A successful Nigerian 419 scam and its unwitting victim

This story is unbelievable. Can someone be this naive? No, stupid -- greedy. I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for 22-year-old John Rempel, who fell for a Nigerian 419 scam, and got bilked out of $150,000, which he borrowed from friends and family. He was contacted via email about a $12.8 million inheritance in his name -- and things then spiralled out of control.
"They're in it now because of me," said Rempel, 22, breaking into sobs. "If it wasn't for me, nobody would be in this mess. You think things will work out, but it doesn't. It's a very bad feeling. I had lots of friends. I never get calls anymore from my friends. You know, a bad reputation."
What kind of friends did this guy have? Apparently very dumb ones. And so was his family that went along with all this. Does anyone in his circle surf the internet? Does anyone know how to use Google?
They met Rempel the next day with a suitcase. They said it had $10.6 million in shrink-wrapped U.S. bills. Rempel wanted more proof. His new friends pulled out one bill and "cleansed" it with a liquid "formula," which washed off some kind of stamp. Rempel was told that process made the money "legal tender."

"I was like holy crap, is that mine?" he said. "They said 'yes sir, it's yours.' It all sounded legit."

[Sigh] OK, I feel sorry for him. It's the photo. Read the whole story here.

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