the lure of the zeroes

About two years ago I received an email inviting me to apply for a post in a steel company in Valencia, Spain. Aba sino ba naman ang tatanggi sa ganong opportunity. Sa isang tulad kong inamag na sa Saudi, it’s one welcome change para maiba naman ang working environment. Eh di nagpadala ako agad ng CV after na-check ko yong website nong company.

Totoo namang may ganong steel company (Corporacion Sidenor) sa Valencia kaya I didn’t suspect anything fishy. And the email address used looked like it came from the company’s official mail system. Na-excite pa ako nong nagbigay na yong Recruitment Manager ‘daw’ ng figures for their offered package. Nothing exhorbitant to arouse any suspicion from an applicant like me but it sure was enough to get me excited.

Pero nong dumating na sa puntong hinihingan na ako ng 1,800 Euros for processing fee daw, I was like a speeding car coming to a screeching halt. Bam! Scam!

When I retraced my steps, that’s when I realized na wala nga pala akong na-receive na reply from the company’s official email address na nakuha ko sa website nila. And that email add was slightly different from the email add na ginagamit nong kausap kong tao na Recruitment Manager daw nong company. I should have noticed that the domain name was different. Tanga ko.

But at least I backed out just before they lured me into their trap. Itong nangyari lately, medyo nakipaglaro pa ako and took one step bolder.

Last week kasi nakatanggap ako ng email from a purported organization called Commonwealth of Nations saying that I won their on-line lottery. Porke yong yahoo address ko raw was randomly selected and I won the 3 million dollar prize. Obviously it’s one of those scams. Tinawanan ko pa nga.

Pero ewan ko kung bakit hindi ko dineretso yong mail sa trash bin like what I usually do. Worse, nag-email pa ako don sa binigay na contact person (a certain Albert Barry na Finance Director pa raw ng isang bangko sa Malaysia). Again, as a precautionary measure, hinanap ko naman sa web yong Malaysian bank na sinabi. I tried verifying the person and the position. Malay mo totoo. Aba 3 million dollars ang pinag-uusapan dito noh.

I must admit that the six zeroes momentarily blurred my vision, shutdown my reasons and sent me into a plethora of wild dreams. Para akong naka-droga at biglang nag-play ang isang pelikula sa utak ko. The kind of scenes na matagal ko nang pinangarap. Like packing my bags in a jiffy and taking the first flight back to Pinas. Kaliwali (never mind) na ang sweldo at ESB (end of service benefit) ko kahit 7 years na ako sa company. That’s peanuts compared to 3 million dollars.

Jeezzz, tagal ko nang pangarap makabili ng magarang kotse, build my dream house and trot the globe via first class air ticket. Not to forget a 150-ft yacht huh. And here’s 3 million dollars to make those dreams come true! Nag-calculator pa talaga ako kung magkano yon sa peso. For a single moment, I was praying na hindi scam yong mail. Na kahit nagdudumilat naman ang katotohanan, I was hoping na totoong may 140++ million pesos na naghihintay sa akin to make my dreams come true.

Tokkkk! May bumatok sa akin. Yong guardian angel ko.

Nag-reply yong contact person na in-email ko. And this stupid guy was asking for my personal details like full name, address, occupation, telephone number, etc. Wala namang bank account na hinihingi pero bakit ko naman ibibigay sa kanya yong mga detalyeng yon di ba. Wala man silang manakaw na pera sa akin, but identity theft is just as worse. At least napaisip ako. Nahihibang ako pero may kaunti pa namang katinuang natitira sa akin.

Or so I thought. Kasi tinawagan ko pa rin si pareng Albert Barry. Hindi kasi nag-reply yong Malaysian Bank doon sa aking verification. So I was still hoping na totoo pa rin yong 3 million dollars. Kaya tinawagan ko pa rin si pareng ugok even if it means spending a few Riyals dahil Malaysia yata yong mobile number nya.

But during the conversation, na-realize ko na talagang na-denggoy ako at ang tanga ko. Big Time. Kasi ni hindi tunog Finance Manager yong kausap ko. Ni hindi masagot ng maayos ang mga tanong ko. Ni hindi maipaliwanag ng maayos kung ano yong lottery nila, yong Commonwealth of Nations at kung ano pa. And I had this picture in my mind na yong kausap ko eh isang Bitoy na nanggigitata, somewhere in a cheap apartment in Malaysia, tumutungga ng beer while scratching his stinking armpits.

Hindi ko na pinatagal ang usapan namin but before I ended the conversation, I made it clear to him na iritado ako at alam ko nang he was a dupe. One of my last sarcastic bit was ‘Is this a joke’. Alam ko naman ang sagot pero tinanong ko pa.

As soon as I got off the phone, may na-receive akong follow-up mail ni Albert Barry. Ayon na at pinagde-deposit na ako ng ilang libong dolyares para daw makuha ko yong winnings ko. I did not delete it. I’m forwarding it to Alliance Bank officers in Malaysia para maging aware sila na may sindikatong gumagamit ng kanilang pangalan. Ipo-forward ko rin siguro sa FraudWatch.com pag sinipag ako.

As for me, I’ve learned my lesson. And the lesson is not to blind yourself with the zeroes. Otherwise, ang sakit masabihang Ang laki mong tanga… or Were you born only yesterday!? At baka nabatukan pa ako ng mga adik!

Meantime, ito na lang latest mail ang aasikasuhin ko. Baka ito totoo na. May African princess na gusto akong pamanahan ng 1 million British Pounds! Balatuhan ko na lang kayo! Hehehehe….