back to article Chinese 419er punts a whopping $8

We're much obliged to Dave Appleby for sharing with us the following once-in-a-lifetime offer from the Lads from Lagos: Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 21:13:57 +0200 From: peterwong2@tiscali.cz Subject: Att To: undisclosed-recipients I am peter-wong from Bank hang seng hong kong, I have a late client funds of $8 USD in my bank and …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. greybeard

    Its all relative

    Perhaps this came from someone in Zimbabwe where $8 is a fortune

  2. Bob

    Indeed

    The way the economy is going in Yank Land that'll seem enticing in a few weeks - just think, it'll buy someone a whole gallon of gas :P

  3. /etc

    From whom?

    Not that the "From:" address actually means a thing, but presumably a tiscali.cz domain would be what's used by Tiscali S.p.A. (Borsa Italiana, Milan: TIS) for Czech subscribers. The mind boggles.

  4. pctechxp

    @greybeard

    True, what is the latest on the inflation in Zimbabwe? last time I looked it was 1,000%.

    Be like that in Blightly soon at the rate food, fuel, etc are going,

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    8 dorrah?

    That's more than the GNP of Rockall. Go for it!

  6. Znort666

    What I like the best...

    is the fact that you get the email from one address (tiscali.cz) and have to reply to another (yahoo.com.hk).

    It astounds me that people ever fall for this.

    I know my Sister -in-law was contacted by someone on ebay when she was trying to sell a car, they offered to wire the money(well above the amount she wanted) and then send funds to him. luckily she asked me and I told her not to and why, but some people still fall for it, we need an ad campaign to warn of dangers of this sort of thing.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Good news really

    There I was, thinking that my dollars are only worth half as much as when I emigrated to the US a couple of years ago, while gasoline has quadrupled in price. Apparently dollars are still worth something in China.

  8. Big Al
    Pirate

    @ greybeard

    Only until tomorrow.

  9. Jon Double Nice
    Coat

    Micro 419-ing

    Perhaps he saw how that guy made loads of money scamming micropayments, and has ingeniously applied the idea to his own field of expertise.

  10. joe K
    Paris Hilton

    ZWD?

    If he is a Zimbabwean dissident of Chinese origin, assuming he had stashed in his account 240,000,000 ZWD pre 2005 (worth 8000 US dollars). In October 2005 the currency was devalued by a factor of 1000, making his stash worth 240,000 ZWD but given the official exchange rate is 1 USD to 30,000 ZWD , real exchange rate of about 1 USD to 600,000, an inflation rate of 1,000,000% ( so 1000 ZWD will be worth 1ZWD in a year), a planned further 3 zero revaulation of the currency (deduction of 3 zeros from all savings) this year, and the central bank survives by printing money to cover costs ( estimates at 170 trillion ZWD a week ). As a result, the poor fellow's bank balance has gone from 240,000,000 ZWD to 240,000 ZWD , to 240 ZWD, and is worth less than the paper the bank statement is printed on. With no way of converting that amount to USD ( 0.0003 today, 0.000000007 tomorrow), $8 seems a decent guess!

    Paris Hilton coz only she could be a logical ( and excusable) reason for your bank balance to decrease by a factor of 1000 overnight....

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    @greybeard, Re: it's all relative

    There might be a lot of zeros when expressed as ZIM$ but that doesn't make it a fortune, not even a small one.

    On the other hand I'm just waiting for US$ to go the same route. Fortunately the shrub only has seven more months to fsck up this country more than he and Cheney already have. If McCain wins I'm moving to Canada.

  12. Tom Bradbury
    Paris Hilton

    Optimism

    Well, if they sent it to 800 million recipients, they could get a few $$.

    Let's forward the email to all our friends, family and colleagues, and help them out a bit.

    Paris, cos she knows how to spread the love.

  13. Slaine
    Thumb Up

    419teacher says

    ... not bad for a first attempt, but reeally must try harder.

  14. Sureo
    Alert

    Canada, eh?

    You had better check who's running the show here before you pack your bags.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    in canada you say?

    AC - "If McCain wins I'm moving to Canada."

    And if Obamaramasama wins we will just have to close the borders. No oil for you!

    Maybe our spineless sycophants will even legalize non-big-pharma drugs once we break free of the US stranglehold? (yeah right)

    AC since I know there are Americans running around with guns.

  16. Bryn Evans
    Happy

    Missing Millions

    Now we see a perfect example of how Millions go Missing in the

    w -- Oops, Banking World.

  17. andrew stevens

    please send...

    ...one dollar to happy dude

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "$8" must be a typo....

    ....in fact it's the Wong number.....

    it's been a long day....

  19. Alistair Young Silver badge
    Pirate

    Great Offer

    I had a very similar offer recently, as well as being offered a cut of $8 USD, (10% IIRC) I was assured it was entirely "Rick Free".

    Which disappointed my friend Rick no end.

  20. Jon Tocker

    It's Genuine!

    He really DOES have $8 and is desperate to get the funds off-shore while they're still worth something...

  21. heystoopid
    Joke

    Sad

    Sad , must have been a foreign out worker for that already forgotten failed infamous Wall Street Wank , whose shares were worth a mere $0.01 cent in the dollar in real terms as unsecured creditors but were paid a travesty of $10 for each one in real cash , now who be the thieves pirates and 419er's then ?

    One could say quite literally all its former stockholders from the chairman down are no better then your average street 419er when push comes to shove !

    Definitions are in the eye of the beholder , for we tend to forget the average weekly wage for a Chinese Mainland Farm worker and factory worker after deductions is that princely sum of money mentioned and to many in China that is a small fortune !

  22. tony trolle

    hkd or USD

    8 HK dollars are worth 1 US dollar and 3 cents or 52 pence British

  23. Jon Tocker

    @ tony trolle

    The email said USD, which means (if converted into NZD) I'd be able to by a Double Whopper with Cheese combo at BK - but I would have to dig into my own pockets to up-size it...

  24. JP Strauss
    Happy

    @pctechxp

    Sorry, my friend Zimbabwe's infaltion isn't at 1000% anymore, in fact it has been above 1,000,000% for almost a month now.

  25. Mark
    Coat

    "it's the Wong number"

    Ouch.

    We took that one on the Chin.

    I'll need my coat, I'm going to have to Nip out.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like