Another Report on the Pen Pal/Merchandise Con Game

Another Report on the
Pen Pal/Merchandise Con Game

Continuing the report posted in September, 2007

You can't trust everyone you meet on the big, wide, friendly Web! The con artists are now working the pen pal sites, entrapping young girls into e-mail friendships that result in thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise landing in their living rooms.

"MY COUSIN forwarded your article to me about Deanna Ludwig and her issue with an international pen-pal from Ghana involving her daughter," writes Susan (last name withheld for privacy), "and I wanted to share my experience with you and your readers.

"I, too, have a daughter who is 16, and this past week we have been receiving packages. My daughter signed up for a pen-pal on Penpals.net in January, and then this character from Ghana contacted her. After reading the article, my chin had hit the floor in amazement of the similarities. So far, he has not began calling our home, but getting my phone number will be quite easy for him to do as I am published in the phone book.

"I am at a loss as to what to do, and have done everything in accordance with the advice you had given to Diana, however, I am still receiving thousands of dollars of merchandise every day, and cannot afford to send these things back. Most of the manufacturers don’t seem to want their merchandise back, or they’re just telling me to just keep it. My local law enforcement agency does not know what to do, and the state police told me to have a talk with my child about the Internet safety rules (which I did four years ago), but here I am today with packages piling up in my front room! I called the local paper and no one is interested in running an article. I live in a VERY small town of approximately 1800 people, mostly farmers.

"As a single mother of three teenage daughters, I am quite concerned about all of this. The scary part is that I DO monitor my girls on the Internet and I fully supported my daughter in getting an international pen pal and actually sat with her while she completed the enrollment process. I would have never imagined in a million years that this sort of thing could happen to us. It’s bizarre, to say the least."

_______________________

Editor’s Note: My articles on this topic seem to be the only discussion on the Web, except for the site I linked to in my first article that published Deanna’s story after I urged her to go to the media with this problem. I suspect this scheme is happening more than anyone yet knows, especially since none of the "officials" seem to know how to handle this kind of problem.

Upon Susan’s request, I connected her to Deanna, but I have not heard from either of them since then. While I will publish additional reports on this topic if they are sent for publication, please don’t ask me for advice on what to do about it because even the legal authorities don’t seem to know how to handle it. I am simply trying to caution parents everywhere to discourage their daughters from ANY kind of pen pal relationship or other personal communication with ANYONE in Ghana or Nigeria.

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