Nigerian Scam Took $150,000, and Friends

"Leamington man loses $150,000 in Nigerian scam"
The Windsor Star (January 14, 2009)

"A Leamington man has fallen prey to international scam artists who strung him along for more than a year with the promise of millions in cash, but ultimately bilked him and his family of $150,000.

"John Rempel said he quit his truck driving job, lost friends, borrowed money and crossed the globe in pursuit of a non-existent inheritance, after he was contacted by e-mail in what is known as a Nigerian 419 scam...."

Losing friends over a scam like this is something I haven't heard much about, but it does make sense. As the victim of this scam said: "I never get calls anymore from my friends. You know, a bad reputation." Sounds a bit like the old 'blame the victim' approach.

Mr. Rempel's experience is worth reading about, I think: particularly since you're likely to get 'wonderful' news like he did, sooner or later: or maybe on a regular basis. I've get pretty good spam-blocking with my email service, but just the same, some of those 30,000-a-day emails drop into my IN box.

The article goes into more detail than most, about how Mr. Rempel was scammed: You might learn something.