More Scams Out There

I don’t think I would be far off base to say I am very cynical about the world.  It just always feels like there’s a catch to every good deal.  Today my instincts have been right twice but I am 1 out of 2 in the listening department.  A good friend sent me an email that simply said, “What’s sup?”  Then there was a link.  My internal alarm went off telling me something was fishy but I clicked the link anyway.  It took me to a pharmaceutical site.  Without even reading it, I closed the window and deleted the email.  That was a foolish thing to do in the first place.  I should always listen to that inner voice.  It is almost never wrong.  Hopefully the email didn’t infect my computer in some way or compromise my email contacts.  With any luck, it was just a way to get me to go to their site…but that little voice is telling me that is wishful thinking.  What possesses people to do these things?  Why cause so much grief for so many people?  From my last talk with my antivirus people it seems nearly impossible to catch these cyber-scoundrels.  I can’t understand why that is.  Surely they must leave some trail to follow.  As I was beating myself up for opening that link, I received an email from some banker in charge of a trust in West Africa worth 9.2 million dollars.  It apparently belonged to a family that was entirely blown up in a bombing.  Here’s the start, “This message might meet you in utmost surprise. However, it's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I got your contact from yahoo tourist search while I was searching for a foreign partner. I am assured of your capability and reliability to champion this business opportunity when I prayed about you.”  Yeah.  Ok.  Nothing out of the ordinary here.  I like the part where he says he prayed about it to give it increased validity because we all know bankers pick their business partners through prayer.  I pray every day but in this first paragraph I already know I’m not buying what he’s selling.  He wants to split the money 60/40 with me and to prove I’M ON THE LEVEL he wants me to forward my personal information to him.  You have got to be kidding me.  Do people actually fall for this?  I received a similar letter about a week ago from West Africa in which the person claimed to need a foreign partner to help transfer over 4 million dollars to the USA because it was no longer safe for their church group over there.  Wouldn’t they have some sort of parent church group to call upon rather than contact a complete stranger and promise him half your money to help with a situation they are completely unfamiliar with?  Apparently Ebola makes people want to give away money.  These are such obvious scams and they appear to be happening with greater frequency.  Like I said, I was a fool to click the one link but I certainly wasn’t going to willingly type personal information into the computer.  I’ve re-learned my lesson.  Always listen to that little voice inside you.