Gary alerted me to this article about a Harvard professor who was scammed by Nigerian 419ers and in turn scammed his friends and colleagues.
My own experience with 419ers is minimal (I've gotten, and deleted, several emails from various scammers.) I was worried about them when I bought my car last year, but that was primarily after reading dozens of scam-the-scammer email exchanges. I've read about people being scammed out of thousands of dollars, but getting the money from friends is new to me.
I had a great idea for cat food when I was a kid: Mouse in a Can. Apparently someone had another great idea for feeding cats, but actually went to the trouble to patent it. I present to you: Bird trap and cat feeder.
I've been working on a lot of patents at work lately. But none as interesting as this one....