Fedex

I have received so many emails over the past few months from Fedex Courier Company (or variation thereof) claiming that they are going to courier me huge sums of money for a mere $200.00 to cover the courier charges (from some place in Africa).

This seems to be a trend - now they seek up front (in the first email) an amount of money to get us started. In an earlier email it was $98 USD, in another about $250 USD, now $200 USD. The idea is to see just how gullible we are. If we send in this money without even having to enter into a trust building conversation, the scammers know that they can hook us for more. After all, if we have already sent in a few hundred dollars, what's a few more hundred dollars to complete the deal for a few million? And who wants to admit that they were taken in for a couple hundred bucks - even to themselves.

This is an amazing con, but more amazing is that anyone would fall for it. No one gives money away for no reason, and no one is going to "sell" you millions of dollars for a few hundred dollars.

I have received so many of these Fedex scam emails that I am certain that everyone has seen at least one. And if you ever wondered - yes, this is a scam.

I have also received a few Asian emails from Western Union, often very simple offering me large sums of money. And I am still winning lots of lotteries that I never entered. I just wish I could have this kind of luck with the lotteries I actually bought tickets for.