The Chetboard

Now that this whole thing is straightened out and knowing that Norm is probably too sure handed to misplace his wallet anyway, if anyone out there is still in the spirit of giving it just so happens that I'm an underprivileged musician in need of a better guitar

Seriously, I got an email with that exact same story a few years back from some people's email adress that I had met several years ago. I could see that the message had been sent to multiple recipients and suspected it may have been a scam but I had only met those people face to face once and wasn't sure. I didn't know them well enough to help them out anyway. ( If someone I did know well enough to help out in a situation like that went to Europe and didn't invite me, I wouldn't have helped them anyway )

This was a version of what´s called Nigerian Letters (419 Fraud). I´ve received some "once in a lifetime offers" myself during the last ten years, including an offer of marriage! I know of a man that was lured to travel to South Africa with a lot of money. He was found murdered with his money gone of course. Here´s FBI´s view one such matters:

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud