Responding to the scam
I always wonder about the people that do respond to the scam. I've collected about a hundred variations on the 419 scam and pretty much every one of them involves misrepresentation and falsehoods on the part of the person that responds and gets suckered in. Of course the sender always says this is completely legal and safe, but at the same time is asking you to identify yourself as next of kin or the like when obviously you aren't. To succeed the scammer has to rely upon not only the gullibility of the person they are scamming, but also the greed and willingness to deceive of the scamee. There is a part of me that feels pity for the person sucked into the scam, but then I also realize that in a way they are as willing to deceive and lie as the scammer.
