The Irish version of the Nigerian email: Better written, same old scam

About the same time the FBI issued a warning this week that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Assistant Commissioner Thomas S. Winkowski didn't actually write an email akin to the Nigerian letter, I received a curious email from an Irish bank.

OK, it came from a university email address. But it was extraordinary nonetheless. What this bank official, "Myles Gallagher" was proposing was astounding.

In the normal Nigerian letter, greed and sympathy are at play. We feel bad for the poor official who wrote the letter and by helping him out of his jam we profit. A win-win.

But what old Myles is dangling is something entirely different. He admits in his variation of this letter (which still has people falling for it) that he's up to no good. He's simply looking for a plausible accomplice. That, of course, is anyone who cares to respond.