Is there a new pen pal scam going around? I got this strange email today from someone, it seems a bit scamy, but all they ask for is to be a pen pal. I'm thinking it's to verify they got a real email address then they start asking for money or something.

Sounds likely.

Yeah, I'm just kinda impressed that they are starting to get somewhat crafty even though they are still transparent.

The net is full of scammers, in part due to the fact they are hard to stop coming from some other country. Nigeria is famous, and any UK stuff gets my delete, I get stuff all the time, just be aware and delete WITHOUT even OPENING any email that you do not know, no one.
When they come in, ask yourself, did I enter a contest?,do I know this persons email address?,Is my email address in a public place?,advertisement or date site?, Do I really believe I have won a million dollars/without entering a contest? NO, and did I know this person who says I am 'inheriting billions?' LIES TO GET YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FILLING OUT THEIR FORMS TO "GET YOUR INHERITANCE", If it sounds too good to be true,it is! Beware, I recently had 364 virus's on my computer, without trying! They enter thru these scammers, even the one I chose to trust, said to 'push here' if you need the protection from virus' was indeed a VIRUS' in itself!!! So every time I pushed it, to clear off a Virus' it was adding some. Dell clued me on this virus scam!
And finally, I once dated a guy off Plenty of fish, who admitted he was paid to develope bad virus' to harm computers!!!!!! Sick people, who no doubt were in the business to fix computers!! I never dated the jerk again!
jj of ca

If you haven't signed up on a legit pen-pal site, its prolly a scam.

Yep - looking for valid email. That's why i *love* gmail. I have
never gotten any junk-mail in my inbox, except on very rare
occasions - I'd say I've seen 3 junk emails in the last year.
All the other email services have been horrendous.

Speaking of, this morning, I log into my IM and two events
occurred: (1) I got a buddy-pounce (from a user I've never
heard of), (2) I got an "invite", asking for confirmation
to "add a buddy" - I've no idea who it was - the IM name
was not familiar to me - so of course, I denied the request.

You can always Google the email address, sites, and IPs and even the names they use and most likely you'll find them on a blacklist.

I was just curious if anyone else noticed any "new" spam/scam going around and

All I've ever gotten from my gmail account is junk. But, I also run a few sites.