Customer Reviews

Tuesdays with Mantu: My Adventures with a Nigerian Con Artist

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I met Rich when we worked together on a commercial he wrote about a year ago. We spent many happy times in the post suite hearing about his exploits with some very nice Nigerian fellows. He brought in a sheaf of his emails once and I read several out loud to the room full of clients and co-workers. I had trouble reading them, not becasue I was educated in America, but because they were so damn funny I couldn't see through the tears! I could not believe the depths to which both he and his Nigerian pals would sink to get a mere million. He told us all that he was going to get the manuscript published soon, and we politely smiled, gave him a "heh heh..." and averted direct eye contact. You never know what will set these guys off! Well, he did it! I am proud of you Rich, and I bought the book very soon after it came out, so cross me off the hit-list, okay? Really... I did. No, REEALLY! Okay, I will show it to you. Meet me at International Airpot in Nigeria, in the VIP lounge next to the goat pen next Tuesday and I'll prove it to you!

WARNING: This book is funny. Damn funny.

Mr. Siegel takes on several Nigerian internet con men by beating them at their own game. His tactics are both wickedly smart and wickedly funny.

So be prepared. You will laugh out loud. People will wonder what you are reading. They will want to check it out. Then they will laugh out loud too and try to take the book from you.

Don't say you weren't warned.

A very funny book of actual emails the author exchanged with real con artists over the Internet! It's laugh out loud funny --Siegel goes to amazingly imaginative lengths to con the con artists, making them believe stories that are increasingly more and more outrageous. A great read which I enthusiastically recommend to anyone who likes to laugh. --A SATISFIED CUSTOMER

'Tuesdays With Mantu' is comic relief for anyone who's fed up with Internet scams or any scams for that matter. You'll probably finish it in one sitting and want to read it out loud to anyone nearby. Rich Siegel is the rightful heir to Laslo Toth.

Nigerian swindlers promise us untold millions, all the while trying to stick their greasy cyber fingers into our bank accounts. Armed with his wits and a Hotmail address, and with an outrageous cast of American icons to back him up (even Mr. Potter of the Bedford Falls Savings and Loan takes a turn), Siegel fights back. Larry King should read this book. Oprah should FEATURE this book! Bottom line, Rich Siegel deserves a medal as the John Wayne of counter-spammers. I was hoarse with laughter after the first few pages, shared the first section with a friend by phone, and finished the entire thing in a ninety minutes. If you're sick of spam, there's no question you'll enjoy this as much as I did.

Siegel takes us on a hilarious journey through the dark arteries of cyber-sneakery. The book's satisfying on a couple levels: 1) It's freaking funny. 2) Thank God somebody did it to these *&!+@!!

Clearly, the internet has been a great gift to our unsavory brethren. Not to mention comedy writers.

By now, anyone with a pulse knows that the internet cafes of Lagos, Nigeria are teeming with con artists who spend their days trying to separate the unwary from their hard earned savings. Many, if not most, of the victims are Americans and more often than not the transfer of money is accomplished through the handy services of Western Union.
Tuesdays with Mantu is a riotously funny book in which the author, Rich Siegel, chronicles his somewhat perverse exchanges of e-mail with a series of clueless Nigerian scammers. The amazing aspect of this entire endeavor is the fact that none of the scammers ever realize they're being put on even though putting on people is the stock and trade of their own livelihoods.
This book succeeds in demonstrating the craveness of the human spirit in a very entertaining fashion. Readers with cynical minds will find Tuesdays with Mantu particularly wondrous in its content. A great gift idea!

It's true. I simply bought the book as a show of good faith. I simply supplied the author with my bank account numbers and he filled my savings account with half a million dollars.

Something about some poor bastard in jail with accounts frozen Nicaragua or something. Anyway, what an easy way to make a quick half mill.

P.S. Rich later told me if I bought two books, I would have made a whole million. So take advantage, Buy two. What a good county.

This book has a lot of white space. It took me an hour and a half to read it. It's a bit repetitive in the last third. It's true value lies in it being an original source. How many of us would take the time to pull the leg of the ubiquitous Nigerian scammer? It is clear that the author did not start by thinking that he would write a book. He scammed the scammers for his own entertainment, then shared the fun with us. One note of caution, the scammers are both more sophisticated than Mantu and they remain dangerous. You should not try to replicate the author's feats of foolishness.

It's not as funny as many other successful scambaits I have read. He does keep them on the hook though, which is the whole point. This book is rated PG, and does not contain toilet humor. The scambaiting tactics used here are a bit easy on the scammer(s), in my opinion.