The Hunt for Blue Gold

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Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:39 am

I sent this to several gold-selling lads:

Quote:

Subject: Your Mine
Dear Mr. Ken,

As you likely know, my company----prides itself on our work with small, artisanal suppliers that provide well paying jobs to local communities, outside of the mineral cartels.

As of right now, we are on the hunt for a supplier of , which is projected to be the hottest new ore of 2018/2019. As an industry professional, you may be aware that has only just recently been officially identified as a separate strain of ore, and is believed to be quite rare. Needless to say, we are ready to pay handsomely for first access to known supplies before the inevitable ensuing rush.

Has any been unearthed in any of your mines? If not, have you heard any word of mines that have come across the ore, to which you may direct our attention?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Mr. Ken responded to my inquiry. If I remember correct, I think he might have just been selling gold bars in the initial email, and didn't even claim to have a mine:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your reply. I don't have knowledge of your type of your ruby, what we mine is gold dust,when we mine the dust, we send it to geological/assay company for testing, purification and smelting. After all the processes, the gold is turned to bar.
Right now, we have 48 kg, 23 karat, 96% purity. Our price is $25,000 per kilo.
We are local miners, we need a buyer of our gold. I am waityfor your reply.

Mr Ken.

Quote:

Suzette:
Oh no, it's not a type of ruby-- is a type of gold. So far, it has only been identified in three mines amongst other varieties of alluvian gold--all in the greater West African region--but it's discovery and official classification is still a mere two weeks old, and is still under wraps from the greater public. If news of has not yet reached you, there may be a chance that you have unearthed some, but your geologists do not know what they have on their hands.

Have you recovered any gold ore that might be described as "yellow as one would expect, but with an 'inexplicalbe' bluish shadow or overcast"? This is it! For decades, foolish metallurgists have written this overcast off as "oxidation," but no, gold does not rust. I urge you to reassess the coloration of your past samples: this could mean a great deal for both of us.

Sincerely,
Suzette

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

Subject: Reply

Dear sir, (Woooow dude, good thing Suzette is to laser-focused on that gold to notice Rolling Eyes

)
Please what we have is gold bar, I don't have knowledge of other precious ruby you're talking about. We need buyer of our gold bar.

Mr George Kenneth.

Suzette:

Quote:

Unfortunately, my company is only in need of Cerulean Gold dust or ore, at this time. Do let me know if you become aware of and can put us in touch with any mine that has unearthed --we are willing to offer a generous finders fee of 10 to 50 thousand dollars USD to anyone who can put us in touch with a viable supplier of .

Sincerely,
Suzette

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

Subject:
Dear Suzette,

Thanks for your reply,the Cerulean does it have a blue in colour?,there are other rubies we get on the process of mining gold. Please get back to me.

Mr George Ken.
Call me +233 XXX XXX XXX

Suzette:

Quote:

It looks like regular, gold-colored gold, but has a subtle "blue shadow or overcast" that is easily mistaken for bad lighting. If this blue shadow or over cast is still visible under different light sources, you have Cerulean Gold on your hands.

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Sir, well understood,but how can you get it?,you have to come to Ghana and have them,because there is one of our miners that use to gather it; come to Ghana and have them,we shall give you visa to enter Ghana. Come and negotiate the deal with us.

Mr Ken.

Suzette:

Quote:

You found a mine that has it?? Where in Ghana?? Yes, we can come to Ghana--we're prepared to go to the moon! Travel is no issue! Gimme a person I can contact at the mine. If they do have the Cerulean Gold, I'll make you rich.
Speed is paramount! Our competitors are on the hunt for the stuff too, and we don't want them to swoop in. Respond to any emails from me immediately, and don't breathe a word of this yet to anyone you don't have to, not even your family.

Sincerely,
Suzette

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your reply. My topmost concern is not you making me rich, no, rather for you to get what you want. (D'aww...) The is very much available, we have two mining sites in our village, our miners are getting the cerulean but we don't know that it's useful,we only concentrate on gold and diamond.

This is the first time I am hearing that someone needs cerulean gold.
Here in Ghana,we unearth some minerals, but don't know their values, but only gold and diamond we concentrate on.

I will like you to come to Ghana and see the cerulean yourself and confirm it. Since yesterday you've shown interest on it,there are much gathering of the cerulean.
I want to know how many quantity you want, and how much will you pay?; because,to be honest, we don't know the worth of cerulean gold,and nobody has contacted us about having the knowledge of cerulean gold.

Scan a copy of your international passport copy, we shall give you an interim visa to enter Ghana,you don't need to go to embassy for visa.

You need to come and see things yourself, seeing is believing.

Mr George Kenneth.
OMG we've only just met and already you're asking me to come to Ghana and by-pass the embassy? Oh, I'm blushing!

But Suzette ain't haulin' ass to Ghana just yet, Mister! She ain't that type of gurl Wink

Suzette:

Quote:

As of right now, my company is willing to offer $2,246 USD per ounce, or $72,443 USD per kilo. (This is a little less than the current price of gold + the price of palladium) The question isn't how much we want--it's how much you can pull out of the ground. If you do have genuine Cerulean Gold, we want all of the ore you have on hand, plus all you find in the immediate future--our competitors are not gonna swoop in and get any!
Before I send you anything, I'm going to need pictures one of your Cerulean Gold samples: just a pictures, for now. I need 3 pictures of the same sample, each under a different light source so we can ensure for ourselves that the "blue shadow or overtone" is genuine, and not a trick of the light. They must be large and high resolution. If the pictures check out with my geologists, then we can talk business.
Don't tell any more people about your , and don't let your workers tell anyone.
REPLY IMMEDIATELY.

Sincerely,
Suzette

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your reply. Our miners get certain minerals on the process of digging gold,some black ornaments,blue,torques,black stones,and others. Chinese people sometimes come here to buy black ornaments,some call it black gold. As i said,we only concentrate much on gold and diamond.

You don't need to pay us in advance,no,we will send you visa to come to Ghana and see things yourself. You have to see the Cerulean ornament,and others you may have interest on. The only money you will send is for our miners to load the ornaments and transport them from the village to Accra city (so...I do have to send money in advance? Confused

),so that when you come you will have them,in the quantity you want.

Some of our miners are dead,due to lack of modern mining machines,as i attached some of the dead miners pictures. (sound business practice 101: always send potential clients upsetting photos of your employees killed because of sub-standard equiptment and unsafe working conditions!) We need to sell to get money to purchase some modern mining machines,to boost our mining capacity.

For your information,i didn't tell our miners the value of the Cerulean ornament,so that they won't take it as great value.
If there is any question,feel free to ask.

Mr George Ken.

He attached a few photos of a low-tech looking mining operation, including a couple upsetting photos of dead minors--which I have not included:
https://imgur.com/a/oXlW4

He also attached some stock-looking photos of blue powder, which I think is supposed to be the , plus these pictures of just black and gold glitter:
https://imgur.com/a/sbY5M

Yeaaah, I think my description of what the gold looks like is a little advanced for his present english level Confused

Not sure if my description in the next email is much better, but I want him to have to pull out the photoshop for me and make a hunk of gold ore have blue low-lights. Not sure why that's a thing I want so much, but whatever. Maybe I'll settle for something else, but I want the lad to put work with his own hands/computer mouse for me, damn it!

Suzette:

Quote:

My thoughts are with the families of your fallen miners.
I don't know what those stock photos of blue pigment are supposed to be, but in order to continue our conversation, I will need to see pictures of the alleged that was unearthed from your mine. To be clear: this stuff is NOT a cerulean-colored ornamental stone like that black ornament erroneously referred to as "black gold", but a VARIETY OF THE ACTUAL METAL GOLD (periodic symbol Au).
It looks just like a hunk of normal gold (symbol Au, atomic number 79) ore, and does appear golden in color, but with a subtle bluish iridescence or undertone.

So. What I need is:

-3 pictures of the same hunk of ore, each taken under different lighting.
-Pictures must be large and high resolution
-They don't have to be pretty like your stock photos--feel free to take 'em in different parts of your messy workshop, outside, I don't care how ugly the background is. I don't care if its the ugliest hunk of raw ore I've ever seen. Just as long it's a hunk of the metal , golden in color like normal gold but with a bluish IRIDESCENCE OR UNDERTONE that will let me know its the real thing.

Sincerely,
Suzette

Fingers crossed...

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:57 am

Good work so far! I would worry a bit that your insistence on getting the exact pictures according to your specifications may scare him off, but any lad who goes through the trouble of fabricating bluish gold is well worth the effort. Have you asked him if he also sells heart gold or soul silver (names of Pokemon games)? I may have to try this modality, or something similar, myself if I run into any gold lads.

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:51 am

You could also ask if he has any rubies on rails (that's a computer programming term).

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 10:46 pm

^^^ @MM: I would be honored! ^u^ To be fair, I can't take full credit for the brilliant idea--I was inspired by that classic bait where Pizza Pepperoni asks a minerals lad for "dilithium crystals."

^^ @VX: I'll see if I can work that in... I think know exactly what I want rubies on rails will look like Twisted Evil

Yeah, I'm thinking that as long as I get something that he made/photographed himself, I'll be all, "OMG that exactly it!!" 'Cus my description of the stuff may be a bit hard to grasp, even for native English speakers Razz

Even if I don't have my photo, I like to imagine and dream that at the very least, somewhere, the lad is freaking out and going, "OMG! This chick really wants to buy this...thing from me, and there's so much money, and I just told her I know what she's talking about, and I have no friggin' idea what she's talking about and no idea how to fake it because she'll know I'm a fake scammer because I have no friggin' clue what it looooooooks liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike! :yikes:

" That is my dream...

Very Happy

Thanks for reading! Very Happy

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:24 am

Meanwhile, the lad receives an email from a mysterious stranger...

Quote:

Dear Mr. Kenneth,

Exactly what strains of gold do you supply? This is very important to me.

Regards,

Lad responds to the stranger:

Quote:

Dear ,
Thanks for your reply. Our gold is bar,48 kilograms,23 karat,96% purity,our price is $25,000 per kilogram,see the attachments. No upfront payment; we are ready to give you visa to come to Ghana to see the gold,after confirmation of the gold,we shall sign an agreement with you to release the 48 kilograms to you on credit to go to your country,after sales,you'll send us the funds, we want to use the funds to purchase some modern mining machines and to compensate the families of our dead miners,They died on the process of mining with a locally made tools.
I am waiting for your urgent reply. Include your address and telephone number while replying this message.

Mr George Kenneth.

He attaches some of the same he sent to Suzette (including the ones of the dead miners, of course!) plus these 3 new ones:
https://imgur.com/a/kIpjg

Plus this nifty video of a guy (him?) shuffling around bars of gold!
https://i.imgur.com/gBqUB6w.gifv

Mr. :

Quote:

What types of gold. Do you have any other types of gold besides the 23 karat yellow variety.

Quote:

This may sound strange, but have you come across any gold that appears...for lack of a better word, "unusual"? For example: it demonstrates all the elemental properties of normal gold, but has a subtle, distinctly colored tint? Please think carefully: I'm a serious man, who never wastes mine or anyone else's time.
Ruh-roh! Shocked

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

Dear Chet,
Thanks for your reply. Our gold is 100% bar, 23 karat, 96% purity.
This shouldn't sound strange to you. We are new in the gold mining,we are mining secretly from our ancestral lands,we don't pay taxes to the Ghana government,our local price is very cheap, $25,000 per kilo.

The reasons why we won't accept upfront payment is because there are fake gold dealers,so we want our buyer to come and confirm the gold, (Huh. He really wants people to come to Ghana... ) sign an agree with us, after signing the agreement, we shall release the 48kg to him(buyer) on credit, to travel to his country,after sells he will send us the money,we want to use the funds to buy some modern mining machines to advance our mining capacity; and to compensate the families of our dead miners,those that lost their lives on the process of mining with a locally made tools, as you can see in the pictures.

The only expense you'll do is shipment cost from Ghana to your destination. What we need is to establish a long term business relationship with our buyer. For you to come to Ghana for the live signing is for you to meet our members, have an interactions with us, we will get to know you better, your address. It's very important in this first business attempt.

If you're willing to be our business partner in gold, scan a copy of your international passport copy and send to us, we will send you an interim visa to enter to Ghana. When you arrive, the whole process of signing the agreement, releasing the gold to you will not exceed maximum if 3 days.

Honesty and trust are the most crucial things in business. Let's build trust among ourselves.

Thanks ,

Mr George Kenneth.

I think his game is to get potential buyers to fly all the way to Africa (because of that psychology-thing where if you've already invested a lot of resources in something you follow through with it), show them those gold bars from the video, and pretend to ship their order. Still, that's seems like a...high production-value operation. Confused

I wonder what happens if they demand to drive to the village and see the mine?

Chet:

Quote:

Pity. I will search elsewhere for a supplier. Thank you for your time.

Regards,

P.S. If you do come across any gold matching my description in my previous email, please inform me through this same email account. I would very much like to find it...

No word to Suzette for almost 24 hours. She is not pleased...

Suzette:

Quote:

Where the HELL have you been! It's been over a DAY! I told you to respond to my emails IMMEDIATELY!

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

Subject: Reply

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your reply, I am sorry for my late reply, I was busy in our mining sites. The pictures I sent to you are the ornaments we have gathered, if you can come and see them, I will appreciate. There are some unknown rubies different colours we drag from the mining ground.
Come and see things yourself, come with your tester.

Mr George Kenn3th.

Suzette:

Quote:

Thank you. And I'm sorry to have been so snapful: do understand that my company is under a lot of pressure to find this stuff fast, and ensure we're the very first, at that.
There is nothing I would like more to come to Ghana. Is it as beautiful as everyone says? Afterwards, if this all works out, I will definitely have earned a vacation, and I hope to God that I'll get to drag you out to all of Ghana's hottest clubs, and buy drinks for you and every single one of your miners! (Yeah, I might have...gotten scared of scarring him... Laughing

)

But our security is insisting that we need to see a recent photo of the gold, taken within the last 24 hours. They'll probably feel better if you're in the picture too: maybe hold up today's paper or something, just so they can be extra sure that the photo was taken today.

You see, our security team gets spooked really easily, and our lawyer team won't let us do anything without the security team's O.K. It can be a drag, but with the literal gold and jewels our company handles, I must admit that I'm thankful to have such a paranoid little team.

Now, respond to this email immediately. And immediately means IMMEDIATELY, mister!

Sincerely,
Suzette

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your email, we are not asking you for money, come and see all the ornaments yourself. We are secretly mining from our interior village, so we don't pay taxes to Ghana government. We are not connected to the Ghana government. (Ooh! A secret mine, smack-dab in the middle of a tiny isolated village, with zero government oversight!) We are mining locally.
Some of the ornaments are stocked up in the village. Come and see things yourself, come with your tester. The system of here and your country are not same, but I am assuring you, if you come,you will get whatever quantity you need. I don't want to talk much, action speaks louder than voice.

Mr George.

Suzette:

Quote:

I'm sorry, I really need that picture. You can do it real quick and sloppy: it doesn't have to be pretty. Just you, a hunk of gold, and today's paper. Then I'm free to take my testers, and follow you all the way to your village, or the sun, or friggin' Pluto; do whatever the fuck we want!

And again, an hour later:

Quote:

Just got some troubling news from one of my employees in the field. I need to know how soon I can expect that picture from you.
Answer me.
-Suzette
Shocked

Ken:

Quote:

Sir, the ornaments are in the village, the ones I sent to you were captured by one of our village miners and sent to me, and I forwarded it to you. If you can send me small money to go to village and do all and send to you, I can do that tomorrow morning. I am in Accra capital city now.

Mr Ken.

Oh... That's an easy fix. Suzette:

Quote:

Have one of your miners in the village take the photo of themselves with the gold, instead.

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
The pictures I sent to you were sent to me from our miner in the village. What else can I do now?.

Mr George Kenn3th.
Ughshfhhhhhhhhgh... Mad

Suzette:

Quote:

I apologize if I've been confusing.
What I need is a picture that was taken TODAY, of A PERSON standing next to THE GOLD. The person should also be holding a newspaper to confirm the date.

Quote:

Either get in your car and drive to the village yourself to take the picture, or have one of the people there take a picture of themselves with the gold and send it to you, since you've made it clear that they do have that capability.

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
I need a mature,serious person to do business with, not a doubting person like you. If you can't trust me, please find someone to run deal with, our gold and other ornaments are with us, no one is persuading you to buy from us.

Mr Ken.

Aw, heeeeeeeelll no! He does not talk to Suzette like that Evil or Very Mad

Suzette:

Quote:

Excuse me?? You are very, very fortunate that my company is hell-bent on getting this stuff, or this email would have been much, much worse for you. I...I can't even.

You want to hear something serious? $72,443 per kilo. Almost as much as the price of gold and palladium combined. Personally, that is the most serious number I have ever heard, in my life. That is serious for me, the metallurgy community, the entire jewelry industry, and possibly, you.

Another thing that's serious is blowing company money to fly my ass from California all the way to some village in some middle-of-nowhere of Africa, that's in Ghana but also not quite in Ghana. Another thing that's serious is shelling out money to some guy over email who as far as my security team knows at this point, could be just that: some guy over email.

So before anything happens, before the serious lawyers and security experts let the board let my people touch a cent or travel an inch, they need a very specific but also very simple VISUAL CONFIRMATION THAT WE'RE NOT WASTING OUR FUCKING TIME, and THROWING OUR CASH AWAY IN A HOLE TO NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. They need to physically see that you are serious mine owner, and not just "some guy over email."
And once they see that...well, they'll see that you are, in fact, a serious mine owner: then then we will do business.

It's just a picture: you can just snap one on any cellphone, and email it right away! I...I fail to see why that is such a big ordeal...

Sincerely,
Suzette

The lad tries to win back the mysterious Mr. Snufle:

Quote:

Subject: Reply
Dear Friend,
Thanks for your reply. We have two mining sites in our village, our miners are getting the gold,diamond,cerulean and other minerals,but we don't know other minerals as useful,we only concentrate on gold and diamond. (Oooooh?? Cool

)
Here in Ghana,we unearth some minerals, but don't know their values, but only gold and diamond we concentrate on.

I will like you to come to Ghana and see the things yourself and confirm it. Since yesterday you've shown interest on it,there are much gathering of the other minerals we unearth.
Scan a copy of your international passport copy, we shall give you an interim visa to enter Ghana,you don't need to go to embassy for visa.

You need to come and see things yourself, seeing is believing. See the attached some of the minerals we unearth. We have lost some of our miners on the process of mining with locally made tools. ('Cus as we all remember from Business 101, always end with a little reminder of you high worker fatality rate! Razz

)

Mr George Kenn3th.

He attached some of the same mine photos...plus those same photos of blue powder that he sent to Suzette! I think someone has learned about about a hot new precious metal Very Happy

...That he still thinks is some sort of gemstone, or something Confused

Chet:

Quote:

Back up. When you say "Cerulean," exactly what substance are you referring to?

Regards,

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Chet, (using first names with ? Tsk-tsk!)
Apart from gold and diamond, we have some minerals unknown minerals we get in the earth while mining. I want to know what you want.

Mr Ken.

Chet:

Quote:

I want to know what you meant by "Cerulean."

Ken:

Quote:

Dear Chet,
is an ornament in a colour like blues glittering colours.
Ooo, not quite Razz

Chet:

Quote:

So, not a metal chemically identical to gold, that appears strangely blue in the shadows, correct? Just some sparkly rock?

Quote:

And it's "" to you, not "Chet." We are potential business associates, not "pals." Please address me properly in your next email. Thank you.

Regards,

Stay tuned...

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:41 am

As more people get word that there is a new supplier of "cerulean gold," if this lad is still around after a few days, he sounds like prime mass-bait material. You could have jewelry manufacturers, maybe a dentist who wants to use cerulean gold for dental fillings, the possibilities are endless. Also, if more people start inquiring about cerulean gold and other minerals, it is a great way to de-educate him, and if he tells his friends about his latest improvement to his script, it would be even better. The blue crystals remind me of copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate crystals to me, which are used often in biotechnology and chemistry. As a further suggestion, you could also send him pictures of compounds such as copper chloride, iron chloride, chromium chloride, or cobalt chloride, which are all vividly colored powders, and ask him if he's excavated anything similar in color or appearance. Assuming he doesn't Google them, you could have some fun with that. Just my two cents.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:34 am

^^^ OMG yes please let's make the next big thing in the lad community!! Very Happy

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:53 am

Really great job and a fascinating idea. The second picture looks like the real deal I think. Or not.

I agree with MrM that this could be a great mass bait. I'm going to follow to see where this goes.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:08 am

^^^Aw, sweet!

Okay, I think I got it-- bears a striking resemblance to a mineral called Covellite:
https://imgur.com/GVbELCI

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:48 am

That's quite clever, although I would worry that lads would just google other pictures of covellite and try and pass it off as cerulean gold. If I ever run this modality myself, I will ask for purple emeralds, and say it looks a lot like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Chromium%28III%29-chloride-purple-anhydrous-sunlight.jpg, or I will ask for rose rubies and say it resembles this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Manganese%28II%29_chloride_tetrahydrate.jpg/220px-Manganese%28II%29_chloride_tetrahydrate.jpg. Chemistry offers many opportunities for messing with gold lads.

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:50 pm

Nice baiting, Astarte - I searched through my catcher account and found these gold lads from the last couple of weeks. Good luck!

Quote:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 3:59 am

@Fatter Siam
I'm baiting the last one in the list right now, as a funny coincidence. I'll have to say hello to the other ones as well. Thank you for the list!

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:08 am

^^ @MM Uh-oh, it just so happens I've been coincidentally baiting him, too Twisted Evil

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:43 am

@Astarte
Maybe if our baits with him progress smoothly, we could try to integrate each other's characters into our baits. I'm looking for (chromium chloride crystals, which are vivid purple) for a special client, although I haven't specified who that is yet; it would certainly add another layer of realism to the bait.

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:12 am

@MM Yeah! Hit me up when the time seems right, and we' can see what scenarios would make sense...

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:09 am

After hearing nothing from the lad, Mr. sent him this:

Quote:

I take it from your silence you may be confused by my question. So I will put it simply: does this substance you call "Cerulean" resemble the photo I have attached?

Regards,
Chet

Attached was my second photo of the "" (covellite).

This morning, from the lad:

Quote:

Dear Chet ,

Thanks my dear,a Chinese buyer came to us,we are negotiating with him.As i said,apart from gold,there are some mineral resources we are mining from the earth. Some of the mineral resources we don't know their value.

The picture is sent is one of the minerals we mine,it is called Cerulean.

Thanks,

Mr George.

A few minutes later, he sent this to Suzette:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,

Thanks my dear,i am sorry for my late reply,a Chinese gold buyer came to us,we are negotiating with him. As i said,apart from gold,there are some mineral resources we are mining from the earth. Some of the mineral resources we don't know their value,but we keep them safe in the village.

The picture is one of the minerals we mine.

Thanks,

Mr George Kenn3th.
(Attached was a picture... Wanna guess what it was?)

It was the same exact picture that Mr. sent him! Very Happy

Bait.
Taken.
Reellin' her in... Twisted Evil

Suzette:

Quote:

Where did you get that image.

Suzette, a few hours later:

Quote:

Sir, I know for a fact picture is not of a sample from your mine. Depending on the true circumstances, there are outcomes where I may not be angry. So where did you get that image?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Quote:

P.S. RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.

Meanwhile, responds to Ken:

Quote:

Strange. Are the Chinese buyers after the Cerulean? The press release about the substance's discover is not supposed to be surrendered to the media yet, and definitely not supposed to have been translated into Chinese. If the Chinese have learned about , we are we are most certainly in trouble.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

Sir, the Chinese came for raw gold,not for any other mineral.

Mr Ken.

:

Quote:

Good. But keep an eye on them, and it should go without saying, tell them nothing.

Ken:

Quote:

Sir,
What do you mean?.

:

Quote:

Don't tell the Chinese - or any other human being you come across - anything about . If word gets out about the substance too soon, the interests of my company and my associates would be in jeopardy, and you certainly would not stand to make nearly as much money as you would if this were to stay between yourself and I. That is, assuming you do, in fact, possess ...

Ken:

Quote:

Thanks for your advice,i appreciate.

didn't respond - he's gonna play it cool for now, and see if Mr. Ken comes to him Cool

Mr. Ken also attends to Suzette:

Quote:

Dear Suzette,
Thanks for your reply. The picture I sent to you are among the minerals we unearth while mining for gold. That's why I want you to come and confirm things yourself. I don't want to talk much.
We are attending to a Chinese gold buyer, I am busy,you can see that the year is approaching to an end.

Mr George K3nneth.

Suzette:

Quote:

Sir, I have seen that picture before: in fact, I first laid eyes on the original photograph two weeks ago, and have had the occasion to glimpse it several times since then. And no, it is not a picture of a sample taken from your mine. Could you please tell the truth, now?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Mr. Ken:

Quote:

That is it sir (still Razz

), I will send message to our miner in the village to send another. (Oo! Fingers crossed... Confused

)

Suzette:

Quote:

Thank you. Remember that the miner must be in the picture as well, holding a newspaper to verify the date, and their face must be completely visible. When can I expect the photograph?

Sincerely,
Suzette

P.S. We are not done with our discussion about that image you have sent me. I will put that discussion on hold for now, for exactly 24 hours. After that, I hope you will be ready to tell the truth.
I have theories of my own about where you may have gotten the image, theories that I hope very much are not true. Just know that if they are correct, that is very bad news for not only my company, but probably yours as well. And if you are not honest with me, I will not be able to help! Take some time to think, if you really need to, but I like to think that somewhere, you have a gut feeling that I'm right.

Aaaaaaaaah! Who's side will our hero choose??
(My money's on "both of them and it blows up in his face" for 10:1 odds)

Stay tuned!

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 2:24 pm

Nice work getting your lads to believe in a fictitious type of gold. Excellent de-education.

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:16 pm

^Yup.

Just gave this a read and it has made me laugh. Great stuff!

For some reason this bit from Suzette made me chortle:

Quote:

It looks like regular, gold-colored gold

Don't really know why I find it so funny but I am stealing it....

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 11:25 pm

^^^Seriously? All that and that's what you took from it? Suzette is no joke.

Quote:

You want to hear something serious? $72,443 per kilo. Almost as much as the price of gold and palladium combined. Personally, that is the most serious number I have ever heard, in my life. That is serious for me, the metallurgy community, the entire jewelry industry, and possibly, you.

Another thing that's serious is blowing company money to fly my ass from California all the way to some village in some middle-of-nowhere of Africa, that's in Ghana but also not quite in Ghana. Another thing that's serious is shelling out money to some guy over email who as far as my security team knows at this point, could be just that: some guy over email.

So before anything happens, before the serious lawyers and security experts let the board let my people touch a cent or travel an inch, they need a very specific but also very simple VISUAL CONFIRMATION THAT WE'RE NOT WASTING OUR FUCKING TIME, and THROWING OUR CASH AWAY IN A HOLE TO NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. They need to physically see that you are serious mine owner, and not just "some guy over email."
And once they see that...well, they'll see that you are, in fact, a serious mine owner: then then we will do business.

It's just a picture: you can just snap one on any cellphone, and email it right away! I...I fail to see why that is such a big ordeal...

Sincerely,
Suzette

But...she is funny as f*%k.

Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:02 am

^Yess this is my serious face!

Seriously having him send photos of a bunch of crappy bricks painted blue would been funny as well but not quite as funny as other things....

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 8:27 pm

Disaster strikes for our real hero (ME!)!!! Shocked

Lad sent this email:

Quote:

My dear,please let me know if you are willing to buy our goods or not. The Chinese buyer is not a direct buyer,he just came to discuss business with us,and we don't accept his conditions.

Mr Ken.

Suzette responded:

Quote:

China has gotten wind of Cerulean??? Sir, under no circumstances sell to the Chinese. If China owns the supply, they’re going to drop the price waaay down, and we ALL lose.
Email me. I need that picture of you or one of your people with the right away, so the board will give me the f*cking go ahead. Then things are going to move FAST.

Sincerely,
Suzette

To bad I realized I was logged onto Mr. 's account after it sended! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Shocked

I thought fast and immediately sent him this:

Quote:

MR KENNITH I DID NOT SEND THAT EMAIL! DELETE ALL OF OUR PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENTS NOW! CONTACT ME FROM A SEPARATE EMAIL ADDRESS ONCE YOU’VE DONE IT - BOTH OF OUR EMAIL ARE COMPRIMISED NOW - AND I’LL GIVE YOU THE NEXT STEP!

Regards,

But a short time later, he sent this to Suzette's email:

Quote:

Dear Friend, our miner hasn't sent the picture to me till now,

In retrospect, I think I probably should have acted casual like nothing had happened, at this point. But since I was freaking out and over-thinking, I concluded that if he hadn't realized had sent him an email as Suzette and that was suspicious, then he would soon, and had sent that warning right away so any good detective would deduce that Suzette likely saw that email while she was still Chet's account and knew that she was made so there was no denying it... Rolling Eyes

So Suzette laid it all on the table:

Quote:

Did he send you to me to serve as some sort of diversion?

...silence...

The next day, the recently harked and understandably flipping-out Chet wrote this behemoth from one of my other email addresses:

Quote:

Mr. Kenn3th,

This is of coming to you from my idiot brother-in-law's email account. Have you done what I asked?

I am aware that one should never set their email password as "password," but I erroneously assumed that setting it as "password3" would be secure. But no, that Little Shrew figured it out!

If my deductions are correct, That Shrew guessed my password, logged onto my email account in order to learn mine and my company's secrets, then presumably left and returned to her computer some time later, forgot she that she had not logged out of my account, saw your email, and made the fortunate mistake of responding, and alerting us to her presence.

I have since changed my password to something far more secure. You may email my regular address again, but I insist that create a new email account to do so and sign future messages with a pseudonym for your own professional protection, just in case That Shrew somehow manages to pull anything like this again.

A few orders of business, regarding the:

1. I never did tell you that in order to do business with us, you may by no means do business with That Witch's company, our most...unprofessional competitor. As such, know that I am not angry. Still, I insist that you promise to me now that you will not provide That Shrew with one flake of , and that you will supply myself and myself alone. That being said...

2. Your apparent previous dealings with The Shrew Witch that have now come to light afford us an opportunity. I have a request which may alarm you. I urge you to understand that Shrew Witch has and will continue to try to do this and much worse to us, that this is a distasteful but truly necessary evil, and I am prepared to defend you professionally: I would like you to distract that Shrew Suzette so that she will not go off in search of another supplier of . I intend to find and acquire not only your supply, but any and all supplies of the stuff for myself, and not to allow Shrew Witch and her company to have a single one. I believe you are a decent man at heart, so what I am asking my seem unthinkable, but if you knew that woman you would understand that this is not only the financially prudent thing, but the just thing.

3. If you consent to my proposal above, this is what I will need you to do:

- She's read who knows how many of our emails, and knows that you have been attempting to do business with me: there will be no denying this to her. As such, she will be very cross with you. I want you to crawl back to her, apologizing on your knees. Tell her that you made a mistake out of blind greed or Satan's illusions or some rubbish, but that you have since learned I am an evil man and she is an angel, and that she has every right to never forgive you, as you certainly will never forgive yourself, but you vow to never betray her again. Make it long. Make it flowery. She's a crafty Shrew, but has a most surprising weakness for pageantry...

- Keep her happy. Give her anything she asks for: pictures, documents, the moon. If it costs money to produce, I'll cover the cost. We are partners in this, after all. Always remind her what a formidable business woman and leader she is, and how much you admire and respect her. Flirt with her if you want to. She may come off as so serious she can barely be called a woman, but I assure you, she is still an animal at heart like any other person.

-She'll want to see a picture of yourself holding a sample of your . She has a whole collection of these pictures of her suppliers holding minerals, which she displays on a wall in these most tacky frames - no idea why she does this. It seems incredibly silly to me. But she never takes on a supplier without a picture for her Wall of Stupid. If you have not done so already, send her this picture of yourself with a sample of If you don't have time to go to wherever you keep the samples, than just paint those bars of gold from the video you sent to me blue: he security team is brilliant in many ways, but they are also, to put it frankly, idiots.

Respond as soon as you see this. Send your message to my regular email, from a new email address, signed with a pseudonym. So that I know it is you, let's have a code phrase: "Regular gold-colored gold is stoopid." I do apologize for how silly the code phrase is. I let my idiot brother-in-law come up with it to keep my sister happy.

Regards,

(Even if Mr. Ken is gone forever, this email is still filled with juicy content, which I think will be very useful for future iterations of this modality Wink

)

Some time went by with no word to either scheming jeweler, so a devastated Suzette sent him this:

Quote:

Dear Mr. Kenn3th,

I suppose we can dispense with the pretense after that humiliating mistake I made the other day. I know you've been in contact with our competitor, . I didn't get to see everything while I was in his account, but I assume you got that photograph of the sample from him--a photograph which, for you information, was taken from the yet-to-be released press release on discovery, so of course cannot be one from your mine.

I thought we had agreed early on in our correspondence that you would sell my company all the you produced, and give none to any other parties. That man is the worst possible party with which you could have betrayed me. Do you know why I was in such a hurry to get my hands on the stuff and get our transaction done and finalized? It was because I did not want that very man to swoop in.

So what I would like to know is, is there any sort of other...explanation for all this? I don't know what it would be, but somehow, I'm holding out the tiniest bit of hope that there maybe--in some possible universe--could be something. So please: if you have anything to say, if contrary to literally everything I've seen you have any possible excuse and this is all a big misunderstanding, please for the love of God tell me!

Sincerely,
Suzette

Then yesterday, a ray of hope:

Quote:

Dear sir,
Please am sorry for my late reply. Our miner hasnt send me the things till now. Please come and see yourself.

Mr Ken.

Suzette, not taking his BS, as per usual:

Quote:

No. You are are not brushing this off. Not again. You will tell me everything, every fucking thing about you and that man's relationship, or I swear to God I will destroy you. I have done it once before. I don't want to do it again. Please for the love of God don't make me?

Sincerely,
Suzette

No word thus far...

If I did scare the lad off, I like to think and dream that he didn't twig, but genuinely got scared off by the drama Laughing

But weep not: for somehow, through someone, Suzette and/or Chet will have their ...

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:01 pm

On the Rebound

Hedging her bets, our gurll Suzette goes out in search of other suppliers of Cerulean Gold. Peter responds to one of my "" boilerplate emails...

Peter:

Quote:

Attention Mr. ,

Thanks for your Mail, regards to this Gold business, let me take this
opportunity to invite you to west Africa in order for your to meet us
and as well see our Gold and have raw Text of the Gold(wonder what he means by that Confused

), After that, we
shall arrange on How we shall move the Gold to your Country for
further Assay and Payment , please confirm your acceptance to enables
me arrange your entry Visa to Ghana or Kenya were we have our Gold in
Large quantity.

Thanks
Peter

Suzette:

Quote:

Dear Peter,

Thank you for the kind invitation.
However, I still do not know whether you can supply the specific strain of gold I seek: do you possess?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Peter:

Quote:

Attention Mr.

Sir,

Regards to what you need, our Gold can be use to process that, order
wise let me know were we can help to enables have what you need as we
hope to work with you for life.

Thanks
Peter
(Glad that this lad has a little better idea of what is supposed to be:D)

Suzette:

Quote:

Oh no, isn't something you can make, it's a newly identified strain of naturally occurring gold ore. Do not despair if you have not heard of it--it was only officially determined to be its own distinct strain by the metallurgy community two weeks ago, and it is postulated that some mines may have already been unwittingly unearthing for years, not knowing what they had on their hands. Tell me, have you come across any gold that is definitely gold, but appears...unusual?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Peter:

Quote:

Many Sir, (Ooo! Surprised

)

Kindly send me the Fotos you have please

Suzette:

Quote:

It looks like regular, gold-colored gold--and is chemically identical to gold-colored gold aside from appearance--but has a strange "blue shadow, overcast, or tint " of varying intensity depending on the sample, that some have written off as odd lighting. If this blue shadow or over cast is still visible under any light sources, you have Cerulean Gold on your hands.
Please share this picture with no one.

Sincerely,
Suzette
Attached was the covellite pic: https://imgur.com/GVbELCI

Peter:

Quote:

Thanks for your Mail, regards to this gold-colored business, let me
take this opportunity to invite you to west Africa in order for you (this line of the email was in purple for some reason Confused

)
to meet us and as well see gold-colored and have raw Text of the
gold-colored (what is "raw Text!"), After that, we shall proceed. Please Kindly confirm
time of arrival to enables us close this deal.
Thanks
Peter

Suzette:

Quote:

Down, tiger Wink

I have to ensure that you possess what I require, first, and that you are, in fact, a reputable business that will not cause me any lawsuits or accusations of human rights violation down the line. It is a sad fact that there are some true monsters among those of us who deal in valuable natural resources. Would you mind sending me a couple things first, to help my (and the board's) peace of mind?

Sincerely,
Suzette

Quote:

Could you send me some pictures of the mine where the gold would come from? Just so we can assure that everything is up to code, for the lawyers' sake.

Sincerely,
Suzette

Peter:

Quote:

WHAT DO YOU WONT SIR,
WE ARE WELL REGISTERED COMPANY WITH OUR LICENSED
THANKS

Quote:

THANKS TOMORROW YOU WILL HAVE YOUR REQUESTED AS ITS NIGHT HERE NOW
THANKS

Suzette:

Quote:

Thank you. I look forward to seeing where the magic happens. Could you also forward me you company's license and registration? (Hey, as long as you're offering! Wink

) Again, this is to keep our lawyers happy Smile

Sincerely,
Suzette

Fingers crossed!

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3877

very interesting bait. gold lads are always fun, and quite easy to get on safari (in europe, maybe even in the US).

how about this:

a second person contacts him, revealing himself as lad, telling the lad, that he knows about cerulean gold, and that it is the next big thing. but also, that most people still have no clue about what it looks like. so the gold-lad should try to get some good looking chalcopyrites. so, if the lad finds someone, who asks for cerulean gold, they can probably cooperate.

https://quebulfineminerals.com/files/offers/images/8258_big_img.jpg
https://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/579721652976222210/1240/10/scaletowidth
https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1316/579398597_60d9284f1a_b.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcopyrite

they are fairly common and cheap (after all, that's a copper ore, and it actually can contain gold, but just in trace amounts).

and then set up a meeting point, maybe a restaurant in a remote british region, with a webcam... Wink

of course, the lad will try to cheat your lad-character. but since you are using your lad-character just to steer the lad in a direction, that's not too bad (it will actually inflate your lads ego by knowing that he could cheat another lad).

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:51 pm

^^ @RH Ooo! That's a very fun idea! Never played a lad before so...might need some volunteers for that :3
A "glamorous" European tour sounds very fun as well! I'm an American so wouldn't want to get a lad too, too close to me, but I think a good goal would be to someday make a lad travel around the giant state of Alaska, chartering bush planes and everything!

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:59 pm

Great job so far reviving this bait! I've been trying to order chromium chloride crystals from some gold lads (which are real, just not what the lad is typically asked about), and so far I have been greeted with silence and confusion. I am guessing part of it is that since I asked for gemstones, it already pushed the lads too far off script. If you need any help with these lads, let me know; this looks like too much fun to ignore. As for playing a lad, it isn't too hard; just use the terms "maga", "mugu," "oga," and maybe some other things (mention how once your dollar was chopped), and you should sound convincing enough. The nice thing is that the more you try to talk to lads in pidgin, the more phrases you can pick up from them.