in my younger brash days, I used to be among the many who saw advanced fee fraud, popularly known as 419 scams, as fitting "punishment" for westerners attempting to get rich quick from the corruption that runs relatively unchecked in Nigeria. in fact, upon receiving one of these 419 emails some years back, i replied giving the scam artist tips on how to make his emails more believable (hint, getting rid of the CBN@yahoo.com address and using sentence case rather than all caps, etc)....it was out of jest at the time....but i now find my actions regrettable. these days i have sobered some and realized that not only do these scams destroy families and their livelihoods, it has an enormous impact on the willingness of foreigners to engage in the Nigerian economy. It hurts us in the long-run moreso than we think.

anyway, i am happy that some on the receiving end of these scams are wising up and I was pleasantly entertained by this man's attempt to get the scammer at his own game....i believe making almost $200 in the process (which he says he later donated to charity). thanks BB for giving me a good laugh with this one...