SCAMALICIOUS SPECIMENS

Scam emails may be forwarded to postmaster @ scamorama.com.
They won't be posted on the web site unless unusually funny or interesting, but they will be appreciated, and added to the ScamBase. They may also end up in one of the digests, such as:

• Dead Bank Customer Memorial page
• Job Digest
• The Cancer Patient
• Lottery Scams

Your (real) name will not be posted on the web site. See the privacy policy for more details.

GUIDELINES FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE

If you want to submit an actual back-and-forth correspondence for possible posting, please note:

We don't open unexpected attachments (Word, pics, etc). [You shouldn't either!]
Best is plain text, chronological order, in the body of the e-mail.
If your graphic is important, ask first so we can discuss format, resolution, etc.
Please say where the graphic came from. Scamorama will not knowingly use material from another web site without permission and acknowledgment. Exceptions: the fake IDs and pics of 'money' that scammers use are fair game; Scamorama tries to alter IDs to hide the faces, if it seems the scammers stole somebody's photo. [Sometimes, however, they use pics of famous Nigerian bureaucrats, or famous models. Their notion of satire?]

The correspondence need not be finished. One whole correspondence or a few long e-mails, in chronological order, are easier to webbify than many short ones. But of course things may take time to play out. If your correspondence will take a while to develop, or you are dealing with more than one scammer (yea you!), please provide descriptive subject lines:
(Me-MyScammer) la la la March 10

Why? Because there are a LOT of stories in the inbox. Make it clear to which anti-scam your e-mail of the day belongs. This becomes even more important if you are working with others. If it's too much work to figure out where an e-mail fits in an ongoing correspondence, or a name suddenly appears and it's not clear where that character first appeared, don't count on the story appearing. This is a practical matter, not a literary judgment. Would you send a novel to a publisher one paragraph at a time, out of order, with some missing, and some from the other novel you're working on?

Please say whether your nom de scam is your real name, so it and your e-mail address can be anonymized.

Racism and extreme crudeness are not welcome.
This doesn't mean pretending cultural differences don't exist, or that we feel sorry for scammers (they don't feel sorry for you).
Just don't assume a reviewers is of your culture, religion or gender.
Let good taste be your guide. You can do this and still be funny.
Yes, the Lads are sometimes nasty. That is their problem.
If your material is on the edge (one person's crude is another's naughty), we might use it anyway. We might edit it slightly.
All this stuff is subjective. Scamorama is too milquetoast for some and too dirty for others.

We are interested in other languages besides English, but can only intelligently edit French and (not as well) Spanish. We will happily read anything - English sprinkled with other languages is fine too. Maybe we will learn something. Feel free to provide translations, explain puns, cornball inside jokes only locals would know, etc.

Material chosen for posting may not be posted in the order received. Sometimes it's fun to mix up themes, contributors, countries.

If you've submitted & not heard back, don't take offense, just get in touch again.

WHY DIDN'T YOU POST MY STORY?

Different publishers have different tastes. Don't be upset. You wasted a scammer's time! A fine achievement.

Possible reasons:

1. Something's been done before the same way and the humor is wearing thin (this is subjective)
2. The language is really crude for no good reason (see above)
3. The story is mostly your mails, not a real correspondence with your scammer
4. It ends with a schoolyard-level "ha ha" (if you clue the scammer in, thus spoiling him for other anti-scammers, at least be witty)
5. Your stuff is already posted on other web sites
6. We got out of bed on the wrong side

SUBMITTING LINKS

News items in any language are welcome.

Scamorama also links to other web sites which are mostly about "419" advance fee fraud AND (funny OR informative in a social or law enforcement way) AND likely to be around for a while AND not racist or extremely crude.

Links are not expected in return, nor automatically given in exchange. This is to preserve the character of the site and provide a focused, interesting experience for the reader.

FINALLY