Bweare the Soldier Baring Gifts

I’m sure everyone has heard of at least one of the many variants of a Nigerian e-mail scam. Generally, it goes like this; a ranking official of Nigeria, or Sierra Leon, or Lagos, has come across millions in U.S. Dollars. He wants to share the money with you if you’ll just help him get it out of their country and into ours. The catch is that if you agree, they now need a few hundred dollars from you to bribe an official into releasing the funds. Of course, if you send the money, they disappear.

Well, the one I got today has a new twist, and as a veteran, and given the meaning of today, I thought it was particularly unsavory.

Important message from an American soldier in Iraq

Good
day,

My name is Sgt. Eric Richardson Frawley, I am an American
soldier, and I am serving in the military of the 1st Armored Division in Iraq,
as you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs. We
managed to move funds belonging to Saddam Hussein's family in 2003. The
total amount is US$25 Million dollars in cash, mostly 100 dollar bills, this
money has been kept somewhere outside Baghdad for sometime but with the proposed
troop reduction by president Obama, we are afraid that the money will be
discovered hence we want to move this money to you for safe keeping pending the
completion of our assignment here. You can go to this web link to read
about events that took place then via this site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
We are ready to compensate
you with good percentage of the funds, No strings attached, just for you to help
us move it out of Iraq. Iraq is a war zone, so we plan on using diplomatic
means in shipping the money out as military cargo using diplomatic
immunity. If you are interested I will send you the full details, my job
is to find a good partner that we can trust and that will assist us. Can I
trust you? When you receive this letter, kindly send an e-mail to sgt.ericrichard3@hotmail.com
signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone numbers for
quick communication also your contact details.

This is risk
free.

With regards from,

Sgt. Eric Richardson
Frawley

This, of course, is all a front to extort money. Money that many of us cannot afford to lose in today’s trying economic times.
One can only speculate how dastardly these scammers are, but to use a day like today -- Memorial Day -- to take advantage of an American who may believe this come-on and, feeling a twinge of patriotism mixed with a little greed, fall for it and get bitten bad.

On the one hand, many of us will believe that if one is stupid enough to fall for it, then they deserve what they get. But, on the other hand, if they can’t see the fallacy, then maybe we, as responsible American citizens, should reach out to them and open their eyes. Hence, this editorial.
Hopefully, this article will dissuade someone, and possibly save their rent money.