Over the years, my writing partner Ken and I have taken on some of these scammers at their own game. Our primary goal has been to see how long we can keep them writing to us without giving them anything they really want. Our secondary goal has been to create a body of correspondence that makes an entertaining read for others.
We carefully develop our back stories and provide some pretty sophisticated supporting documents. Sometimes even better than the ones supplied by our scammers.
We like to think of these as involuntary collaborations between ourselves (pretending to be various fictional characters) and the scammer (also pretending to be various fictional characters). Each of our adventures has a downloadable PDF so you can enjoy both the writing and the supporting graphics (as well as our mordant commentary).
Our complete body of Nigerian scammer scams
No. 1 The Kent Saga
- Our first scammer had the good fortune to contact Clark Kent, an industrial mogul and head of Kent Enterprises. During the course of this lengthy correspondence he met other re-purposed cast members of the Superman family; personal secretary Lois Lane, personal assistant James Olsen, and company lawyer Lex Luthor -- someone you don't want to cross!
No. 2 The Chronicles of Chuck
- Poor Charles. He just wanted to get an unclaimed inheritance offshore. But he ran into Boris Karloff, Texas tycoon ( a theme we'd develop further in the Smith Zuma Saga). Of course, other classic Universal monster movie stars make an appearance, and Karloff manages to do something so unexpected, that it prompts Chuck to write in exasperation "I'm so tired." Moments like that make these scammer scams worthwhile.
No. 3 - The Smith Zuma Saga
- Mr. Smith Zuma wants to spirit a large amount of cash out of his country. He teams up with colorful Texas oilman Roy Rogers. It isn't long before we meet his foreman, Gene Autry, and almost discover the secret of the lost silver mine.
No. 4 - Captain Frank and George
- By far our favorite -- and the most fully developed scam. Banker George is just looking for a place to transfer a lot of money and discovers crusty old sea dog Frank Drake (who hates pirates). Along the way, there's international intrigue, a daring escape, and even a secret code for you to decipher!
No. 5 - John and Marsha
- In which a friend, left destitute after a mugging in the UK, stumbles into the strange world of Pixley, West Virginia, and meets some of the cast of "Green Acres," two dead presidents, and a children's building toy.
