Ever got this in the e-mail?
This guy who's in some Godforsaken place (often Africa, though Iraq, Afghanistan, China seem to be appearing ) and found this hidden fund allegedly from (insert random dictator / rich victim) stashed in some unheard of source (often a bank, agency, whatever) and needs YOUR help to get it out of the country. If you can help pay some fees (export duty, paperwork, bribe the officials, whatever) he'll split the millions in fortune with you.
Most such advertise the country of Nigeria, that the whole thing is now called the Nigerian scam. It is also known as the 419 scam after the Nigerian Law that prohibits such.
Most of this spam was written so poorly it's often laughable, replete with spelling errors, improbably facts, and obviously wants your money. That most of us don't give it a second glance. Indeed, the spam filters are very good in catching them that they rarely make it through.
So why were they written that way? One Microsoft researcher has the answer.
So the victims self-selects, i.e. qualify themselves, and those who obviously won't fall for such things dump them. Thus, whoever still reads it, and wasn't laughing must be gullible to fall for it.
Which reminds me of a particular MLM, where its COO, its official online reps, and even other more... devotional members are asking those who have doubts about the company (and it has a LOT of problems lately), to just leave, often with ridicule like "while I continue to make $$$!"
If the people who are having reasonable doubts left, who would be left in the company?
A bunch of yesmen ("Yes, I trust in the company") and gullible followers ("They said it's okay, I believe them.").
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