World Wide Web (of lies)

When I first started in corporate america (cough*20 yrs ago*cough, cough) before everyone had email and we used to use rocks as eating utensils, I remember my boss getting those weird letters from Lagos, Nigeria about the $8 million they had tied up in a foreign account and needed a business partner outside the country to transfer the money to, and don’t tell anyone about this blah, blah, blah.   The first time I read one I was like, “is this for real?  wow!!!”.  I was young.  Later, when everyone had email, I would get these SAME letters saying the SAME thing but now of course they would just make me laugh at how stupid they are.  You know what I’m talking about because you got them too.

I got one recently that came through a little differently.  It was from a 23 yr. old girl in a Senegal.  She likes dogs and wanted to know what kind of dog I had.  She was a student.  Her father had died and she was living in a refugee camp, one with a computer and internet access apparently.  Then, I got a second letter, it included her picture.  She said she didn’t have anyone in her life except her pastor.  She included his telephone number because she could be reached through him.  She wanted to go to college, continue with her studies and then she said, I have an uncle who left me 8 MILLION DOLLARS IN A FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT AND I NEED YOU TO HELP ME GET IT OUT.  WE WILL SHARE IT, BUT DON’T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS.   Gawd this is getting old…20 years or more…Stop it already.  Although, asking about the dog is a welcomed change.

On a positive WWW note, I received an email from the editor at the Pakistani Spectator. I know, I never thought I would be typing that either.  They are sending out questionnaires to bloggers from around the world to post in their blogging section.  I assumed they would only want smart, serious, innovative bloggers but I guess not because they posted mine.

Blogger questionnaire