I have been experimenting with a pair of Raspberry Pi 2 boards and another pair of Raspberry Pi 2 W boards. I’ll write about the non-WiFi boards later; I wanted to document what I had to do in order to get a pre-release version of MicroPython to program on one of my Pico 2 W boards.

This is the link to download the unofficial MicroPython UF2 file directly from Raspberry Pi itself: https://downloads.raspberrypi.com/micropython/mp_firmware_unofficial_latest.uf2

I don’t know how long this link will be valid. I got the unofficial firmware up and running with my test code. Here’s a typical output where the WiFi subsystem is being tested.

  MACHINE: Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with RP2350  RELEASE: 1.25.0-preview FS TOTAL: 3,145,728 BYTES FS  FREE: 3,092,480 BYTES FS  USED: 53,248 BYTES MEM FREE: 448,160 BYTES  UID: 5C7E378630646F97 SSID: RP2-6F97 CPU FREQ: 150,000,000 Hz  I2C: SoftI2C(scl=5, sda=4, freq=500000)  I2C: DEVICES FOUND: ['0x3d']  I2C: FOUND OLEDMicroPython 1.25.0 previewGCC 10.3.12024-11-21ssid: BASIC-NET-2.4rssi: -58ssid: Dashmeister  rssi: -89ssid: ESP32S3-7814 rssi: -29ssid: SmartLife-EEFB   rssi: -74MicroPython v1.25.0-preview.49.g0625f07ad.dirty on 2024-11-21; Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with RP2350Type "help()" for more information.

My test code shows that the WiFi subsystem is working as far as scanning for other access points in and near where I live. I’ll be working later to do something a bit more sophisticated. Be advised that this is for the ARM cores only, there is nothing out yet for the RISC-V cores like there is for the Pico 2 without WiFi.

I’ve copied all the text as-is, except where needed to join broken sentences into a semblance of paragraphs. Otherwise punctuation, spelling, and grammar are as-is. There’re all sorts of red flags around this, yet I’ve read that it’s been used successfully in the past into conning someone, somewhere, so it’s still cheap enough to send this out all the time.

Please, folks, please don’t be taken in. TANSTAAFL.

WELCOME TO BANK OF AMERICA HEADQUARTERS.
ADDRESS: 100 NORTH TRYON STREET CHARLOTTE,
NC 28255-0001 U.S.A,

YOUR URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED,

Welcome to Bank of America, We are a socially responsible organization, providing banking and membership services to individuals, companies, trade unions, charities, credit unions and membership organization sectors. We listen to and understand what our customers want and have developed a service which offers a wide range of benefits. One of our key objectives is to provide value for money banking for all of our customers. That means delivering a wide range of services that can be tailored to your exact needs, including the smooth transfer of your banking to Bank of America In regards setting up an Online bank account with us, Your details have been forwarded to us earlier by International Monetary Fund and Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) declaring you as a beneficiary to receive the total sum of $15,700,000 USD (Fifteen Million, Seven Hundred Thousand United State Dollars,

NOTE: If you do not Sequel to your information recorded on file and in accordance to the IMF and Stock Market State Commission (SSMSC) rules and regulations on operational banking policy on transfer of large amount of money emanated proceeds, Be informed that you are advised of this very need for you to setup a Resident Account with BOA Plc which will be responsible for clearing of your funds here in USA before the funds in cash can be transferred from your account in your name with Bank of America to any bank account of your choice, you are required to choose from the under listed options, the most suitable account type to you.

Please you will need to choose from the options below your mode of collection of your funds and also provide the information below for processing of your fund release:

1. Via ATM Card.The total funds will be loaded into an ATM Card in your name and sent to you which will take 2 days for the card to arrive and you can withdraw a maximum sum of $100,000 US per day at any ATM Machine worldwide. The delivery fee is $140.

2. Bank to Bank Transfer. The cash will be transfer directly into your nominated account which will take 24 hours for the funds to reflect into your preferred account , The cost of transfer charge is $180

3. Cash Delivery. We can arrange the funds to be sealed in a consignment box without anyone knowing what is inside it and delivered to your address of delivery in cash. This will take a maximum of 2 days so you sign for collection. This will cost $200.

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO PURCHASE ITUNES GIFT CARD OR SEPHORA GIFT CARD OR STEAM GIFT CARD DEPENDING ON YOUR CHOICE OF RECEIVING YOUR PAYMENT AND SEND IT HERE WITH CLEAR PICTURES OKAY.

We guarantee that the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law. Due to the fact that the fund is donation claims valued at $15.700.000.00 USD, there should be a supportive clearance from the IMF before the commencement of the wire transfer. Please read the above procedures very carefully and revert back at your earlier convenience for us to move forward.

Thanks for banking with us. I await your urgent response.

YOURS FAITHFULLY

MR. BRIAN T. MOYNIHAN, CHAIRMAN,PRESIDENT AND CEO

The word itself seems to be of recent origin; based on where you research via Google, it was coined between the years 1960 to 1975. Earlier versions were plain old fraud (1850), fraudsman (1610s) and frauditor (1550s), all according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. I personally prefer frauditor (based on some less-than-pleasant dealings with auditors, but I digress…).

Here is the complete email I received with no corrections whatsoever.

FROM: UNITED NATIONS POLICE,
REGARDING RECOVERY OF YOUR LOST MONEY.

Attn: Beneficiary

We hereby inform you that the Scotland Yard Police, Interpol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) United States of America, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria and all the African Crime fighter leaders have come together to stop scam/internet fraud in Nigeria and all round Africa. We have recovered over US$2.6 Billion Dollars from the people we have behind bars.

Our duty is to make sure we stop internet scam and money laundering. As for today we have put a lot of fraudsters in jail. We go all over Africa to pick this internet rats,We have over 8,273 of them in our jail around Africa and we are still looking for more. We are aware that a lot of foreigners out there have been deceived and lost their hard earn money to these fraudsters after promising them percentages in their letters/e-mails for their impending help to move funds out Africa including fake lottery winning notification and at the end of the day, they will collect thousands of dollars from you without a successful end. It was agreed that to retain the good image of our country and the rest of African countries, all the victims who lost his/her hard earn money to these faceless thieves will be compensated with just US$500,000,00 (five hundred thousand Dollars).

This we assume will help you to start a new life. Please, we apologies that you take our offer as little as it is due to the fact that (victims) in our pay list are too numerous. We en-back on this pay back from the money we recovered from these fraudsters, So you are advise to contact Mr Phillip John in the United State.

let him know if you are still interested to get your Master Card to you today as he have been waiting to hear from you to help him complete this delivery to you. contact him with your personal information bellow for your Master Card clearance and delivery.

Provide your details and forward it to Mr Phillip John to is contact details below or you call his number .+2348065322902

FULL NAME…
ADDRESS….
COUNTRY….
PHONE NUMBER…
AGE….

Agent Name: Mr Phillip John
Address Email: phillipjohn@instructor.net
Cell: +2348065322902

Thank and remain Bless

Mr. Michael J. Burn.
Supervising Manage

It’s so interesting to come across an email such as this one, so thoroughly peppered with misspelled words and grammatical land mines. And yet there are people out there in the world who’ll get one of these and accept it as perfectly proper English, and just enough to actually bite. After all, there must be some sort of success rate, otherwise I wouldn’t get this crap in my spam folder.

Normally I would redact details such as phone numbers and so-called legitimate email addresses, but not this time.

I give this one a fraudster ranking of ‘4’ because of the number of times the word is used in the email, plus one for the fact it was sent by a fraudster. I may come up with some more elaborate ranking in the future, but for now I think this suffices.

WORLD BANK GROUP AND UNITED NATION ORGANIZATION do hereby give this irrevocable approval order with Release Code: GNC/3180/10/14 in your favor for your contract entitlement/award winning payment with the UNITED NATION to your nominated bank account.

Now you’re new Payment, United Nation Approval No: UN5380P, White House Approved No: WH44CV, Reference No.-35460121, Allocation No: 674937 Password No: 399431, Pin Code No: 55674 and your Certificate of Merit Payment No: 103, Released Code No: 0763; Immediate Citibank Telex confirmation No: -1194433; Secret Code No: XXTN013, Having received these vital payment number, therefore you are qualified now to received and confirm Your payment with the United Nation immediately within the next 72hrs.

As a matter of fact, you are required to deal and Communicate only with MR ANDY JOHNSON, DIRECTOR INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE CITIBANK OF UNITED KINGDOM, with the help and monitory team from the CITIBANK OF NEW YORK which is our official remitting bank, Committee On Foreign Payment Matters in United Nation, has look up to make sure you receive your fund valued $8.3m.

So contact: MR ANDY JOHNSON on his contact information, Direct Citibank Tel/Fax Number: +44708 762 9852, Email: olondonunited010@gmail.com for immediate release of your contract/inheritance/Award Winning claim Be informed that you are not allowed to correspond with any person or office anymore, You are required to send bellow information for your transfer.

(1) YOUR FULL NAME:
(2) ADDRESS, CITY, STATE AND COUNTRY:
(3) PHONE, FAX AND MOBILE:
(4) COMPANY NAME (IF ANY) POSITION AND ADDRESS:
(5) BANK DETAILS: ( BANK NAME, BANK ADDRESS, ACCOUNT & ROUTING NUMBER )
(6) PROFESSION, AGE AND MARITAL STATUS:
(7) COPY OF YOUR INT L PASSPORT/DRIVERS LICENSE:

NOTE: YOUR PERSONAL CONTACT/COMMUNICATION-CODE WITH CITIBANK IS (555), YOU ARE ADVICE TO SEND YOUR FULL BANKING INFORMATION TO THE CITIBANK OF LONDON INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DIRECTOR HEADED BY MR ANDY JOHNSON AND MAKE SURE YOU SPEAK WITH HIM, WITH YOUR NEW PAYMENT CODE FOR RELEASE OF YOUR PAYMENT AND SEND HIM ALL YOUR BANKING INFORMATION.

CONTACT CODE (555)
OFFICER: MR ANDY JOHNSON
POSITION: DIRECTOR, INT L, AND REMITTANCE CITIBANK LONDON.
MOBILE NUMBER: +44708 762 9852
EMAIL: londonciti877@gmail.com

SIR FRANK PETERSON. (CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN CONTRACT/AWARD WINING PAYMENT UNITED NATION AND USA GOVERNMENT).

From JP Morgan Chase Bank
Mr. James Dimon CEO
Address: 2469 Hempstead Turnpike
East Meadow, NY 11554-1155
Email Address: james.dimon.jpmorgan@gmail.com

Attn: Beneficiary,
The United States of America Co-operation Management in Conjunction with United Nation Worldwide are pleased to inform you that you are Among the 10 Winners of our Annual Year Lotto Lottery Conducted in the United Sates of America held on 14th of January 2014.
Your Email Address was Attached to Serial Number S/N-00221 and Consequently Won in the First Lucky 10 Winner’s Lottery Category.
You are therefore been Approved to claim the Sum of Usd$6,500.000.00 only (Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) only payable in wire Transfer from Jp Morgan Chase Bank New York City 2469 Hempstead Turnpike East Meadow, NY 11554-1155. Be informed that every arrangement regarding your payment through Telegraphic Wire Banking transfer has been made by our mangement.
You will have to re-confirm your full information which will be used to set up the account on your name here in the JP Morgan Chase Bank New York 2469 Hempstead Turnpike East Meadow, NY 11554-1155
Full Names:
Your Complete Address:
Scan copy of your personal identification
Direct Telephone Number:
Mobile Number:Present Occupation:
NOTE: That you are requested to claim your prize without any further delay.
Thanks for your Co-operation.
Mr. James Dimon CEO
Address: 2469 Hempstead Turnpike
East Meadow, NY 11554-1155

Email: james.dimon.jpmorgan@gmail.com
—
From
Mr. James Dimon
Manager JP Morgan Chase Bank.

Things must be really tough at JP Morgan when the best their CEO can do is a Google e-mail address.

In the past, on my old blog, I wrote maybe a half-dozen posts about some of the wilder and crazier scam/spam emails that came my way. The most creative was the one I received from the alleged estate of Luciano Pavarotti in 2009. That has to be one of my all-time favorites.

This latest hit my spam folder four days ago. From one perspective it’s your typical Nigerian spam email. But the sheer chutzpah in the way the email is written was worthy of a mention, if not a good laugh. Without further ado…

US AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA
Terence P. McCulley
11 GARKI ROAD ABUJA
ABUJA, NIGERIA.

Dear

I SHALL BE COMING TO YOUR COUNTRY FOR AN OFFICIAL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY AND I WILL BE BRINGING YOUR FUNDS OF $4.5M ALONG WITH ME AS PART OF COMPENSATION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA FOR THOSE AFFECTED IN SCAMS ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA BUT THIS TIME I WILL NOT GO THROUGH CUSTOMS BECAUSE AS AN AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, I AM A US GOVERNMENT AGENT AND I HAVE THE VETO POWER TO GO THROUGH CUSTOMS. AS SOON AS I AM THROUGH WITH THE MEETING I SHALL THEN PROCEED TO YOUR ADDRESS. (SEND YOUR CELL PHONE NUMBER AND THE ADDRESS WHERE YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE PACKAGE).

YOU HAVE REALLY PAID SO MUCH IN THIS DELIVERY THAT MAKES ME WONDER. YOU ARE A VERY LUCKY PERSON BECAUSE I SHALL BE BRINGING IT MYSELF AND THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

YOUR PACKAGE ($4.5M) MUST BE REGISTERED AS AN AMBASSADORIAL PACKAGE FOR ME TO DEFEAT ALL ODDS AND THE COST OF REGISTERING IT IS $90 THE FEE MUST BE PAID IN THE NEXT 50 HOURS VIA MONEY GRAM SO THAT ALL NECESSARY ARRANGEMENT CAN BE MADE BEFORE TIME WILL BE AGAINST US.SEND THE FEE VIA MONEY GRAM MONEY TRANSFER OR WESTERN UNION TO MY OFFICER

RECEIVER’S NAME: PAUL NWANZE
ADDRESS: LAGOS, NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION: FOR WHAT
ANSWER: DELIVER
AMOUNT:$90

AS SOON AS YOU SEND THE FEE MAKE SURE YOU SEND ME THE PAYMENT THIS EMAIL INFORMATION.TO ADDRESS: terencemcculley443@yahoo.es MY FLIGHT IS WEDNESDAY AND I EXPECT YOU TO COMPLY BEFORE THEN SO THAT THE DELIVERY CAN BE COMPLETED. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, THEN IT WILL NOT BE MY FAULT IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE YOUR PACKAGE.

Congratulations!!!
Respectfully yours,
Terence P. McCulley
US Ambassador to Nigeria
Email: terencemcculley443@yahoo.es

You see the email in all its glory, misspellings, grammatical errors, blatantly incorrect facts and UPPER CASE TYPE unchanged by me. If you want to follow-up on this then knock yourselves out. I just wonder how many people actually fell for this and donated the “$90 fee” to this particular scammer. And there has to be enough marks to have made similar donations, because they keep coming across my spam folder, and have for almost a decade.

By the way, the top level domain .es (as in yahoo.es) is Spain. Considering the dire financial straights that many in Spain find themselves in right now it shouldn’t be a surprise to find Nigerian copy-cat scam spam coming out of Spain.