Misfortune for some can be entertaining to the rest of us. Microwaved poodles and death-by-sexual-dalliance often have such a ridiculous aura about them that we tend not to identify with the victims because the stupidity inferred precludes any feelings of sympathy.

Something similar informs many people's reaction to reports of yet another incident of oreore fraud, a swindle carried out over the telephone wherein the caller extracts money from the receiver of the call for alleged improprieties committed by a close relative of said receiver. Initially, the con artists impersonated children or grandchildren of the targeted victims. "Oreore," which translates as "It's me, it's me," is the first thing the con artist says when someone picks up the phone. If the intended victim doesn't hang up, the caller plays out his little drama -- "I hit a yakuza car with my car and if I don't pay the guy 2 million yen he's going to break my legs. Could you transfer the money right now?" -- or some such story.

The idea that people fall for such schemes is amusing. My personal favorite was the incident where the caller claimed to be the son of the woman who answered the phone and talked her into sending money for a traffic infraction. It turned out that while the woman was on the phone, the son she thought she was talking to was actually asleep upstairs.