https://www.wired.com/story/internet-thought-i-was-mackenzie-bezos/

Almost a year ago, I wrote a story about MacKenzie Bezos. The novelist had recently divorced Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and announced she planned to give away the majority of her fortune, estimated at the time to be worth more than $36 billion. I argued that while it was an admirable move on MacKenzie’s part, relying on the generosity of the rich wouldn’t solve society’s problems.

Around that time is when the messages started to arrive: In hundreds of emails, calls, and texts, people showered me with flattering platitudes and marriage proposals, shared startup ideas, and told rambling personal stories. Most of the time, though, they asked for money. I didn’t understand what was happening, at least not at first. As a reporter, I don’t usually field emails requesting, as one self-described 30-year-old in Korea did, that I buy them a Porsche.