4 ms·

Yeah, I felt the same. I can appreciate good writing, but from the first paragraph this screamed to me a story about how someone actually fell for one of those

Yeah, I felt the same. I can appreciate good writing, but from the first paragraph this screamed to me a story about how someone actually fell for one of those scams. Maybe I should be happy that it's so rare that people fall for them that it's noteworthy when someone does.

danso 14y ago
I think the unique thing about this story is that we don't know for sure that he "fell" for it...or, at least we don't know what he fell for, exactly. There's the simplest explanation: that he, like the archetypical older, single, naive man he seems to be, fell for an online scam. But most online scams don't end up with people in a foreign prison. The prosecutors argued successfully that he knew what he was doing, and the texts shown as evidence seem to indicate that he knew something. But how much was that something? Did he go through the scheme because he believed his online lover was real and that this was just a task to prove his worth to her (and get them some money)? Or did he know everything? That is, he needed money and he figured that, unlike all those other dumb drug mules, he could use his history of seeming like an aloof nerd and make the case that he "accidentally" smuggled drugs across the border. Layered on top of this is that we're reading this after he's been sentenced. He of course doesn't want to say anything revealing until he's out of jail, but he's retelling this crazy story even after it's failed in court. Which seems to indicate that he actually was bamboozled...and yet, what about those text messages? What about all those days in the airport, waiting for the e-ticket to Brussels that arrived too late? He never once was curious what was in the bag? Even the idiots in Dumb and Dumber looked in the bag. This story is fascinating because I'm sure anyone who knows the professor even on a casual basis could spend hours at the dinner table trying to untwist the WTFs. It's a particularly great story because there are so many loose ends, but they are ends that are loose for very understandable reasons.
- liquidcool 14y ago
  I thought the article said he did look in the bag, it was empty and he filled it with laundry? Presumably it was in the lining, handle, etc. But I was thinking the same as you about the rest, hard to know what to believe.
  - sgfc 14y ago
    I was wary of the elderly on-line scam defence tactic. He spent a significant time on the internet and was familiar with electronic communications. And it took me only a few seconds to find out that lived in L.A. at the time of the scam. That was less than basic due diligence. His "greatest dream" was to win a Nobel by factually verifying "through experimentation" an amazing prediction. Any great scientist must balance the odds of failure against the price of failure and he seems to have forgotten basic methods during that step in this particular experiment.
  - Terretta 14y ago
    Two kilos? Heavy bag, for being empty.
    - smackfu 14y ago
      I don't know if you would notice it. A typical lightweight carry-on piece of luggage is 3-5 kilos empty.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

danso 14y ago

I think the unique thing about this story is that we don't know for sure that he "fell" for it...or, at least we don't know what he fell for, exactly. There's the simplest explanation: that he, like the archetypical older, single, naive man he seems to be, fell for an online scam. But most online scams don't end up with people in a foreign prison. The prosecutors argued successfully that he knew what he was doing, and the texts shown as evidence seem to indicate that he knew something. But how much was that something? Did he go through the scheme because he believed his online lover was real and that this was just a task to prove his worth to her (and get them some money)? Or did he know everything? That is, he needed money and he figured that, unlike all those other dumb drug mules, he could use his history of seeming like an aloof nerd and make the case that he "accidentally" smuggled drugs across the border. Layered on top of this is that we're reading this after he's been sentenced. He of course doesn't want to say anything revealing until he's out of jail, but he's retelling this crazy story even after it's failed in court. Which seems to indicate that he actually was bamboozled...and yet, what about those text messages? What about all those days in the airport, waiting for the e-ticket to Brussels that arrived too late? He never once was curious what was in the bag? Even the idiots in Dumb and Dumber looked in the bag. This story is fascinating because I'm sure anyone who knows the professor even on a casual basis could spend hours at the dinner table trying to untwist the WTFs. It's a particularly great story because there are so many loose ends, but they are ends that are loose for very understandable reasons.

liquidcool 14y ago
I thought the article said he did look in the bag, it was empty and he filled it with laundry? Presumably it was in the lining, handle, etc. But I was thinking the same as you about the rest, hard to know what to believe.
- sgfc 14y ago
  I was wary of the elderly on-line scam defence tactic. He spent a significant time on the internet and was familiar with electronic communications. And it took me only a few seconds to find out that lived in L.A. at the time of the scam. That was less than basic due diligence. His "greatest dream" was to win a Nobel by factually verifying "through experimentation" an amazing prediction. Any great scientist must balance the odds of failure against the price of failure and he seems to have forgotten basic methods during that step in this particular experiment.
- Terretta 14y ago
  Two kilos? Heavy bag, for being empty.
  - smackfu 14y ago
    I don't know if you would notice it. A typical lightweight carry-on piece of luggage is 3-5 kilos empty.
deleted 14y ago
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