A friendly lad

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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:41 am

I have the oddest email relationship with a lad going on right now.

He sent me the standard check scam stuff but within a couple of emails he went off script.

We now correspond daily like we are pen pals. He emailed me today just to ask how my Easter is and when I asked him the normal stuff that a friend would ask, He answered like a friend.

He is supposed to be sending me a check but keeps delaying it.

For about the last 15 or so emails there has been no mention of the check or any other request for money.

He writes pretty decent English so I started to suspect he was a badger or an american scammer or something but when I checked his IP it went back to Lagos Nigeria.

Anyone else in contact with ?

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

I doubt he is a badger. I am concerned you are starting to feel slightly less hostile towards this person. He is clearly very good at what he does, as that's how he builds trust. Takes an interest in everything. I bait like that. I tell them everything about my fictional life, so he will believe I am someone I'm not.

Scammer.

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:32 pm

I had one like that. He went off script very quickly, and turned into a very chatty penpal. His English wasn't brilliant, but his mails were indeed like normal penfriend letters; he commented on everything my character said, asked questions about her life, compared diets, work ethics, politics, attitudes to many things in his country and hers.

I didn't get it. I kept waiting for his sudden emergency and need that never came.

After 3 months however, I suddenly got a mail from him and a mail from one of my Refugees within one minute, same IP address. Two weeks later, that happened again.

That 'Refugee' was very good. The Refugee character and the related Reverend character were very fleshed-out and with totally differenct writing styles (and same IP address). I realised that this Lad was also my 'Chatty Penpal', presumably checking up that my character was for real, and consistent.

Luckily, I'm always consistent with my characters, and their lives unfold identically to each Lad. So the Lad was presumably reassured.

Naturally, of course, when the Refugee finally had quite enough of my character's incompetencies (it's the Financially Thwarted Refugee in my sig.), the Chatty Penpal disappeared at exactly the same time.