SUBJECT: GREETINGS

I know all of you are familiar with the letter that frequently drops in your junk box from someone (??) from somewhere (Africa) asking for your help moving their money out of the country. I used to open these just out of curiosity (and against my better judgement) because I was so intrigued that these people actually thought anyone would fall for this. Well, the other day I was searching the want ads looking for work when I came across an ad for a music teacher. "Perfect", I thought, and I answered right away. Mind you, the ad was pretty simple; enough so that it never entered my mind that I might be falling for the proverbial "oldest trick in the book". Imagine my surprise when I received the response to my email. It went like this:

"Hello,
Thank you for the email,i want my kid for the tutorial. A boy of 14yrs, more so for accepting the offer and its okay by me,I have madecontacts with my son concerning the

arrangement of the tutoring which
he told me piano or guitar is ok by him and i want you to know that iam going to pay
for 2 month,which should be $50.00/hr(which i have in mind) And am
planning that you should be teaching him 2hour, twice a week,so get back to me with the total fee... so i want you to know that i will be sending
you a check for the payment of the tutorial and the rest of thepayment will be sent to the Nanny to take care of him while he isthere for the lesson, so as soon as you get the check cash you

will deduct cost of tutoring of the lesson and send the remainingbalance to my Guardian that will be taking care of the kid Viawestern union. Regarding this, kindly send your full information torecieve the payment so it can be made out on-time. So hope i can trust

you that you will teach my son good academics and some moral respects
so that they can be good to their self in the future, i hope i can
count on you

for the tutorial and the money to be sent to theGuardian.Thanks and waiting to read from you. kindly get back to me with the necessary details needed such as,

NAME:
ADDRESS:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER:
DIRECT PHONE NUMBER.

Will be waiting to read your mail soon.
Regards,"

No, I'm not kidding. Needless-to-say, I was a little angry that I had wasted my time, but more embarassed that I had fallen into the trap so completely unaware. Luckily, my brilliant husband crafted a reply for me to return. For your reading enjoyment, I'm publishing it here for all to see.

"Thankyou good sir for recent reply of the tutoring of kid. I have experience in teach piano to full extent of talent of skills and instruction. I would gladly forward the requested proceeds but first must comply with recent wishes of Madaam of the house. Her full departure rendered nearly $200.00 daily as a per diem for teaching boy of 14 yrs. I will gladly receive money order or like equivalent in gold bullion for lessons of tutoring music instruction. It is with my warmest regards and best wishes that I hope to teach boy of 14 years and would enjoy further instruction with guardian. (EXPLITIVE - this is a family friendly blog)!

Love, Music Tutor"

There! Now I feel a little better! Thanks, Tom, for defending my honor!