Fun from the archives - a couple of years back an eBay chancer advertised the following (couldn't resist some pointed comments):
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wwtbam hangman gamebox questions quiz machine answers
please read the full auction.. i know it goes on a bit but you can make a lot of real money from this auction.... unlike most auctions on ebay!! <I'm hooked already>
in eight minutes i won £30.... and can do this as often as i please... look at the video for proof. You can get to this level with a bit of patience and a small investment
in this auction we <thejteam2005 from Tipton - 'we'?> are selling 1000 questions <That many! And all for just £25!> from the very popular gamebox machine. the game box is a very popular machine and is in countless pubs up and down the country. .................So, you are getting 1000 questions, with answers <answers as well - glad that's mentioned, was beginning to think this might be some craftily worded con>, ... being sent to your house on a CD. You then learn the answers (believe me, you learn them quickly when you know you could be earning £200 during your lunch hour!) <!!!!!> and you go for a wander to your local pub... pound coins in hand!
I bought this machine a couple of weeks ago and have played it for about 3-4 hours a day, everyday... I then go around various pubs and basically play until the machine is empty <how very wise

, School of Brewis>, most of the time i go with a mate or work colleague and try to be subtle about the whole thing!
When i put this auction up last time i got quite a few sales, but i also received lots of emails where people were basically calling me a liar <really!>... so, i've made a video of me hitting the jackpot on my current favourite game, Hangman 2. The video is only done via my small camera, so excuse the quality <blurry - apt metaphor>... but as you can see, it shows me doing exactly as i promise... winning money!
If you require me winning the money in a high resolution format then please let me know and I will email you the video, but the full file is well over 100meg, and is massive.. low res means less memory which in turn means quicker download speeds so people can see the video.
Hangman 2 is extremely popular in the pubs and i have chosen this particular game as it can also operate as a stand alone game (i.e. it is not always on a console which includes cluedo and wwtbam etc).. so that should mean you will win even more money!... I wont go on about what this CD will allow you to achieve, i'll let you decide upon that. <erm, think I've decided already, but what the hell, let's have a look at the video anyway>
click this link to see the video, then click buy it now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mfqD8j-6qM
<well that seems genuine enough

>
this auction will allow you to win vast amounts of money from machines. I have won nearly £2700 since i bought the machine.. my overdraft is nearly cleared!! <note how both of these statements may be totally true yet still be completely irrelevant to the advertised potential to profit from this purchase>
I have no doubt that some people who have read this far down the page will be thinking "wait a minute, I can buy this CD for £25 and then copy it.. then sell my copied version for £20". I suppose there is nothing stopping you from doing this on Ebay <except perhaps being perceived as a scambag con artist with a pitch like this>, which is a risk I will be willing to take. however, to protect my interests I will not leave feedback until i am confident that you will not try such underhand tactics <eBay sellers and underhand tactics, perish the thought>. I am the only person on ebay to offer this service <serin-fuckin-dipity> and it has taken my many many days to compile this CD, please bear this <and nothing else> in mind before you bid!
Ok, that's it. just to say that it can take up to 7 days for the CD to arrive and I do not accept paypal. I accept nochex and cheque/postal order/ bank transfer. If you can only pay by Paypal then please do not bid. I do not allow collections <

>, so please do not ask.
finally, in order to win the amount of money I have already won (and more) you will need to have a decent amount of general knowledge <some sort of catch here?> and patience. The good thing about Quiz machines is that if you get the answer correct then the machine has to pay out. <I'm wilting>
With fruit machines the outcome is already pre-determined by the machine and the programme it is running from. <and never the twain shall meet, phew>
Of course there are some slight drawbacks with all 'initiatives' <inverted quotes indeed - Freudian slip of a guilty mind?> like this one <oh, pray tell>. The hopper (that's the part of the machine which dishes out your winnings) only has a float of around £140 <Aye, every time I empty a hopper I think to myself 'If it hadn't been for that pesky small hopper I'd have gotten a grand out of it'>. So once you have won around £100 then walk away from the machine and come back a day or so later (once it has been refilled) <lovely>. If you live near a sea-side resort (like blackpool) then you are on to a winner. I am going to Blackpool in 2 weeks and am told, by a friend who lives in the area, that there are over 70 of these machines... each with over £100 in their floats.... oh happy days!!
oh, and if you go into google and search the pub review sites, that will bring up some pubs in your area which have this machine. But to be honest <not for the first time?> i found most of my pubs by just taking a day off work <advertising coprawriter?> and walking around.
Note to Ebay:
This method is not illegal, you are merely revising general knowledge questions, and those questions happen to be on a machine in a pub <cool: cite this guy when you next see your Newquay proprietor mate>. There is nothing illegal about what I am doing! <nothing straight up either> I even asked my local Police officer <wish I had one of those> about it and he said that there is nothing illegal about selling general knowledge questions <as an aside, what would a copper know about general knowledge?>.... so please do not remove this auction
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And there you have it. Another remarkable 'once in a lifetime opportunity'.
So intrigued was I as to what questions this scam-p had compiled I threw caution to the wind. First question on the list: What type of creature was Mickey Mouse?
I jest of course, but I do wonder what level of question difficulty this bumper list contained.
I also wonder if a member of this forum was responsible for this eBay effort (I have my suspicions). And for those that did chuck a pony at this, then there's no doubt that they are now living a Harold Robbins lifestyle on the French Riviera... if you could possibly believe the hype.