I don’t know how he managed it; but me son mad out like a *bandit*. My brother and I combined never came home with the amount of candy he got tonight. I’d say easily 10 pounds- he couldn’t carry the bag. Good quality stuff too; not yer average run of the mill junk that you would throw away. Everything looked good. There was a ton of kids out tonight; everywhere we went. I don’t remember – at least in my adult life – seeing so many kids out; but they were. Even in this old fogy ‘hood that we live in. Noone ever comes here: that’s why we leave and go to mom’s neighborhood and aunt margs neighborhood. Too bad dads gonna accidently take the candy to work…..

“Courier-Mail”, Brisbane Queensland, 31.10.03

Police make arrest over lottery scam
————————————————

Graeme Webber

POLICE claim to have cracked a multimillion-dollar Internet scam based in
Australia after the arrest of a 39-year-old man yesterday.

The Nigerian or West African scam involved fraudsters sending out a flood of
spam e-mails conning people into believing they could claim millions of
dollars through lottery winnings, an inheritance or business opportunity –
if they first sent off money for “expenses”.

Police said the arrest followed a four-month investigation and was the first
capture of a key Australian figure involved in the global scam. State Crime
Command Assets Con-fiscation Unit detectives in NSW arrested the Sydney man
during a search of a property in Nyngan in the state’s central west. Raids
were conducted at two homes in Cecil Hills and Lurnea, in Sydney’s
southwest, where computers and numerous documents were seized.

ACU commander Jennifer Thommeny said the Sydney-based inter-national
syndicate had targeted hundreds of victims in Australia and overseas. “In
the last six months, we’ve probably tracked about $1.5 million,” Insp
Thommeny said. “This is really significant – we believe that this is the
first arrest of its kind in the world relating to an Australian connection.
We have identified victims who have been approached in New South Wales,
South Australia, Victoria, Cyprus, Malaysia, Japan, Norway, Greece,
Indonesia, Hong Kong and Britain and in many cases have been conned into
handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The man arrested yesterday morn-ing had not yet been charged, police said
last night. Insp Thommeny said it was a relatively simple racket to set up
and authorities had had trouble catching the culprits because the victims
usually lived overseas.
“It’s difficult to say whether we’ll see an end to it because it’s all about
people’s gullibility – it’s all about whether or not they think they can win
the lottery,” she said.

But in the case of Nigerian frauds, it is a lottery in which the victims
have not even purchased a ticket. Most people ignore such e-mails as “too
good to be true” – which they are – but others become entangled. Many
victims – who range from the needy to the greedy – were so embarrassed about
being fooled that they never reported the crimes.

“Sometimes you will get someone that’s really ill and down on their luck and
they think ‘oh, my God, it’s a gift from heaven’,” Insp Thommeny said. “It
takes a very greedy, ruthless person to set up this scam, because it’s very
simple.”

Authorities issued freeze orders on nine Sydney properties, a British
property, and five vehicles – meaning that they cannot be sold and may even
be confiscated if prosecution is successful.

The Washington Post’s Style Invitational once again asked readers to
take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or
changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the 2003 winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of
getting laid.

5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person
who doesn’t get it.

8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s
like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in
the fruit you’re eating.

18. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

The secret of abundance is to stop focusing on what you do not have, and
shift your consciousness to an appreciation for all that you are and all that
you
do have.

I LOVE it when I can fix shit!