I recently received some angry e-mails, such as “kiss my a#! ya lying scumbag conartist loser” and“F#*@ OFF!!.”

No, they’re not from a bunch of irate Republicans making editorial comments about my columns, but in reply to a scam letter from Lady Rita Mosley. It appears some impostrous villain gained access to my e-mail account and sent off thousands of e-mails that are a variation of “Nigerian Scams.”

“YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR TELLING A FALSE STORY IN YOUR EMAIL. BECAUSE OF THIS, YOU SHOULD EAT ELEPHANT S+$! AND DIE FOR REAL,” answered another person in all caps.

A lesson I’ve learned from this is never have a password that is the same as the account name - a common practice that the less trustworthy among us are aware of.

The fake e-mail read, “Dear Beloved, Here writes Lady Rita Mosleys wife of late Sir David Mosley, suffering from cancerous ailment without a child. My late husband deposited the sum of Twenty Million Pounds (20,000,000.00 Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling) derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market with his bank here in UK. Recently, my doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous problems I am suffering from. With this hard reality that has befallen my family, and me I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to help me use this gift which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, orphans, and needy financially. You can contact me through my personal email address: ritmley2007uk_77@yahoo.co.uk

Rita Mosley

Anyone answering the Yahoo e-mail address is asked for their bank account number so Rita can make a deposit. Instead, the cash flow is reversed. In some cases, they ask for some money up front.

Even without the weak grasp of proper English displayed by Rita, it is hard to believe anyone would fall for the e-mail — and yet some do.

“I think you are a scammer by the name Rita Diatta that you scam my husband with more than 1500 dlls one year ago, I will report you to the chamber of commerce,” responded one person.

Another from England wrote, “please tell me if this is a fraud or what because i know you probably want money up front and i'm a single mom living in projects and can barely make it. lisa mcdonald.”

I e-mailed Lisa immediately, telling her the letter was a scam.

The Website scamtypes.com notes, “Those of you who are regular readers of ScamTypes .com will know that the most popular name that we have seen used in these scamming emails is that of (Lady) Peggy Morrison.

“Just recently, we have received further emails from ‘Catherine Levett’ and ‘Rita Mosley‘ who, strangely enough, live at the same address as Peggy. All have a dead husband and a cancerous ailment.”

Searching on the Internet, I’ve found a number of variations of the letter sent from my e-mail. One reads, “My Attorney is Barrister Franklyn Marcucci. Do email him at once and let him commence with the transfer modalities, his email address is: franklin_legal @yahoo.co.uk, you can reach him through his telephone number, which is +447024079121,+448704780215 and you can also contact me through his telephone number but note that you must ensure that this is not disclosed to anybody until the money has been successfully transferred to you because of security reasons on my side.”