scams aren't just an email problem

found on very demotivational

in case you're having difficulty reading that letter, it starts:

Please forgive my presumption in contacting you in this way, but I would like to request your help. You...

while what's depicted is technically an anime rather than an historical document, it is a classic example of how a 419 / nigerian / advanced feee fraud style of scam letter is composed. it highlights the fact that such scams can work just as well with a physical letter as they do in an email. in fact, the formal wording may actually seem that much more approriate in the context of a physical letter. it's not hard to believe, then, that such scams have been around for a very, very long time.