentage. It doesn't have a return address indicating it originates from a mud hut in Lagos Nigeria. Your e-mail circle obviously circulates in a much higher social circle than the left-handed , goat roping slacker from Wyoming.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 28, 2017 11:19:39 GMT -5
Virgil, look on the bright side, He doesn't need access to your bank account in which he would place 20-30 million and from which you could keep a handsome percentage. It doesn't have a return address indicating it originates from a mud hut in Lagos Nigeria. Your e-mail circle obviously circulates in a much higher social circle than the left-handed , goat roping slacker from Wyoming. I feel so privileged. Nothing but the highest class scams for me.
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wyouser
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Post by wyouser on Mar 28, 2017 15:43:13 GMT -5
Actually, I have a confession to make. Although I have lived in Wyoming for 43 years now, I still don't qualify as a bonafied genuine "goat-roper. Having come originally from the plains of South Dakota, I'm still considered a "rabbit-choker" However, I have been told, if I mind my P's and Q's I might get upgraded by the time the next millennium arrives in , let's see, 3000AD
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2017 21:11:27 GMT -5
Thomas is looking for someone gullible enough to respond. Thomas will then initiate a correspondence, skillfully persuading the target to share her hopes and dreams with him, which, amazingly, will be an exact match for his hopes and dreams. They will eventually make plans to meet (Thomas will turn out to be located at some distance from the target). At the last minute, there will be an emergency of some sort that will delay the meeting. Maybe Thomas' mother became ill, maybe there was a business setback of some sort, maybe an expected payment did not arrive. Whatever it is, it will require money. Thomas will lament the fact that he and the target cannot meet, but he must deal with whatever the emergency is, only he doesn't have enough money. It he has chosen his target well, she will be so invested in her supposed "relationship" with Thomas that she will be more than happy to provide him with the money he needs. A few months down the road, they again make plans to meet, but, Oh, no! Another emergency has arisen. And, golly, this one involves money, too.
Rinse and repeat until the target wises up or runs out of money.
There was an article in the Washington Post a couple of years ago about this sort of scam. I forget what it's called. It might be an example of catfishing or maybe not. I don't remember. A woman at work and something like this. Luckily she got smart before she lost much. I was so surprised she fell for it.
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Apr 1, 2017 5:30:52 GMT -5
Virgil, look on the bright side, He doesn't need access to your bank account in which he would place 20-30 million and from which you could keep a handsome percentage. It doesn't have a return address indicating it originates from a mud hut in Lagos Nigeria. Your e-mail circle obviously circulates in a much higher social circle than the left-handed , goat roping slacker from Wyoming. I must have read this 6 times before I realized it didn't say goat raping slacker. I even read the comments that followed and thought they said goat raper! Oh, my word! For a minute there, I thought you wanted to be upgraded to a goat raper! LMAO Still chuckling.
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Apr 2, 2017 14:57:43 GMT -5
buystoys , dannylion : It bewilders me to no end that people could still fall for scams like this. As I see it, there should be precisely zero overlap between the groups "people with a bank account who're able to send and receive e-mail" and "people who believe responding to 'Thomas' is a good idea". There has to be a practical limit on the spread between IQ and EQ, and IQ has to be at least 85 to use e-mail. Do these old, rich women not have at least one person in their lives who can put up the red flags for them? Many of them don't. They do not live near family, or are estranged from family or have outlived family. This old lady is smart enough not to touch a scam like this with a ten-foot pole. But some people still want to believe true love is out there for them. And when it rides in on a virtual white horse, it is the classic too-good-to-be-true scenario.
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NancysSummerSip
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Post by NancysSummerSip on Apr 2, 2017 15:01:15 GMT -5
Virgil, look on the bright side, He doesn't need access to your bank account in which he would place 20-30 million and from which you could keep a handsome percentage. It doesn't have a return address indicating it originates from a mud hut in Lagos Nigeria. Your e-mail circle obviously circulates in a much higher social circle than the left-handed , goat roping slacker from Wyoming. OMG! Goat-roping and rabbit-choking! Eventually, when I quit LMAO, I might call PETA on you. But maybe we should have a cookout first with all that good critter meat.
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