404 Falls for 419

Now, I am not the kind of person who says things like "got what [they] deserve" or believes that things happen to people only because they somehow let them, but this story is so... so far out there, that I have to admit, I don't really know what else to say on the matter:

Johannesburg authorities arrested four people believed to be involved in a 419 scam which not only defrauded an American woman out of $60,000, but also kidnapped her and held her hostage for a month before she managed to break a window and escape. The most bizarre aspect of the story is that they kidnapped this genius by telling her - a year after they took her $60k - that she'd won $1.06 million and needed to come to Johannesburg to claim it. And bring $2000.

Again, I don't believe the woman deserved to be robbed or kidnapped, but how damned stupid can one person be before we admit that the shenanigans in which s/he become embroiled can literally be chalked-up to sheer stupidity and call it a day?

© C Harris Lynn, 2010