14. Advance-Fee Scams Began Hundreds of Years Ago
George Parker only needed to sell the Brooklyn Bridge a couple of times to have enough money to be completely set for the rest of his life. However, he kept selling it, and selling it, and selling it. Moreover, that’s just the thing about scam artists: they only have to find one or two suckers to be bankrolling. The trick is to cast as big a net as possible and wait for just a couple of people to respond to the fraud. Obviously, email has made the process of casting a wide net easier, as one only needs a list of email addresses.
However, the practice has been going on since long before email. Scammers would send letters out via snail mail to try to find unsuspecting victims (have you ever gotten a postcard saying that you won a million dollars?). This method was possibly much more efficient for the scammer than sending out emails, as some still use snail mail to try to ensnare their victims. They also use the telephone (when is the last time someone called you to say that you won a million dollars?). Using snail mail and phone as a method of finding elderly victims is particularly common, as they tend to be more vulnerable due to various factors.