It turned out that this magnificent tale was as spun as a gyroscope. Instead of friendly natives and a pleasant climate, the migrants who had given up their old lives in America found nothing but enormous expanses of dense jungle, laden with poisonous animals and tropical diseases. There was no native king, nor was there anything remotely like a civilisation present. Of the 240 travellers, 180 died, either from the hostile environment, or by their own hand. Many committed suicide upon realising that they had practically plunged themselves into Hades.
That was probably one of the greatest hoaxes in all of Western history. I can't say much about Eastern history, because I know little to nothing about it. In my defence, Chinese history is mixed in way too much with gods and magical beings. Seriously, there isn't a piece of Chinese history that I know of, that does not include people defying the laws of physics or having inhuman cunning. Anyway, this was the fictional nation of Poyais, created by the evil mind of a man with a horrible name.
His name was Gregor MacGregor. Seriously, what kind of parents name their child Gregor MacGregor? It's basically the same as calling your kid "Dick Dickinson" or "Dingle Berry". What the hell were they thinking? I can imagine why he wanted to become a soldier. In the military, I don't think they referred to you by your first name, so MacGregor was spared the embarrassment.
I would've had my name changed. Wouldn't you?
The best part about the Poyasian scam was that it didn't end there. I would expect that due to the massive death rate and inaccessibility at the time, the news that Poyais did not really exist never reached the mainland. So MacGregor went on to sell land and property(that obviously, was non-existent) to more and more people desperate for a better life. Real-estate agents(or their equivalent of the era) began investing in Poyais. It became so profitable, that other people began opening rival Poyasian Offices to lease land.
...
I have probably gotten a bunch of facts wrong here, but the gist is there. Gregor MacGregor scammed a lot of people.
Which sort of brings me to a second point. People are really gullible. Not that those poor souls in the 1800's could have done anything about it. But people of today really have no excuse when it comes to certain things. Take those Nigerian scams for example. People basically get an email from a guy that is about to get a lot of inheritance, or receive a large sum of money in one way or another, and that he will split some of it with you. But, there's aways a catch. Often, the guy will say that he needs some money for some purpose before he can be entitled to his inheritance.
Basically, it goes like this: I'm going to inherit a million dollars. If you help me, I'll give you 20% of the sum. But I'll need $8000 first.
So basically, the victim of the email scam thinks that, oh well, eight thousand is hardly anything compared to what I will get after that. And so, he pays this deposit, only to never hear from the scammer again.
Now, you'd think, what kind of an idiot would fall for something like that? Why would anyone literate enough to use a computer, be unable to see through the obvious lies(guy from Nigeria asking a complete stranger in a different country to share his inheritance?)? It is just, really difficult to believe that financially responsible adults with $8000 to spare can get tricked in such a way.
But then again, why am I so surprised? I go to internet forums, those hives of idiocy and breeding grounds for retards.
The point is, that no one would be talking about Nigerian Scams if they did not happen, and Nigerian Scams would not be happening unless they are still effective. They are most definitely still working, which means that there are most definitely people getting scammed out of their savings.
Oh, and don't even get me started on chain letters.
-Joe