Instead of spending an evening threading a post together I went out for dinner, so I had to spend some time making myself look less like a homeless student and more like someone who can use a menu, then actually spend time in public, so this is a total cop-out. I’m also using an iPad, laptop and mobile simultaneously which is actually quite appropriate.
Man travels 1,000 miles to claim bogus prize
Okay so we’ve all had PPI-claim texts and Optical Express and SP Energy and talkmobile and Ladbrokes and Barclays and pension freezes and debt payment ads and yes I went through the phone I’ve had for eighteen months to find all the types of bullshit. But this takes the cake, ice cream, cheese board and coffee and little mints.
In Politics we’ve looked at poverty recently and if I remember correctly, more people have access to a mobile phone than they do a toilet. This is crap (pun fully intended) in itself and is being exacerbated by scammers taking advantage of people who literally don’t know any better. Mr Malbisoi probably isn’t the only non-Western person who’s been a victim of phishing but how is the west going to educate the rest of the world about the dangers of scams when there are entire TV shows dedicated to getting British scam victims their money back?
I dunno, man, and I need an early night. What’s the stupidest/funniest mobile scam you’ve come across? Have you experienced scams yourself? Yep, there is actually an element of Q&A to all of this!
That includes you, Jay.
Francesca's Thoughts 
I’ve never really got any scams, probably due to the fact that I also never really use my phone (ah).
BUT several of our wacky South African not-actually-all-that-related relatives seem to get them and believe them on a semi-regular basis. I mean none of them have gone to the lengths of the guy above (yet!), but we’ve got a few calls from them saying they’ve emptied their entire bank account for the scams etc.
And if it was just the once they fell for it I’d understand bUT IT KEEPS HAPPENING. And every time they’re equally surprised that the person in Uganda promising money isn’t actually telling the truth.
And that’s not really stupid or funny, but I’m afraid that’s the best I’ve got.
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Holy bats that is intense. Maybe there’s a precedent for people trusting strangers in South Africa?
(Maybe British people are just incredibly reluctant to give anything away.)
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