419ers take Canadian for $150,000

[FurnaceFace]

It's sad we have people in this country who are so gullible...

A Canadian man who fell for a 419 scam was taken for $150,000 by advance fee fraudsters who conducted a textbook operation to fleece their victim.
John Rempel of Leamington, Ontario, got an email back in 2007 from "someone claiming to be a lawyer with a client named David Rempel who died in a 2005 bomb attack in London", the Windsor Star reports.

The email claimed the "deceased" had left $12.8m, and since he had no family "wanted to leave the money to a Rempel".

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01...an_419_victim/

[Hack&Lube]

I like how his clumsiness (he dropped the magical money cleaning chemical bottle and broke it) cost him another $120,000!

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

It's sad we have people in this country who are so gullible...

Yes, cause it only THIS country... lol

Or do you just hold Canadians to a much higher standard and expect we don't have people like this too?

[CubicleGeek]

$120K for magic money cleaning solution?!?! That's outrageous. No wonder the rich get richer, because only they could afford to buy this stuff.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by CubicleGeek

$120K for magic money cleaning solution?!?! That's outrageous. No wonder the rich get richer, because only they could afford to buy this stuff.

Uhh...what? No, the magical fluid costs the scammers like $10 and is just like bleach and food coloring. His utter stupidity cost him $120,000.

[mykalberta]

Dotn feel sorry for the guy at all.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Uhh...what? No, the magical fluid costs the scammers like $10 and is just like bleach and food coloring. His utter stupidity cost him $120,000.

Did you hear that whoosh - you know, the one as something flew over your head?

[Daradon]

God, stories like this make me want to be a scammer...

I don't have a lot of sympathy either.

[Jagger]

I can't believe that some people still fall for these scammers.

I've enjoyed following some of the scambaiting sites like:

www.419eater.com

Lot's of fun to be had there....

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Did you hear that whoosh - you know, the one as something flew over your head?

If his post was in green text, I couldn't tell from here, I have my browser set to no images and black and white without formatting at work so that I can browse CP or anything else and it just looks like I'm looking at a text document.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Yes, cause it only THIS country... lol

Or do you just hold Canadians to a much higher standard and expect we don't have people like this too?

Sigh. It was somewhat tongue in cheek. We pride ourselves in being smarter than our neighbours to the south so this sort of story, being picked up by The Register of all places, is nothing but bad news for our international reputation.

I'll just assume him (and his family) are the exception to the rule and go on my blissful way. ;-)

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

We pride ourselves in being smarter than our neighbours to the south so this sort of story, being picked up by The Register of all places, is nothing but bad news for our international reputation.

Well we like to think we are, but I doubt any population is really smarter than any other population.

Maybe more aware of the world we live in, geography and that.

There's stupid people everywhere unfortunately. I'm sure we have our fair share.

I think I'm going to move to Laos and join a scammers group. My sales training will go far! A couple scores, and I'm set!

[3 Justin 3]

When reading this I knew it had to be something from Leamington.

Dumb Leamers... tisk tisk tisk

[Cowperson]

Without going into the gory details, in mid-2008 I rescued someone who had shipped $59,000 USA off to a foreign land in a front-load scheme.

The fraudsters acquire shareholder lists of stocks listed but scarcely trading on foreign exchanges. In this case, Germany. The good news is that this last breath stock has suddenly had an unbelieveable buyout offer. You'll get $300,000 if you'll send $59,000 to cover off the German taxes in advance, the difference being shipped to you later.

Wow. What a fantastic, unexpected surprise.

The victim in this case called me AFTER he'd sent the $59,000, wondering if he'd done a stupid thing.

The psychology was pretty interesting.

Since he called me and asked, he must have known deep down he'd done a stupid thing but it took several days of digging to convince him.

His contact purportedly in Quebec (he talked with the guy numerous times) with a Las Angeles phone number but a fax at a Seattle address that was already on a fraud warning list as well as a Panama e-mail address.

Because he was sending money to a foreign land, he had several days in which to cancel payment. He did so with one day remaining.

Crazy.

Cowperson

[CaptainCrunch]

There's a sucker born every minute - P.T. Barnum

[FurnaceFace]

I am the proud owner of a genuine 419 scam letter mailed to me a couple years ago. A Jimmy Kome from Africa was asking for my assistance. I thought it was really cool to have an actual physical letter...I think he even signed it.

[Ozy_Flame]

What kind of 22 year old has $150k to his name? WTF does he do, and if he can carry around that much cash, why the hell did he bother with this scam if he's already obviously rich?

Geezuz...

[FurnaceFace]

^ He didn't. He borrowed most of the money from his uncle and his parents.

[Jason14h]

How dumb is this family to lend money for this!

A fool and his money are soon parted!

[TSXCman]

my landlord in london, ontario's name is David Rempel and he wears cut off jeans year round. should i call the cops?