Associated Press wrote:Oregon Woman Loses $400,000 to Nigerian E-Mail Scam


Monday , November 17, 2008

SWEET HOME, Ore. —

An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn't a sucker or an easy mark. Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front. Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers' ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive. "That's what got me to believe it," She said. "So, why wouldn't you send over $100?"

Spears, who is a nursing administrator and CPR teacher, said she mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through her husband's retirement account. "The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and going around and seeing America — is pretty much gone for him right now," she said. She estimates it will take two years to clear the debt that accumulated in the more than two years she spent sending money to con artists. Her family and bank officials told her it was all a scam, she said, and begged her to stop, but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting paid.

The scheme is often called the "Nigerian scam" and it's familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works. Spears first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money. The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed her help. They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying her payment was "guaranteed." But it wasn't and now Spears is paying the price for her costly lesson.
"The hope is [other people] are not going to fall as hard as I fell," Spears said.

The Times wrote:
Boy Collapses After Playing 'World of Warcraft' for 24 Hours Straight


Monday , November 17, 2008


A schoolboy collapsed and went into convulsions after playing a new version of the "World of Warcraft" online computer game for 24 hours straight. The 15-year-old boy and his friends were exploring the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion pack when he suffered what appeared to be an epileptic seizure, it was reported Monday.

"They played all day and all night. Maybe they got a few hours of sleep. They ate a little food and breakfast at their computers," the boy's father told the Kvällsposten newspaper in Sweden.

Doctors told the father that his son's bodily systems had been disrupted by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food and the prolonged period of concentration playing the game. The teenager and six friends were reported to have gathered at his home in Laholm, western Sweden, on Saturday to play the updated version of the game, which went on sale Thursday. He collapsed at around 2 p.m. Sunday.

The boy is expected to make a full recovery but his father said he plans on limiting the amount of time his son is allowed to play computer games.

Balamac wrote:wow... just, wow.

Alanras wrote:

Balamac wrote:wow... just, wow.

LOL, what he said.

Andway wrote:Yeah I just dont get how parents can let their kids play that damn long on a game. Hell my parents let me do that too. I remember playing on weekends for 24hrs straight quite a few times. Not good, but ofcourse I was a teenager..So I was fine with it.

They really need to be on top of things like that. Have enough balls to tell them enough is enough and turn the damn computer off. If they don't like it take the comp away.

Associated Press wrote:Tea Time Love Bite

A woman almost bit off her husband's willy as he cooked pancakes for tea - while she gave him oral sex.

In the heat of passion he lost his grip on the pan and spilt boiling oil down her naked back.

She clenched her teeth on his willy and in agony he bashed her on the head with the pan.

Both only admitted how they received their injuries after "intense questioning" by hospital docs in Carioca, Romania.

The man needed treatment to his willy while the wife had burns, two black eyes and a broken cheek bone.