A Farewell Email From The Arrested Nigerian Scam Artist

Dear Friend,

Permit me to inform you that I am a Nigerian prince interested in doing business with you. I run an international consortium and would like you to be one of my associates. I can pay you an advance of US$10,000 if you send me your bank account and routing number. Hurry! This offer will expire in 24 hours.

Sadly, we may stop finding emails like this in our inbox, because Interpol arrested a Nigerian man allegedly behind thousands of online scams around the world. Using malware to compromise emails – and even “catfishing” romance scams – the scammer known only as “Mike” headed a network of 40 people that scammed thousands around the world. While most people think emails these fraudulent emails from princes and lotto winners were funny, they weren’t a joke to some. Mike convinced enough people to actually steal $60 million. In one bizarre instance, a target was conned into paying $15.4 million.