Ha. So everyone knows about the old “please deposit this money and then wire some back to me for great fortune — Love, a deposed Nigerian prince” scam. In fact, it’s crossed the threshold from mere financial con to full-blown web meme. Hell, even C.W. Gusewelle knows about it. In other words, the scam now occupies its own place in the pop culture pantheon, to the point where you’re simply amazed that anyone would still fall for this.
Welcome to Salina, KS, which apparently exists under a giant rock.
Police said Monday that an individual the woman met on the Internet in September sent her what appeared to be a U.S. treasury check for $456,000. She was asked to deposit the check in her bank and wire a portion of the money back to her new friend.
Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield said that she deposited the check at Bank of America in Salina on Oct. 4 and before it cleared, withdrew $170,000 to wire to England. About a month later, the $456,000 check came back as counterfeit.
Sympathy? Sorry, you’ll find none here. If you truly believe that an anonymous person you met on the interwebs is really going to give you hundreds of thousands of dollars to deposit a check for him… you probably deserve what’s coming. Seriously, this is like falling for the “someone wrote ‘gullible’ on the ceiling” trick. Not that, uh, we’ve ever fallen for that.
