Too good to be true...

Wow... I just read "The Perfect Mark" in the May 15 The New Yorker. It's a tale of John Worley, a Massachusetts psychiatrist who ended up losing tens of thousands of dollars and, in a bizarre twist, being convicted of bank fraud and money laundering for his role in a Nigerian email scam, like this one at snopes.com:

WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACT REVIEW PANEL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN IMPORATION OF GOODS INTO OUR COUNTRY WITH FUNDS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY TRAPPED IN NIGERIA. IN ORDER TO COMMENCE THIS BUSINESS WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TRANSFER INTO YOUR ACCOUNT THE SAID TRAPPED FUNDS.

This isn't the kind of thing that I'd normally want to write about, but the fact that someone would not only fall victim to a scam like this but also end up being prosecuted for it astounded me.

I first received an email like the above back in 2002, and it was so odd that I didn't know what to make of it. Given that people are willing to bankrupt themselves by participating in these schemes, I thought the more visibility they get, the better.

I will also take this opportunity to refer people to Snopes, an urban legend site that separates fact from fiction. It's one of the first places I go when I hear something that doesn't sound quite right, or perhaps, too good to be true. Given the ease with which both information and misinformation can spread via the internet, fact checking is critical.

Barbara and David Mikkelson maintain Snopes, and they have this to say:

We don't expect anyone to accept us as the ultimate authority on any topic, which is why our site's name indicates that it contains reference pages. Unlike the plethora of anonymous individuals who create and send the unsigned, unsourced e-mail messages that are forwarded all over the Internet, we show our work. The research materials we've used in the preparation of any particular page are listed in the bibliography displayed at the bottom of that page so that readers who wish to verify the validity of our information may check those sources for themselves.

One more time, do your own research as well! :-)