[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This message could be retitled
> "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (to get the FBI on your case.) PAT]
> Hello,
> My name is FRANK SMITH, I am an artist. I live in United Kingdom, with
> my two kids, four cats, one dog and the love of my life. It is
> definitely a full house. I have been doing artwork since I was a small
> child. That gives me about 23 years of experience. I majored in art in
> high school and took a few college art courses.
> SNIP>
> is impossible for me to cash out the checks or money orders as the
> cost of flying down to the states to receive such payments is very > expensive, SNIP
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, Mr. Smith, I must say this angle
> of yours is not as crude as most I have seen; after all, you are not
> claiming to be a banker or a solicitor in Nigeria seeking an American
> sucker -- err, business partner like so many of the 'employment
> opportunities' we see on the net these days. And, Mr. Smith, before
> you Go to Washington, like Jimmie Stewart in the 1941 movie by that
> same name, to snitch on your new partners, who, in their greed, decided
> to try and out-con another con man (or, as we say in street parlance
> 'try to bullshit another bullshitter') just be aware that it cannot be
> done. Another bullshitter or con-man will see through that thin veil
> you present every time.
> I might be a bit more sympathetic to your approach, and willing to
> give you the benefit of the doubt if I had not personally already
> recieved this same missive from you now three or four times, and it
> occurred to me that because your approach is so, well, unique and
> different than is usually seen in these parts; so refreshing it is,
> in fact, there is a good chance some of the guys on the net could get
> lured in, and that would be a pity, to see guys wind up in jail
> instead of you winding up there (in jail, I mean).
> Let me conclude by playing the role of straight man in this comedy for
> a minute. If you _really_ want a USA fiduciary agent to collect
> payments due you and remit proceeds, may I suggest you look at
>
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and/or
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(or
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)
> and search there with keyword 'donations'. Pay Pal offers you ways
> to collect funds from Americans and so does Amazon. Both provide
> little templates you can put on your own web page. e-Bay also has a
> similar arrangement working with PayPal. But take care about playing
> any tricks on _those guys_, they'll get you in trouble easily. They
> are all (Amazon, Pay Pal and E-Bay) equipped to accept all manner of
> payment and remit to you, all forms of currency, etc. PAT]
Like you say, it's slightly better than the usual Nigerian 419 scam -- at least the grammar mostly makes sense! If people want to pretend to be from the UK however, they should do their homework. Our secondary education system is not known as "High School" and students study for "A levels" -- people don't graduate and there is no major. As Winston Churchill said, the US and the UK are two peoples separated by a common language (I think), so just to be awkward we spell checks as cheques!
Liam