you know the score, jump to the funny stuff

September 2001: New parts of the site will be organized by theme. The first new theme is "The Targets Strike Back" (there will be a snappier name eventually). The first entry is a brilliant exchange of e-mails between a Lad and his proposed Target. Guess who turned out to be smarter and funnier - or just visit Mild Mannered Target versus The Lads From Mars, er, Lagos (or Palm Springs, who really knows).

August 2001: If you know it all and just want recent names, try August tidbits or see the various names tried out by Lads, which may or may not refer to real people and which they may or may not have the right to use. If you haven't been here before, all is explained below.

April 2001: Hundreds of letters await review, including one (count it, one) letter accusing ScamORama of fraud for posting these letters, and threatening ScamORama with prison. For the humor-deprived: these letters are here to make it obvious, if it wasn't already, that they are scams. 4% say "I was almost fooled till I saw this site, thank you." 95% say, basically, "ha ha! what an obvious scam, and here's another". 0.5% say "couldn't mine be real? The names aren't exactly the same, and the amount isn't exactly the same..." and 0.5% don't get the point at all. Sigh... Stay safe out there.

Dear Sir, Request for Urgent Business Relationship

These letters were sent to people we know or who have contacted Scam O Rama. The sender purports to be a government employee, or banker, or the toadie of a formerly powerful family, who wants to cut you, and only you, in on the financial deal of a lifetime, and in return, wants the number of your bank account. (!)

Translated painfully into plain English, the writer claims to be in a position to skim public accounts if only you will help. The real scam is on anyone who responds. There is no money to be laundered - except yours. The Lads from Lagos swear you to secrecy ( yes, via e-mail, but apparently some people fall for this stuff ). They tell you that palms must be greased. They ask for chunks of money with which to do the greasing. A few K here, a few K there... eventually you sour on the deal, and retire to lick your wounds. If it goes further, and they get you over to Nigeria (or wherever), picture yourself in a hotel room in bustling Lagos, lost, surrounded by people who no longer seem so friendly, the phone isn't working... yeesh! Such a situation was described in the newspapers a few years back. The Bank of Nigeria published a warning in The Economist about it.

Setting aside the writer's attempt to rob you and (going through the mental contortions necessary to take the letter at face value) to steal from his own country, the letters are funny. Read them out loud at parties and see. They may constitute a special literary genre. Many have actually been received or forwarded numerous times, with different names & numbers. A scamology is underway. Meanwhile, here, for your amusement, and as a warning, is the received literary oeuvre to date of the Lads from Lagos. Newer items are toward the bottom.

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