Fraud and how to enjoy it

My work e-mail has become a lot less secure over the last few months. For some reason I get a lot more junk and recently it would appear that one of my customers saved me as a contact and then got their e-mail hacked because I have been receiving a lot of fraud fishing e-mails. One such e-mail I received was from a man named Kay who reported that he had been mugged and was stranded in the UK with no way to get home. He needed 2900.00 and would pay me back as soon as he got home. I had no doubt it was fraud from the terrible grammar to the fact that....well.... a random dude was asking me for money (that's normally a dead giveaway). I got the e-mail and thought to myself, "okay, I'll play." My intent was to e-mail him as many times as possible with arbitrary favors and questions until he eventually gave up. He hasn't written back in two days so it would appear that he had put up the white flag. Here are the e-mails in order:

From: kayf2213@aol.com [mailto:kayf2213@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2010 9:23 PM
To: bkoline02@hotmail.com
Subject: i need your assistance urgently!!!

Hi,
I’m currently in the United Kingdom attending an unexpected program.
And I am having a little problem.
I was mugged on my way back to the hotel after a session I attended and
Lost all the money and valuables I had with me.
Right now, my passport and other personal belongings are held by the hotel management,
Till I make payment for my accommodation and other expenses.
I will like you to kindly assist me with a loan of £1,700 pounds ($2,900) to sort my hotel bills out,
And to get myself back home.
I will really appreciate whatever you can assist me with, and promise to
Refund the money as soon as I get back.
Please let me know if you can be of any help, and I will really appreciate it if you can
Assist me immediately, because I need to get back home as soon as possible,
I will not like to spend another day here.
Regards

Kay

My first response:

Kay,

That’s terrible….Please let me help you. How can I get you all the money you need?

His response:

Thank you so much, I am glad to hear from you.I feel very depressed at the moment.
I never thought i would find myself in such a situation.
I would have love to call but i've got no access to a phone and yet a limited access to the internet
I feel so embarrassed asking you for money as i know you have personal needs as well, but i promise to refund the money
as soon as i get home.
You can assist me with funds through western union money Transfer, sent to me in my name and i should be able to sort my self out.

Kayla Falgout
BRITANNIA HOTEL MANCHESTER
Portland Street,
Manchester,
M1 3LA

Please send me the Transfer details including the Money Transfer Confirmation Number as soon as you get it done.

Thank you so much

Kay

My response:

Can I send you more? I have 10,000.00 that I have been saving for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, but I really sympathize with your situation and think the money would help you a lot more. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for you. You are stranded without anything or anyone to help you.

Please let me know if I can send you more money.

I won’t be at this e-mail address anymore, please send the information to my personal e-mail halfcrap@hotmail.com.

Here is to wishing you the best

His response:

no thank you. i just need $2,900 and if you cant help, just let me know.

regs

Kay

My response:

Sorry I wasn’t here this weekend. I hope everything was okay with you, I am so sorry if my delay made your weekend too hard. I hope to get you home as soon as possible. Do you have a family? I have been married for 10 years and have 4 kids. I would die if I were stranded without a way to get a hold of them. Do you have any kids?

This weekend, while waiting for your response (you really should have used that e-mail that I gave you so I could have given you the money faster) I tried looking for a Western Union and didn’t see any. Do you know where a Western Union is in Riverside CA? I hope to get you the money you need ASAP.

It ends there, but man what a ride. I don't if he caught on or just got sick of me, but believe me, I could have gone on forever. If he had actually told me where a Western Union was in Riverside, I would have said that I saw a Moneygram the other day and if that would be okay.

I will talk more about this later, but this post is long enough.