Before He Spammed You, this Sly Prince Stalked Your Mailbox

mood · Sep 18, 2019

Before He Spammed You, this Sly Prince Stalked Your Mailbox
September 18, 2019
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/09/before-he-spammed-you-this-sly-prince-stalked-your-mailbox/

A reader forwarded what he briefly imagined might be a bold, if potentially costly, innovation on the old Nigerian prince scam that asks for help squirreling away millions in unclaimed fortune: It was sent via the U.S. Postal Service, with a postmarked stamp and everything.
In truth these old fashioned “advance fee” or “419” scams predate email and have circulated via postal mail in various forms and countries over the years.

The recent one pictured below asks for help in laundering some $11.6 million from an important dead person that anyway has access to a secret stash of cash.

It’s easy to laugh at this letter, because it’s sometimes funny when scammers try so hard. But then again, maybe the joke’s on us because sending these scams via USPS makes them even more appealing to the people most vulnerable: Older individuals with access to cash but maybe not all their marbles.
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These scam letters are sometimes called 419 scams in reference to the penal code for dealing with such crimes in Nigeria, a perennial source of 419 letter schemes.
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Before He Spammed You, this Sly Prince Stalked Your Mailbox

mood Updates Team