spam or not? "Valentin"

[jazzyfringe]

I just got this email. Is this spam...? I've checked this up on the Internet and most just think it's spam and we should just ignore it. Looks like this guy has sent such email back in 2000. If it were really spam, how come he's not been caught by the authorities and how come he's still sending such email now? On the other hand, I feel a little sorry for this guy...
What do you think?


>From: "Valentin"<[email protected]>
>Reply-To: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Request from Russia
>Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 15:47:04 +0300
>
>Dear Friend,
>
>Please excuse me for any inconvience caused by this message.
>
>My name is Valentin. I'm a student and I live with my mother in the city of
>Kaluga, Russia. My mother is invalid. She cannot see and she receives
>pension from the government very rare which is not enough even for
>medications.
>
>I work very hard every day to earn money and to be able to take care of my
>mother, but my salary is very small, because my studies still not finished.
>
>Due to the crisis our authorities stoped gas in our district and now we
>cannot heat our home. I don't know what to do, because the winter is coming
>and the temperature in the street can be lower than minus 30 degrees
>Celsius. I'm very afraid that the temperature inside our home can be very
>cold and we will not be able to survive.
>
>Thanks to the internet access at our library I was able to find several
>e-mail addresses, including yours and I decided to appeal to you with a
>prayer in my heart for a small help.
>
>If you have any old electric heater, warm clothes, electric boiler,
>sleeping bag, high-calories food, vitamins, medicines from cold weather,
>any hygiene-products, I will be very grateful to you if you could send it
>to our postal address which is:
>
>Valentin Mihaylin,
>Ryleeva Ulitsa, 6-45.
>Kaluga. 248030,
>Russia.
>
>If you think that it would be better or easier for you to help with some
>money, please write me back and I will give you details for sending it
>safely if you agree. This way to help is very good because the necessities
>here are not very expensive.
>
>I hope to hear from you very soon and I pray that you will be able to help
>us to survive this winter. I also hope very much that this hard situation
>will get better very soon in our country.
>
>I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2005. I'm sending to you
>many thanks in advance for your kind understanding. Please excuse me, once
>more, for any inconvience I could cause you by sending this message.
>
>God Bless You,
>
>Valentin and my mother Elena.
>Kaluga. Russia.

[ridiculous]

This sounds ridiculous. But why not do him a favour and alert the Russian welfare people.

[joop]

That's spam for sure. Just delete it.

[Bafana]

Send money

[joop]

LOL

[Russian Governement]

Its the Russian welfare ministry appealing for help :!:

[jazzyfringe]

Russian welfare ministry appealing for help?
Well well, looks like the email is a hoax but it's a bit more to it than that.
I think this guy "Valentin" could actually be very poor when he started sending this email appealing for help. Then he received parcels and parcels and money from all around, which made him realize that he can actually do this every winter so he does not really have to work at all. Thus, he did the same thing over and over again. Besides, in the email he said the government has shut down gas in his district which is a very big issue that it must be reported in the newspapers, but we didn't find anything about shutting down gas in Kaluga in the Russian news or anywhere. So the Russian media and the people of Kaluga, Russia, are very aware of this guy but he's not caught by the authorities only until he and his friend had sent an email threat for which they were tracked down and jailed for about a year. And this was back in 2000. And so they're out again. Those who haven't heard of this will either ignore the email or be a very kind and generous soul not hesitating to help...
Now if this were to happen in Singapore, the guy would certainly be jailed I bet. Cos not only it's shameful but it's mainly lying and taking advantage of people's sympathy and money... And Singapore is so damn small anyways. But who knows, he could be helping out other poor desperate people himself. If that were true, imagine, he may actually have a good intention... hmmm... but of course, who would think that nowadays...?
Anyway, for those who can read Russian, here's the link I found:
www.oxpaha.ru/view.asp?390

[Sceptical Austrian]

Today I was fortunate to hear from Valentin, too. I don't regret having looked up at google first.
Without wanting to sound too reproachful, his English is actually almost too good for an underprivileged person, and I do wonder whether he would have been able to afford electricity for the electric heater.
And - where is the closest internet access from his village?
Besides, 'students.edu' does not really sound like a university institution.
I think, this strange, but cunning guy, wants to overwhelm people by an emotional overload of pity and guilt, in order to separate their minds from their reason.
Dear Valentin, if you can read me: I am a student, too, and I also work very hard for my studies, even if I live in Austria!

[Susy]

I have just received the same mail from Russian poor boy named Valentin. It was send to my office (and to all Padova University, Italy). I answered him to give me more details: his age, the name of his school, a photo of him and his mother, only to show me he is a real poor boy and not maybe a rich, bored student who enjoys cheating people...!
I took some information about Kaluga, that is not a small village, but a town with a University...
Then I found a lot of forums talking about him... so I think his story is not true...