Its a numbers game, hit hundreds of thousands of people with this email and a very small percentage of (vulnerable) people will innevitably respond. The "conversion" rate might be < 0.00000001% but its enough to justify the risks.
Sorry, it makes a lot of sense now.
The PayPal scams have been around around the same time as PayPal. Scams will continue to develop and will be around forever.
It's not suprising with the World Wide Web, how many scams are around. I've had my branch manager from HSBC, Obgic Owemwingie personally email me to tell me to sign into HSBC many a time over the last few years. It's strange, because i can't even remember having a HSBC bank account.
I've had the people buying things on eBay who live in London, and want me to send a Blackberry i sold for £600 to Nigeria, where their cousin is studying English Language. That's all fair and well, but when i know the Blackberry retails at only £90 new, i often wonder why they can't do it themselves.
Best one, and lesser well known, i've had people offer me shares in a FTSE 250 company at an irrefusable price, providing i don't sell the shares within 12 months. All i had to do was pay them a fee for the shares by PayPal or Western Union and they'll send me a balance to tell me how my shares are doing. Obviously the price on the shares will be rocketing to encourage me to buy more and i will trust them so much that i will invest more money into it. One thing that got me though, was when i searched for the company, it wasn't listed on the FTSE Index. Maybe it was #251?
I've heard of women looking for love on internet dating sites, meeting an American serving in Afghanistan. Good looking, in uniform etc. Again, this is a time consuming scam. He tells her he is depressed and needs to escape. He needs a few hundred pounds, sterling, to get a plane to be with his love whilst he is depressed. All his friends have died and he is all alone, he thinks he can see Bin Laden. He's scared, he's been tortured, the lot. The woman will pay for him to fly to the UK, (With RyanAir), his luggage weighs literally a ton, and is very large, he also has a tank he needs to transport. He cannot believe how much RyanAir are telling him this will all cost. He needs financial help, to the tune of £2000, just to get back from Afghanistan. He never arrives, the women never hear correspondence, maybe his flight was delayed, being RyanAir it will be, especially in Afghanistan, as i've looked, they don't fly from there. Maybe he meant BMI Baby.
It pains to know people fall for these things, but they don't always look as clear cut. We've heard of all of them and more. If in doubt, always ask for advice, as the OP has done. And remember the good old quote i hear on The Real Hustle, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
(Sorry for two posts, didn't know first one had posted this one's better!)
