From the 1800s to the Internet: The Evolution of a Con

I am sure most of you have received one of those e-mail scams quite common these days, in which some prince of Liberia (or some such place) just so happens to have all this money and through complete legitimate and legal means they need the assistance of random strangers online, of whom they are prepared to give a large sum of money for their help, if only you would be so kind to provide your name, phone number, address, banking information and so forth.

Well believe it or not that sort of thing actually got its start in the 1800's in a con known as green goods. The basic idea behind the scam, is a person would be offered a large sum of money, of which they would have to purchase for a sum smaller than its value, but when they came to collect the money the bag of which was to contain their money was swapped with one filled with rags or paper.

And as part of the scam letters would be sent out randomly within the mail to various people, and the content and wording within said letters are quite astonishingly similar to those e-mails quite popular today, if one adjusts for the way in which the scam has evolved to suit the modern digital age.

Here is a copy of what one of those letters would look like:

Dear Sir: I will confide to you through this circular a secret by which you can make a speedy fortune. I have on hand a large amount of counterfeit notes of the following denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, and $20. I grantee every note to be perfect, as it is examined carefully by me as soon as finished, and if not strictly perfect is immediately destroyed. Of course it would be perfectly foolish to send out poor work, and it would not only get my customers into trouble, but would break up my business and ruin me. So, for professional safety, I am compelled to issue nothing that will not compare with the genuine. I furnish you with my goods at the following low price, which will be found as reasonable as the nature of my business will allow:

For $1,200 in my goods (assorted) I charge........$100

For $2,500 in my goods (assorted) I charge........200

For $5,000 in my goods (assorted) I charge........350

For 10,000 in my goods (assorted) I charge........600

5:36 PM - 11/24/2009 - post comment

From the 1800's........

It's kind of sad. These things survive and evolve because of greed....the idea of hitting the jackpot. Part of me feels sorry for those taken in by this kind of thing, and a part of me feels they get what they deserve. What hurts is when the person falling for the ruse is just trying to make ends meet, especially the elderly.

QR - 6:32 PM - 11/24/2009

For though All are not able to write books, all conceive themselves able to judge them. ~The Monk

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