Final Word: Gotta love those online scams

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

It happened again the other day. I got one of those e-mails from someone who was stranded at an airport in Europe. They'd been robbed, lost their passports and desperately needed $1,000 to get their affairs in order and back home. Could I help?

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  By Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY

By Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY

I was about to kill the little scam out of my system when I realized that I actually knew the people in need. Pam was one of my oldest friends from high school. And her husband, Jon, was on the e-mail, too, spelled as his name really is. Jon.

Could it actually be? Could this be the real deal, I wondered?

So I e-mailed them back. I told them how sorry I was to hear about their predicament but needed to ask them a few questions first.

What is your brother's name? Where did you go to school? Your mom's maiden name?

I awaited the answers, which were, by the way, Kim, Ithaca College and Houseman. Almost immediately came a reply. "I don't understand."

And so I killed it out. Later in the day the real Pam and Jon surfaced in an e-mail apologizing to everyone that their account had been hacked and that they were not stranded in London but happily at home high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

I e-mailed them back saying how glad I was. We then gossiped about my mother and the folks back home. They ended our little exchange by saying I could still send them money if I wished. They would gladly accept it. I told them the check was in the mail.

Despite the scam artists out there, e-mail and the Internet remain lifelines for most of us. We can jot off a sentence, connect with someone for a few minutes, then move on. Maybe even go back to work for a while.

Just last week a new survey showed how such online communication works wonders for romance, too. More people say it's a perfect place to find love. Or at least for the moment.

If you can get strangers to send you money online, it makes sense that there will be people out there who will blow you a kiss over the line, too. (A certain bare-chested congressman from western New York learned this lesson the hard way earlier this month.)

But it actually seems to work. I know women who have met their mates on the Internet. I've already been to at least three weddings after Cupid worked his magic online.

I was so bold to even ask one bride how she knew he was the one.

She confessed she was attracted to his complete sentences.

I understand perfectly.

E-mail cwilson@usatoday.com.

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