Portraits Inspired by Spam

Photographer Christina De Middel turns spam (scam) emails into fictitious portraits:

Dear Sir / Madam

My name is Barrister Fagbemi Lateef i am a solicitor at law.I am the personal attorney to the Late Mr.Matthew,(Chief Executive Officer)of BIOOIL OIL SERVICING LTD,who till his untimely death was a contractor with Texaco Nigeria in port Harcourt,Nigeria.Whom here in after shall bereferred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2005, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along sagbama express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives,this has also proved unsuccessful.

I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and properties left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodged. Particularly, The African Development Bank Group Plc, where the deceased had a deposit valued at about US$3.5 Million has issued me a notice to provide the next-of-kin or have the account confiscated within the 6 weeks.Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years now,I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased to have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account valued at US$3.5 Million can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money. 50% to me and 45% to you then 5% for expenses. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to backup any claim we may make.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the lawThank you in advance for your anticipated co-operation.

Best Regards,
Barrister Fagbemi Lateef

Photography inspired by Spam, however, it gets turned into a photograph. For her project Poly-Spam, De Middel took her spam, carefully noted the details within, and created fictitious portraits of the imaginary senders.

1 Comment leave a comment below

  1. LOL, I would recommend you look into 419 Eater, a site dedicated to leading spammers on and getting them to waste time and money thinking they’ve hooked a big fat tuna.

    http://www.419eater.com/html/trophy_room.htm
    (NOTE: Some language is certain to be offensive to those who are “PC” sensitive, particularly gays. You’ve been warned.)

    This one is one of their best — they actually got the guy to spring for a hotel room…
    http://419eater.com/html/john_ademola.htm