Well, yes,
This happens to you IF, and only IF, you are daft enough to try and obtain a foreign bride over the internet...
Net bride Aussie kidnapped in Mali
An Australian farmer who thought he'd found his perfect soulmate online got a nasty surprise when he travelled to Mali to meet his fiancée - a reception committee of "machete-armed bandits" who held him for almost two weeks demanding an AU$100,000 ransom. Des Gregor, 56, flew last month to the impoverished African nation's …
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Monday 13th August 2007 10:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
So let me get this straight...
I Bet the email went something like...
HI desmondgregor@aus.net
MY NAM IS NATACHA AN I AM A GOOD JESUS FOLLOWING LADY I LUCKING FOR HUSBAND I IS TH DAWTER OF THE CHEF AND HE IS GIVE AU$100,000 (ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLOR) IN GOLD BARS MY FRIED JESUS TOLD ME YOU WAS A NICE KIND MAN AND WOULD LIKE A GOOD WIFE TO LUCK AFTER YOU I HAVE ATTACH A PICHURE OF ME IN THE NUDE SO YOU SEE WHAT YOU GETTING COME TO AFRICA WE GET MARRIED AND I LOVE YOU LONG TIME OR SEND ME $10,000 (TEN THOUSAND DOLLOR) WITH WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFERER SO I GET WHAT I NEED AND I COME TO OZTRAILER AND MARRY YOU THERE
PLEASE RITE TO ME MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS Moses_Umpopo3578@yahoo.com
MAY JESUS BE WITH YOU
NATTACHA
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Monday 13th August 2007 13:50 GMT Pascal Monett
Not to get suspicious
But frankly, I would already have doubts if I were to pick up a Natasha in Bamako. I don't know what range of first names they have over there, but Natasha sounds much more Russian than African to me.
On the other hand, the mail above is spot on. There's experience there, and it shows ;-).
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Monday 13th August 2007 14:30 GMT Tyson Boellstorff
There was nothing there but his own naked greed
Before people start hacking on 'luurv' over the internet, I have to say that I married someone I met on the internet, and they have been the happiest years of my life. However, I wasn't looking for $100,000 as part of the deal -- that not only sounds too good to be true, it defies all logic that someone in such dire straits couldn't *buy* something better locally. Face it, if they're any kind of decent person at all, they'd be as poor as a church mouse, not offering cash to the first idiot that comes along.
Let's review. He wasn't thinking with his upper brain. He wasn't even thinking with his lower brain. His greed ruled him, and he got the beating he deserved. I just love his quote: "You see this in a movie, you read about it in a book. It happens to someone else, not you. But it does." -- I have a better quote for him to ponder. "That's some mighty profound stupidity you got there, son. Your life'd make a good episode of 'The Brady Bunch, or even a nice entry on the Darwin Awards web page."
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Monday 13th August 2007 14:55 GMT Colin Jackson
Er no....
No it wasn't him that was looking for the 100,000 pay off - it was a dowry payment (supposedly) which the groom pays to the father of the bride. He was bringing the cash in gold bars. That alone would have raised my suspicion - 100,000 Oz dollars for an African bride?? You could get a Thai bride for much less than that, and they're closer to home. And not as sulky about it, I'm told.
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Monday 13th August 2007 15:18 GMT Tyson Boellstorff
dowry - bride price not same thing
"Des Gregor, 56, flew last month to the impoverished African nation's capital Bamako in search of "Natacha" and a dowry of AU$100,000 in gold bars"
The first line of a google on dowry:
Definitions of dowry on the Web:
* money or property brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
I maintain that the guy is a greedy 'tard.
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Monday 13th August 2007 19:14 GMT Mike VandeVelde
LOL!!
typed that into my address bar (www.419 brides.com), not noticing the space, got a google search page, and this was one of the google ads:
Brides
Fantastic prices on brides
Deal with Canadians and save
www.ebay.ca
saved the screen shot, or prolly works if you just try it yourself. too damn funny!
didn't they have a spat recently, ebay and google? think this is some sort of subtle retaliation? chuckle chuckle
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Tuesday 14th August 2007 03:06 GMT the Jim bloke
russian brides
During my brief experiment with ICQ, I kept getting contact requests from russian women
Somehow, all of them were 26 years old.
As for this guy, he paid the price for ignoring Aussie traditions and trading partners, our mail-order-brides are sourced from the Phillipines and Thailand ( refered to as LBFMs )
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
