Those who fall for spam based scams such as the Nigerian 419 emails or fake lottery wins make themselves easy targets for ridicule from those wise enough to be "in the know." However, there is a deadly serious side because many of the scams appear to be very plausible on first read, people do fall victim, and lives do get ruined as a result.
No better example than that reported by the BBC today. Read the full, tragic story here of how a university student killed herself after giving "more than £6,000 in the belief she had won half a million pounds in a lottery after being contacted over the internet."
Some people are vulnerable to scams because of their circumstances, not because they are overly gullable or stupid. If the scam is plausible enough and catches us at the right time in the right circumstances then any of us could get taken in. So, we need to remain vigilant to spam and we need to continue our warnings and security awareness messages.
