The Scammers, Part Two

A new friend of mine was recently hit by a scammer going by the same name as my sister, but with a twist, one was Paul James, and the other was James Paul. Same basic story, with a few twist in the story line, but in general the same story.

This person got hit in a MUCH bigger way and for a lot of money, which put her in a tight position with her family and with herself.

These folks MUST be stopped! We know where they are, we know how they are doing it, we even track some of what they are doing. (We being our federal government.) Why are we not protecting our citizens and stopping this from happening?

In this case, I know that it is a different person than the one that went after my sister. This guy took it another step and when my friend confronted him, he came back at her asking for more money “if she really loved him”. Guy, wake up, SHE REALLY LOVED YOU, but YOU DIDN’LOVE HER! In snooping around I found that he is stringing along six other ladies, and two guys. Swings both ways on the Net. He just want’s the money!

Ladies, if you are talking to a man in Nigeria who says he works for Shell as a consultant, tells you that he can’t cash a check there because the banks are too bad, needs you to wire him some money to help him till Shell finally pays him, or some other excuse for needing money, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE AS FAR FROM HIM AS POSSIBLE! This is a scam that is bringing the Nigerian Scammers a large amount of money.

Just in the past week, I have seen it bring them in over $28,000 US which is a LOT of money there. (Not too shabby here either for a weeks worth of work!)

Please think before sending anyone you haven’t meant in person money, except for bonified charities, and even then look into them carefully, and before you give them your heart and soul. Make sure they are legit, then meet with them once. If they are giving you a sob story, it probalby isn’t 100% legit.

A MAJOR life change happening…

For the past two years I have been digging deep into my “religious” belief system. For the past 27 years, I have been an active, mostly, Shaman. This changed as of February of this year.

For various reasons, I am converting to Catholicism, which due to my bad timing will not be 100% until Holy Week (Easter Week) of 2008.

Well, it may not be “bad timing”, it just means I have more time to more fully understand and embrace my change in faith and understanding of spirituality and religion. I have a lot of new things to learn, and in some cases re-learn.

During the last three months I have started that learning, including reading the New American Bible, which is the current preferred Bible of the Catholic Church in the US. I had thought that all “Bibles” were pretty much the same in content, but was surprised to find out that the Catholic Bible has a few extra books in it!

This has been an interesting and rewarding experience for me on many levels.

Enjoy life!

Continuing Education

Well, I have said that I am done with school for a while. Not so. I am taking myself through the self study process for getting a CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) issued. The exam is pretty intense from what I understand, so the study and work to achieve this certification has started as of today! Lots on my schedule, but I feel it’s time to start getting those certifications that will make me even more marketable. After I get the CISSP I will probably go on for other security related certifications as well. I MAY even go on and get my networking credentials as well.