Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Shake · 06-10-2003, 07:10 AM

Well, here's the latest and ... er, well, just latest, I guess. Got this in my Hotmail account. I checked with Snopes, but didn't find anything, so maybe it's real. Anyway, I sent a reply. Here's the mail I got:

Quote:

From: Mrs. Sarah Rowland

I am Mrs. Sarah Rowland person from Malaysia undergoing medical treatment. I am
married to Dr. Alan George Rowland who worked with Malaysia embassy in
South Africa for nine years before he died in the year 2000.

We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness
that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again
Christians. Since his death I
decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the
Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum
of$27.6Million
(twenty-seven Million six hundred thousand U.S. Dollars) with one
finance/security company in Europe.

Presently, this money is still with the Security Company. Recently, my Doctor
told me that I would not last for the next three months due to cancer problem.
Though what disturbs me
most is my stroke. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to
church or better still a Christian individual that will utilize this money the
way I am going to instruct here in.
I want a church or individual that will use this to fund churches, orphanages
and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is
maintained. The Bible made
us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth.

I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money
and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard
earned money to be misused
by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an
ungodly manner, hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid
of death hence I know where I
am going. I know that I am going to be in the bossom.

If you will be of assistance, I will surely appreciate and thank you for your
kindness in giving me this help.

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Sarah Rowland.

The email address it came from was: rowlandsarah@techemail.com which kind of made me suspicious. Anyway, here was my reply:

Quote:

Mrs. Rowland,

I am deeply saddened to hear that you have chosen to stop thinking for yourself and let the words that people wrote over the last two millenia decide your fate. I am sorry to hear of your loss, and your impending death. Prayer was unable to save your husband, and it will not save you. I hope you will see the futility of it before you pass. Jesus is supposed to have prayed to not have to die, and look what good it did him.

I don't know what "the bossom" is that you mention at the end of your message, but you seem happy about going there.

You are probably shocked at my tone and the words which I have used. I feel I should tell you that your words were equally offensive to me. Not that it matters, but I am an atheist. I am also a secular humanist, which means that I care about my fellow human beings. If I had access to the sort of funds that you do, I would use them to help alleviate hunger and disease without any unwanted preaching. I would offer education to those too poor to pay for it themselves, for it is through learning that we are able to better ourselves. It hurts me that you would think that those outside your faith do not also care about the poor, the hungry, and the uneducated. Just because we have different faiths or no faith, does not mean that we have no morals or don't care about the plight of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Secularism is on the rise throughout the world. Religion is in decline in the civilized nations of the world. Your millions of dollars cannot stop it. They can, however be put to good use doing things that WILL help people. Scholarships, food, money for research for curing diseases are all good options. In the words of Robert Ingersoll, "Hands that help are better than lips that pray."

To further show that I'm not a bad person, I hope that your final days are not too uncomfortable. I know you will have people praying for you (not that it will do any good). I will not be one of them, but again, I do hope your suffering is minimal.

Sincerely,
<my name>

I dunno. Was I too harsh? I know it's not the best, but I just whipped it off from the top of my head between distractions at work. Has anyone else gotten this mail? I'm very interested to see if there'll be a response. I'll keep you all up to date.

wildernesse · 06-10-2003, 08:07 AM

It sounds like the Nigerian scam letters. How interesting that it has a Christian spin.

I find it interesting that she doesn't want the money to fall into the hands of unbelievers, and yet you got this email! I, of course, don't agree with what you sent in your email--but I think that what you sent was fine. I doubt you will get a response. It wasn't too harsh--well, I have a hard time determining what would be a too harsh response to unsolicited email/phone calls/mail.

--tibac

Writer@Large · 06-10-2003, 08:15 AM

Actually, there is a Snopes page, but you have to know what you're looking for. This is a version of the classic Nigeria scam, long-running and really annoying cyber-scam where they try to get lots of money out of you with the promise of greater reward. I notice they've replaced Nigeria with Maylasia ... probably because EVERYONE knows it as "the Nigeria Scam."

More interesting links:

Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website

Nigerian Scam Letter Exhibit

Nigerian Scam Baiting (The new Internet Bloodsport)

--W@L

Shake · 06-10-2003, 11:31 AM

You know, that's what I was thinking. It did sound like a version of the Nigerian scam. I also replied to one of those somewhat recently. It was like the 4th or 5th time I'd seen it, so I hit 'Reply' and basically called them on it. I said that the whole country had been alerted to this scam and that I was reporting it to my ISP (but I didn't).

Now I'm wondering if I couldn't have played along with it to see if it indeed was a form of the Nigerian scam. Guess I just didn't dig hard enough on snopes.com

Shake · 06-10-2003, 12:02 PM

Well W@L, I went to the last link that you provided and found an email address. I wrote to them telling them about this email that I'd received, and I got a quick response. Here it is:

Quote:

Yes it is a scam.
Even though there appear to be no strings attached the bite comes when,
probably the security company holding the fortune, need payment for
demurrage or transit charges.
The whole point of these 419 scams is the Advance Fee which is always
required to release the money.
The little old lady dying of cancer is a big strapping Nigerian working from
a cyber-cafe in Lagos or Amsterdam.
Regards

I mean, I'd thought as much after reading the replies here, but it's nice to get it confirmed quickly like this.

Totalitarianist · 06-10-2003, 12:12 PM

Uh oh. Let God have mercy on us all.

---
Yours truly,
Supernius

http://pub199.ezboard.com/bsuperniusthebrilliant97794

06-10-2003, 12:45 PM

Well, I try and be consistant in what I do. If I were to respond to something I suspected as spam mail or junk mail then I'd have to start responding to as much junk mail as possible. Especially when there is a name attached which sounds more believeable than those spams trying to send you a 'degree' through the mail. If a spam struck me like this one struck you, then every spam I disagreed with would require a sound verbal lashing. But, I dont have the time for that so I wouldn't respond to a spam mail or an email like that one. And even if I did, it'd be a 'sorry for your loss' email. Not to try and cheer them up by saying how I feel they're wrong. Now, I'll go through it as if I received this response from you and respond to the parts.

Quote:

You are probably shocked at my tone and the words which I have used.

People hear negativity and others trying to 'save them' or 'change their view to the right way' all the time. You may wish to think people would be shocked, but sorry to burst your bubble.

Quote:

It hurts me that you would think that those outside your faith do not also care about the poor, the hungry, and the uneducated.

She in no way states that she thinks this way.

Quote:

I don't want my husband's hard
earned money to be misused
by unbelievers.

This does not mean she wants her husbands hard earned money misused by believers either. The point is she doesn't want it misused and somehow she might feel donating it to a church may remove that worry to a degree. Some people hide their savings in a pillowcase under their bed instead of trusting it to a bank. It doesn't mean a bank is bad it just means they trust their pillowcase more.

Quote:

In the words of Robert Ingersoll, "Hands that help are better than lips that pray."

I sense from your response, your hands aren't going to help either. So you're no help either way.

Quote:

I hope that your final days are not too uncomfortable. I know you will have people praying for you (not that it will do any good).

This is rather confusing. In one breath you're hoping her final days are not too uncomfortable but then you try and make her feel good by saying people praying for her wont do her any good. And you cant tell me you know for certain one way or another if prayers help or not. And praying is not bowing to some God or anything. Praying is wishing someone, a fellow human, well. Not that it will help but what if it does? At the least it says that person, who is in need, is in your thoughts. Does it really hurt that much to wish someone well? And in this you're attesting that you feel this is another real person receiving this email. Noone prays for junk mail. I can only hope that she wasn't someone close to you, from the past, on the other end of that email. I'm glad it wasn't me on the receiving end and I dont know if I even know you.

Quote:

Secularism is on the rise throughout the world.

Quote:

To further show that I'm not a bad person

The only person you have to show this to is yourself. If I was reading that response, it would enforce my decision to donate to the church. But I do realize there are people of all faiths and non faith who like to show how good they are. Not that my opinion counts but...

Quote:

I dunno. Was I too harsh?

...remember, you asked.

Now, I cant say whether or not your response was too harsh or not. But thats just how it came off to me. So, maybe you can tell me sometime if you think your response to that womans email was too harsh or not. You're the only one who knows.

Have a great day! Best wishes!

Grand Ol Designer

Writer@Large · 06-10-2003, 03:41 PM

GrandDesigner, the note was spam ... no, worse, a scam, just a rewriting of the Nigerian scam to tug at religious heartstrings. Knowing, that, are you stil so critical of Shake's response?

--W@L

Viti · 06-10-2003, 03:58 PM

I have received variations of the Nigerian scam naming all sorts of countries with all different scenarios...the Christian spin is a new one on me though.

Shake · 06-12-2003, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Writer@Large
GrandDesigner, the note was spam ... no, worse, a scam, just a rewriting of the Nigerian scam to tug at religious heartstrings. Knowing, that, are you stil so critical of Shake's response?

--W@L

Thanks, Writer! I almost hit reply before I read yours.

GrandDesigner, you said:

Quote:

I sense from your response, your hands aren't going to help either. So you're no help either way.

Obviously, you didn't read my post either. Let me remind you what part of my response was:

Quote:

If I had access to the sort of funds that you do, I would use them to help alleviate hunger and disease without any unwanted preaching. I would offer education to those too poor to pay for it themselves, for it is through learning that we are able to better ourselves.

Is that not helping? I wanted to keep it somewhat brief, so I also didn't mention that if I had those sorts of funds available, I'm sure I'd be able to make the time to get out there and actually help people with my hands, as it were.

Quote:

praying is not bowing to some God or anything. Praying is wishing someone, a fellow human, well.

You're taking it out of context. She claims to be a born again Xian, so when she says she'll pray, "bowing down to some God" is exactly what she intends to do!

Quote:

Does it really hurt that much to wish someone well?
...
I can only hope that she wasn't someone close to you, from the past, on the other end of that email

First, no, it doesn't. I wish people well often. I don't pray for them though. I too, hope that it wasn't someone close to me, for I will be saddened to know that they would try to bait me with something as stupid as this. In fact, I would be offended. People change. Are you trying to say that you'd still be close to everyone (careful, now) from your past who you were once close to? I'll say it again ... people change. They drift apart. Best friends from early childhood find they have nothing in common 20 years down the road.

My last bit of self-defense here is this: I had a sense this was a scam, and to me, these scammers are low-lifes who are trying to take advantage of trusting people. They're trying to use religion to put people at ease while they steal their money. They're playing with peoples' emotions and attempting to use their beliefs against them. I will forward the original email to friends and family alike, alerting them to the scam and urging them not to fall for it or similar ones. I will attempt to educate them to means of checking for scams such as this. Educated folks are a scammers worst enemy.

[Forrest Gump]That's all I have to say about that.[/Forrest Gump]

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06-10-2003, 08:07 AM	#2
wildernesse Veteran Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 1,578	It sounds like the Nigerian scam letters. How interesting that it has a Christian spin. I find it interesting that she doesn't want the money to fall into the hands of unbelievers, and yet you got this email! I, of course, don't agree with what you sent in your email--but I think that what you sent was fine. I doubt you will get a response. It wasn't too harsh--well, I have a hard time determining what would be a too harsh response to unsolicited email/phone calls/mail. --tibac

06-10-2003, 08:15 AM	#3
Writer@Large Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 7,198	Actually, there is a Snopes page, but you have to know what you're looking for. This is a version of the classic Nigeria scam, long-running and really annoying cyber-scam where they try to get lots of money out of you with the promise of greater reward. I notice they've replaced Nigeria with Maylasia ... probably because EVERYONE knows it as "the Nigeria Scam." More interesting links: Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website Nigerian Scam Letter Exhibit Nigerian Scam Baiting (The new Internet Bloodsport) --W@L

06-10-2003, 11:31 AM	#4
Shake Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Folding@Home in upstate NY Posts: 14,394	You know, that's what I was thinking. It did sound like a version of the Nigerian scam. I also replied to one of those somewhat recently. It was like the 4th or 5th time I'd seen it, so I hit 'Reply' and basically called them on it. I said that the whole country had been alerted to this scam and that I was reporting it to my ISP (but I didn't). Now I'm wondering if I couldn't have played along with it to see if it indeed was a form of the Nigerian scam. Guess I just didn't dig hard enough on snopes.com

06-10-2003, 12:12 PM	#6
Totalitarianist Banned Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 1,234	Uh oh. Let God have mercy on us all. --- Yours truly, Supernius http://pub199.ezboard.com/bsuperniusthebrilliant97794

06-10-2003, 03:41 PM	#8
Writer@Large Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 7,198	GrandDesigner, the note was spam ... no, worse, a scam, just a rewriting of the Nigerian scam to tug at religious heartstrings. Knowing, that, are you stil so critical of Shake's response? --W@L

06-10-2003, 03:58 PM	#9
Viti Contributor Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Down South Posts: 12,879	I have received variations of the Nigerian scam naming all sorts of countries with all different scenarios...the Christian spin is a new one on me though.

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