09.13.04 - 5:57 p.m.

I received a response to my response to a scammer/spammer e-mail, one of the ones I posted last week. In my response, I basically subtly offered to track down the "person" who allegedly absconded with the scammers' ill-gotten gains last time, but said that I couldn't help them because I was a convicted felon and not able to open a bank account. I made up a name that sounded like "I wanna suck your blood" and figured, in general, that my response would be sufficiently boggling that they would not respond. I suppose, however, when you're a scammer, any response, any little nibble on the line demands prompt and clever action if you're going to reel in a nice fish.

Heh. I feel almost GUILTY about this, but I don't care.

Dear Ivana,

Thank you for your lenthy and concerned mail,Actually we have made all efforts to track down the other american who went away with our share of money but to no avail.,all we have of him is his Name and contact address and contact telephone number which he has actually been relocated to somebody else.But thank God we have yet another chance to make our dream come to past,we are so sorry that you happen to be a convicted fellow but in this case if you are really interested you can actually help find somebody who really will be interested in this transaction and then contact us.We need only a trusted fellow whether male or female.

I awaits your urgent response

Regards

Chief Umana Umana

That's actually not entirely true. I do feel guilty about lying to the scammer/spammer and/or leading him or her on. I know that they are attempting to hook someone with the promise of millions (I can't call the victims innocents, since essentially they are agreeing, usually, to abet someone in what they believe to be the illegal appropriation of government funds) in order to steal money from their mark's bank accounts. At the same time, I suffer one of my usual ouch-cringes, the same thing I feel when my team wins a game and I latch upon how upset the other team must be about losing. I can't ever entirely shed that, but I'm learning how to make my feathers a little more waterproof.