No less than one hour after reading this story did I receive an e-mail from Belgium soliciting my help (read: money) to "handle a strictly confidential transaction which involves a large sum of money."

But my response to the junk mail was somewhat different from that of Rupert Sessions, a 73-year-old Florida retiree. See, I just hit the delete button. Sessions, on the other hand, blew $300,000 on this new business proposition:

There was, of course, no $21.5 million. Sessions, a 73-year-old retired electronics specialist, had been fleeced by what may be the most widespread fraud on Earth.

He had poured more than $300,000 into a Nigerian 419 scam, the label describing the legendary e-mails that promise millions but deliver nothing.

He sold stock, got a second mortgage and hocked his two cars. For more than a year, he gave virtual strangers every dollar he had. He bought them gold pens, cell phones and a laptop computer. Sessions spent so much that he now fears losing his home.

"It's all gone," he said Monday. "Everything."

It never ceases to amaze me how gullible and stupid some people can be. Read the whole story. Sad.