When bargain is too good to be true, its too good to be true

The subject line reads “Urgent Business Request,” and in the body of the message a seemingly desperate person asks the recipient to help transfer money out of Nigeria and into the U.S. The message, in broken English, is sprinkled with words like “top secret,” “trapped funds,” “utterly confidential,” and promises a cut of the funds in returnMost people who get these messages know it’s a common scam referred to as the “Nigerian e-mail scam” — officially called the “419 scam” and also called the Advance Fee Fraud — and they delete them.But others are falling for the 90-year-old trick, and it’s costing them hundreds — even thousands — of dollars.

Mary Winkler, the woman accused of killing her pastor husband in Tennessee, was said to have been duped by the scam, causing tension in her relationship with her husband. Her family members just this week claims she was abused by her spouse.A 76-year-old woman in Port Charlotte, Fla., recently reportedly lost $42,000 to the scam; she wired $30,000 to a person in New York and $12,000 to alleged employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a local paper in Florida reported.The number of people falling for the scam is steadily increasing, with 55,419 lodging complaints in 2005 of at least receiving an e-mail that appeared to be a scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s almost three times the amount received in 2002, which was 21,616.Because the scam takes so many forms and affects so many industries, it’s impossible to nail down exactly how much money is lost to the fraud, according to Patricia Armstrong of the Postal Service Inspection.But Audri Lanford, co-director of

Scambusters.org, a service that helps fight Internet fraud, estimates that $200 million a year is lost to the Nigerian e-mail scam or variations of it.There are three types of people who fall for Nigerian e-mail scams, according to Lanford, who says she has heard from hundreds of victims. Many who fall for it are typically under extreme financial difficulties.“They’re at the end of their rope,” Lanford said. “They look at this as a potential saving thing for them.”

The next group of victims typically expects something for nothing, she continued.

“They haven’t heard of it before, which at this point is surprising, and they’re excited that they can get this money for nothing — and they don’t wonder why someone’s going to give them millions of dollars.”

Lastly, she said, people affiliated with religious groups tend to fall victim to the scam. Frauds often target ministries, Lanford explained, because they are hoping to give large amounts of money to charity. “It isn’t for personal gain,” Lanford said.

Church leaders will receive an e-mail saying that the sender’s deceased spouse wanted their estate to go to a good cause, and the sender has picked this particular parish after praying to God. Then the minister or church leader is asked to send money to cover wire transfer costs and other incidentals.

Kim Bruce, spokeswoman for the U.S. Secret Service — the agency charged with investigating the fraud — said it’s nearly impossible to prosecute the scammers because they live in other countries.“It’s very prevalent,” Bruce said. “It’s out there, because we get word of it all the time. There aren’t a lot of arrests because it’s in other countries.”The Secret Service once kept a branch office in Lagos, Nigeria, to help investigate financial fraud stemming from that African country, according to the FTC.

The Nigerian government says the country is a hotbed for scammers because of mass unemployment among an educated population and large extended families for whom people have to provide for, according to an advisory issued by the Secret Service.

One of the reasons people are still getting swindled, Bruce said, is because there are several new twists to the same old scam.

Last month, an e-mail circulated posing to be from FBI Direct Robert Mueller, telling recipients they’ve inherited a large sum of money, and in order to retrieve it, they must obtain a special FBI-approved certificate. Of course, responders must send money in order to get the certificate.In another scam, instead of claiming to have inherited a large sum of money, some potential swindlers will pose as soldiers from Iraq needing to transfer money to a U.S. bank account. Then, just like the traditional scam, they will ask victims to wire them money to cover endless transfer fees, promising a cut of the final amount. Of course, there is no final amount. If a check is ever sent, it’s sure to be counterfeit.Another new trend, Bruce said, comes with the rise in popularity of auction Web sites.

“It’s very prevalent on Ebay, and people selling things online,” Bruce said.

Scammers will bid on an item for sale and tell the seller the check is in the mail. The seller ships off whatever he is selling — a $1,500 laptop computer, in the case of one trusting New Yorker, as reported by the New York Daily News — before receiving money for the purchase. Or the victim may do receive a check, but it bounces when cashed.

“The person will send the item, and then find out the check is counterfeit,” Bruce said.

Another trend involves classified ads. Scammers will post fake job ads, and interested parties are asked to fill out an application, complete with personal information that includes date of birth and Social Security number — everything the scammer needs to swindle the victim.

In the Iraq scam, the swindler poses as soldier needing to transfer money into a U.S. account. The victim then is asked to send money to cover the transfer fees.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command recently issued a press release warning people stationed overseas against e-mail scams. But Christopher Grey, chief of public affairs for the command, said the warning was only precautionary, and that soldiers aren’t being targeted by the scam.

“It is intended to assist our Army families. We just wanted to make sure we protect our force,” Grey said, adding that there are “very few, less than a handful” of reported cases of fraud in the Army.

This is as real as it gets folks

I am sure you saw the tape of “Kramer “doing his comedy routine and lost his professional cool and went ballistic on a black gentleman because of his comments about the show not being funny.

Which he had every right to do so, just as the comic had every right to work as a professional and would like a little respect from the audience. I am sure everyone would agree, that if someone came to your job and told you how poor of a worker you are and you are doing a shitty job you might have done worse and maybe even use physical force. I found this on the Internet and though I need to share it to broaden people horizons about people acting hypocritical towards each other.Please try to be civilized and think about this deeply before you comment.

Were you ever in that situation when you had to be a racist?

You can only be honest with yourself and in your heart you know if you did or did not, you dont have to tell us if you feel ashamed.

Someone finally said it. How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc. and then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me “Whiteboy”,”Cracker”, “Honkey”, “Whitey”, “Caveman” and that’s OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towelhead, Sand-Nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink you call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund.

You have Martin Luther King Day.

You have Black History Month.

You have Cesar Chavez Day.

You have Yom Hashoah

You have Ma’uled Al-Nabi

You have the NAACP.

You have BET.

If we had WET(White Entertainment Television) we’d be racists.

If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists.

If we had White History Month, we’d be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to “advance” our lives, we’d be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships, you know we’d be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US, yet if there were “White colleges” that would be a racist college.

In the Million-Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

Weight gain means lower gas mileage

10/25/2006, 4:49 p.m. ETBy LINDSEY TANNER The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Want to spend less at the pump? Lose some weight. That’s the implication of a new study that says Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines. Simply put, more weight in the car means lower gas mileage.

Using recent gas prices of $2.20 a gallon, that translates to about $2.2 billion more spent on gas each year.

“The bottom line is that our hunger for food and our hunger for oil are not independent. There is a relationship between the two,” said University of Illinois researcher Sheldon Jacobson, a study co-author.

“If a person reduces the weight in their car, either by removing excess baggage, carrying around less weight in their trunk, or yes, even losing weight, they will indeed see a drop in their fuel consumption.”The lost mileage is pretty small for any single driver. Jacobson said the typical driver — someone who records less than 12,000 miles annually — would use roughly 18 fewer gallons of gas over the course of a year by losing 100 pounds. At $2.20 per gallon, that would be a savings of almost $40.

Outside experts said that even if the calculations aren’t exact, the study makes sense.

“If you put more weight into your car, you’re going to get fewer miles per gallon,” Emory University health care analyst Kenneth Thorpe said Wednesday.

The same effect has been seen in airplanes. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that heavy fliers have contributed to higher fuel costs for airlines.

The obesity rate among U.S. adults doubled from 1987 to 2003, from about 15 percent to more than 30 percent. Also, the average weight for American men was 191 pounds in 2002 and 164 pounds for women, about 25 pounds heavier than in 1960, government figures show.

The study’s conclusions are based on those weight figures and Americans’ 2003 driving habits, involving roughly 223 million cars and light trucks nationwide.

HIV/AIDS Needles hidden under gas pumps

In Florida and other places on the East Coast a group of people are putting HIV/AIDS infected and filled needles underneath gas pump handles, so when someone reaches to pick it up and put gas in their car, they get stabbed with it. 16 people have been a victim of this crime so far and 10 tested HIV positive. Instead of posting that stupid crap about how your love life will suck for years to come of you don’t re-post, post this. It’s important to inform people, even if you don’t drive, a family member might, and what if they were next? CHECK UNDER THE HANDLE BEFORE YOU GRAB IT!!! IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE! Tell as many people as you can about this serious issue!!!!