Spammer with a sense of humour.

[tigerfort]

I've just had yet another email telling me that I'm due to be given XX million USD. This time, though, the alleged source of the money is "the UN fund for compensation to victims of internet fraud". So at least I got a laugh. But seriously, people fall for this stuff?

Comments

[adaese.livejournal.com]

I have heard that this one is particularly effective when it lands in the inbox of people who really have been defrauded this way. Apparently some people just don't learn.

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Also, the cost per email is so low that, presumably, the infinitessimal response rate you might expect is enough to make money for the criminals involved.

I have read, and I have no way to estimate the accuracy of this, that most such scams don't pay all that well, and most of the criminals might be able to get as much income per hour worked from legitimate employment.

[cealdis.livejournal.com]

They can only get money from people who fall for these scams. As such, if they're clever, they should want to hone in on this group as much as possible. They're targeting people who are gullible enough to fall for these scams by only making people who have been gullible enough in the past to fall for these scams be interested in this email. I would imagine that if you're gullible enough to fall for one of these the first time round, there's a reasonable probability that you'll be gullible enough to fall for this. I don't think it's funny so much as smart!

It does make me wonder whether a whole chain of spam emails could be created ... "we have become aware that phishing emails have been dispatched falsely offering compensation in our name for victims of internet fraud. If you have received one of these emails, please email us with your response and personal details so that we can take further action."