If you haven’t seen the May 15, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, it’s worth finding a hardcopy (I can’t find an online version). In particular, the issue has two great articles:
First, how many times have you received emails from someone claiming to have millions of dollars waiting to be transferred out of one African country or another? If you help transfer the money out (via an overseas bank account, cash to pay off corrupt officials, etc), the claims go, you’ll receive a rich reward. I remember the first time I received an offer to that effect–I felt special. Anyway, I hadn’t heard of anyone who actually fell for the scam. The New Yorker found a gullible victim: for his troubles, he was recently sentanced to 2 years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $600,000. The story, “The Perfect Mark,” is a great read.
Second, The New Yorker covers facebook.com. Plenty of juicy details, including current ad rates (myspace gets $0.10 CPMs, while some of facebook’s inventory sells for as much as $4), traffic stats (about 10 billion page views per month), financing valuations (the company’s initial round, led by Accel in April, 2005, valued the company at about $100M; the recent $25M raise, led by Greylock and Meritech, valued facebook at $500M), and even details on a pending lawsuit against one of the company’s 22-year old executives.
For a different side of the Nigerian scam story, check out my book Tuesdays with Mantu, My Adventures with a Nigerian Con Artist (www.tuesdayswithmantu.com)
Left by rich on May 21st, 2006