Posted February 5th, 2006 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: Email Scams, False
Tags: 419 scam, advanced fees fraud, email, nigerian scam, scam
An email lands in your inbox promising immense riches, if only you will help someone in a distant country transfer some money that has been left forgotten in an account for years. It’s called the Nigerian Scam, and it has cost the gullible and unwary millions of dollars.
Join me in the ulblog forensic accountacy department as we learn more about this surprisingly successful con game.
I first wrote about the Nigerian Scam [1] back in July of 2001 on the ULRC site. It wasn’t by any means a new scam then, but the Internet was still rapidly expanding, and vast numbers of people were still making their way online for the first time, and were being exposed - at an alarming rate - to a scam the majority of them had never heard of before.
Almost six years later, and it appears that the Nigerian Scam is still going strong.
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Footnotes: | 1. | Also known as an Advanced Fees Fraud and the 419 Scam, after the relevant section in the Nigerian criminal code that covers fraud operations such as these. |
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Posted February 1st, 2006 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Folklore, Superstitions, Urban Legends
Tags: human behaviour, insanity, popular beliefs
The moon has fascinated humanity since we first looked up in wonder at its pale, glowing face, and has featured in our religions, folklore and popular beliefs ever since.
But our relationship with the moon hasn’t always been positive. Join me out in the still of the night, while we spend a little time gazing at our closest celestial neighbor and think a little about the topic of madness and moonbeams.
The Goddess Dances By Moonlight
Imagine, for a moment, what it would have been like for the first sentient humans to look up at the night sky and to see the moon charting its way across the heavens. It must have been one of the great mysteries of existence, worthy of secrets and rituals, and later to become an object of worship and suspicion.
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Posted January 29th, 2006 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Ghost Stories, Urban Legends, Urban Rituals
Tags: horror, scarelore, supernatural
Will chanting the name of Bloody Mary a certain number of times in front of a mirror summon her spirit to maim and kill? Join me in the ulblog bathroom as we turn off the lights and learn a little more about this intriguing ritual…
Oh, and don’t forget to bring the candles!
I can’t think of a better place to begin this blog than with possibly my favorite urban legend / ghost story of all time — the completely spooky tale of Bloody Mary!
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the story in one form or another from your childhood years. Sometimes the name changes [1], sometimes the details of the ritual changes, but in most cases the core elements of the story remain largely the same.
To summon Bloody Mary you have to go into a bathroom at the stroke of midnight and stand in front of the mirror with a lit candle and with the lights turned off. You chant her name 3 times, “Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary…” and then you shout, “I stole your baby!”
And then… in the mirror… you will see the face of a horribly disfigured woman — and she’ll claw your face with razor-sharp nails, leaving you just as terribly mutilated as she is!
Egad, what could be creepier than that!
It’s easy to imagine that some form of this ritual has been performed an endless number of times by children from vastly different backgrounds in the decades since it made its way into popular folklore.
But what about the legend itself?
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Footnotes: | 1. | I’ve encountered the story using the name Bloody Mary, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Whales, Mary Wolf, and Black Aggie, just to name a few. |
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