[nabs-l] Petition: Elimination of Background Checks due to Budget Cuts

[T. Joseph Carter]

I wonder if perhaps either nobody took my question seriously, or 
nobody knows (or knows anyone who knows) for certain that it is 
legitimate.  

Given the size of NABS and the connections to an organization the 
size of the NFB as a whole, that raises some red flags.  DPPC is a 
Massachusetts state agency.  Where is the NFB based?  Additionally, 
the message doesn't look like the typical sort of message a state 
agency would release.

If you need money for something like this, you have your grant 
writers ... write grant proposals.  You don't just ask random 
outsiders to help you find the money.  Something's doesn't look right 
here, that's all I'm saying.

Joseph


On Sat, May 09, 2009 at 09:53:19AM -0400, Serena wrote:
> Oh, so a nasty scam!  Have we figured out if the petition is real or one 
> of these scams yet?
>
> Serena
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "T. Joseph Carter" 
> <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"  
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 5:12 AM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Petition: Elimination of Background Checks due to  
> Budget Cuts
>
>
>> It goes something like this...
>>
>> I am some random person, either an official of some kind, a banker, a  
>> lawyer, a widow, or something.  I am writing to you about an arbitrary  
>> large amount of money with lots of zeroes as a number (repeated as 
>> words in parentheses).  Please help me do this good deed and help 
>> yourself in the process.  Contact me at this phone number (which I 
>> won't mention is a disposable mobile phone..)
>>
>> You do, and they get you to authorize bank transfers and there's a 
>> small fee that will be deducted from your account.  Your life's 
>> savings, essentially.
>>
>> Congratulations, sucker, someone conveniently outside US jurisdiction 
>> just ripped you off and is laughing all the way to the bank where they 
>> quickly shift the money around a bit so it cannot be recovered by the 
>> time you manage to do something about it.
>>
>> Many variants exist because the original was so formulaic that even 
>> though the "story", currency, and value constantly changed, people 
>> wrote programs (and not even terribly smart programs) to spot one of 
>> these things a mile away.  The original message kind of resembles a 419 
>> message.  (419 is the country code for calling Nigeria, by the way, 
>> though modern variants purport to be from many countries.)
>>
>> Joseph
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 07, 2009 at 06:24:32PM -0400, Serena wrote:
>>> What's a "four one nine email?"
>>>
>>> Serena
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "T. Joseph Carter"  
>>> <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"  
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 6:15 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Petition: Elimination of Background Checks due 
>>> to Budget Cuts
>>>
>>>
>>>> Are we sure this isn't a 419 (four one nine) email?  Yes, I'm 
>>>> seriously asking.
>>>>
>>>> Joseph
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, May 07, 2009 at 02:02:40AM -0700, Rob Lambert wrote:
>>>>> ELIMINATION OF BACKGROUND CHECKS DUE TO BUDGET CUTS
>>>>> We are deeply
>>>>> concerned that as of April 1, the DPPC (Disabled Persons Protection
>>>>> Commission), because of budget cuts, had to stop allowing employers to
>>>>> tap into its database of complaints to do background checks on the
>>>>> people they want to hire to work with the disabled. It has been
>>>>> reported that the DPPC is applying for a federal grant to continue the
>>>>> background checks, but until money comes from either a grant or another
>>>>> source, people with disabilities could potentially be victims of more
>>>>> abuse and neglect than in the past. We urge you to help the DPPC find
>>>>> the money - $60,000 (sixty thousand) - to continue providing this
>>>>> essential service.