Chris Blattman

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E-mail scams + slavery + reparations equals…

Via Meaningfulness:

Andy Baio documents the latest development in 419 spam with the receipt of this email:

From: jenifergoodluck (Your Big Fool)

Reply-to: jenifer.dagba@yahoo.com

Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 6:11 AM

Subject: You Owe Me

Since you haven’t fallen for my stupid scam letter let me go ahead and be up front with you.

Because I am a Nigerian, you owe me something. The fact that my decadent forefathers sold their neighbors and relatives into slavery means that you owe me a lot of money, especially if you are white. I will accept $1000 USD from you per month for the next 12 months. That will settle your debt towards me that was created by our forefathers.

Moreover, it is imperative that you begin to acknowledge my inherited right to steal and be corrupt without oppression from anybody’s legal system. I am entitled to instant riches at the expense of everyone outside West Africa.

This starts with you, my friend, so start paying up now by Western Union.

Check Andy’s post for the full story but his theory is that this call for colonial reparations is actually a hackers retaliation to an earlier more standard 419 email. Another possibility is that it is viral marketing for either Western Union or Dambisa Moya.

I find innovation in 419 scams oddly refreshing. It at least suggests that clever entrepreneurs are alive and well in Nigeria…

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