kitten spam

Sadly, ratio of kittens to owners in Russia is out of balance, so kittens must look for owners in other nation. Have you desire sweet, clean, obedient and purebred kitten for companion on cold day? Have you problem with mouse? Here is lucky day for you! Respond immediately for correspondence with fine Russian kittens. No obligation!

Boring real interpretation--this is almost certainly a version of the "buy these fine dogs from Nigeria" scams which have been growing over the last few years.

But I like Kip's version of reality better. I usually do.

I never heard of "buy these fine dogs from Nigeria" scams. Does that work? Why would anyone buy a dog from another country when there are so many nice dogs in shelters right here?

Sorry I didn't notice your question.

I think that the puppy scams are generally "we have these purebred puppies but we can't keep them because [we're moving | we're poor | the rebels are closing in]"--in other words, appeal to the victim's sense of pity as well as their love of puppies.

I had one of my Russian-speaking co-workers* translate this for me. It says pretty much what you would expect--pedigreed kittens for sale, Scotch-fold ears, they're wonderful and loving and energetic and they have all their paperwork. 15,000 rubles for the set (~$600). Call Lena at ...

Which boils down to "send us 15,000 rubles and we will send you fuck-all, sucker".

*Out of ~10 people in the development side of my department, four are native Russian speakers.