sixoclock Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Joel is not a Liberian Prince, but glad to see that there are still nice people out there... Joel and Ben deserve some cupcakes How a suspicious Facebook message from Liberia sparked an unlikely partnership By Steve Hartman CBS News March 29, 2018 MONROVIA, LIBERIA -- No one likes internet scammers, but in Ogden, Utah, we found a guy with a most profound distaste. Just wait until you hear how 33-year-old Ben Taylor responded to one random Facebook message: "My name is Joel from Liberia, West Africa. I need some assistance from you. Business or financial assistance dat (sic) will help empower me." Ben insincerely responded, "How can I help?" "I just wanted to go down this rabbit hole and see what were the tricks that they use to get people," Ben said. But there's no way he would have guessed what happened next. The journey began when Joel, in Africa, proposed a business partnership. He asked Ben to mail used electronics to an address in New Jersey. "I looked it up on Google Earth," Ben said. "There were broken down cars all over the place." Ben wasn't falling for that. Instead, he proposed a different partnership. He lied to Joel, and told him he owned a photography business and could use some pretty pictures. "So how about a sunset? How about a nice Liberian sunset?" Ben asked. We asked Ben if he planned on paying for any photos once he got them. "I said, 'Yeah, if it's good. If I like it, sure,'" Ben replied. "I figured the more time of theirs that I can waste, the less time that they'd have to spend ripping me or other people off." Eventually, Joel sent two sunset photos -- we think. Turns out scenic photography wasn't exactly Joel's strong suit, not that it mattered. "I told him, 'Hey, this was great," Ben said. "I told him, 'This is a good job, but I think you need a little bit better of a camera.'" So Ben actually spent $60 to buy and mail him a shiny red one. "Yeah, so I'm investing my money," Ben said. "My family thinks I'm crazy because I'm interacting with this guy in Liberia." But Joel didn't think it was crazy at all. He wrote, "I've decided 2 really commit n devote myself 2 dis business, what other pictures you want me 2 take?" Ben replied, "We've gotta work on your photography." Eventually, Joel did get better, which posed a big problem. "When he put in the work I thought, 'Oh no, now I've got to figure out a way to compensate Joel for these pictures or I'm going to be the scammer,'" Ben said. So Ben took to YouTube to sell a booklet he made using the pictures. He called it "By D Grace of God," a phrase borrowed from Joel's messages. The plan was to sell a few dozen copies to friends and family, until sales exploded. "People from around the world and places that I've never even heard of were buying Joel's book," Ben said. Soon they raised $1,000. Ben told Joel he could have half, and the rest, well, Joel would get that too, but with a catch. Ben told him he had to donate that $500 to charity. With that intention in mind, Ben wired the money. At this point you need to know that $500 is close to a year's salary in Liberia. So really, it's kind of ridiculous to expect an unemployed, impoverished hustler to just give all that money away. Fact is, Ben never thought he would. Until another batch of pictures arrived. There were book bags and notebooks. He cleaned out a market, rented a cab to hall the loot and blessed five schools with abundance. Joel lived up to be more savior than scammer. "He came through," Ben said. "He showed me that there was a different side to him. So here we are." Here we are, at the beginning of an unlikely partnership. Forged from doubt and distrust, but destined to change the world, and bring it a whole lot closer together. SOURCE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dMog Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 yea some random diplomat just emailed me to tell me if I give him 360 dollars to clear a parcel from customs, he will deliver 10.5 million usd to me personally...beers are on me...I just hope my brother never got the same email... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pc71520 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Nothing but SCAMS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitorio Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 For me it is hard to believe. Just look for a charity organization and donate to it. Even you can deducted it from US IRS. What better way. It is a win win situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowledge-Spammer Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 part 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vitorio Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Great video @knowledge but I still believe this one is one in a million. Still consider the best way is to donate to charity of your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowledge-Spammer Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 8 hours ago, vitorio said: Great video @knowledge but I still believe this one is one in a million. Still consider the best way is to donate to charity of your choice. i added part 2 video so people can see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogs Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Only because of the scammers it becomes very difficult to locate the real good people and there are plenty of good people around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatman Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Who can be fooled by a scammer? Someone who's thinking that humans are good, and the atomic bomb was made by Tooth Fairy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatman Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 10 minutes ago, 0bin said: Everyone. Our human nature need to believe... "Prompt" or "Google Translate" did not help you too well. I did not say "no one can be fooled", but only naives people can be fooled. Those who believe that all people are "warm and gentle". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatman Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, 0bin said: Ops, I just read without using anything... I am sorry if my comment create a problem. My apologies. I always said that a real man is that one who can say ”I am sorry”. You just proved this to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luisam Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 2 hours ago, Chatman said: Who can be fooled by a scammer? Someone who's thinking that humans are good, and the atomic bomb was made by Tooth Fairy. I guess that the easiest victims of scams are stupid and greedy people and looks there are still lots ofhtem in the Internet. In any case, the first time I encountered the "Nigerian Scam" was more than 20 years ago, and I'm still gettin an average of 2 - 3 "nigerian scam" mails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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