Heck, I was going to ask a question, then I noticed the message below, in my inbox!!!
I’m giving away all my tools and cars and buying all new. I’ll wait until I need an oil change, and go buy a new car and give the 6 month old one away.
I’ll keep all you guys in mind while I lay back on a lounge chair, one bikini clad girl feeding me grapes and the other swattin thye flys from my forehead.
Isn’t the internet wonderful
Yosemite
God bless you I am Miss. Veronica the director of bill furthermore at the foreign remittance department of SG-SSB Bank Limited, board of administrator en route for my bank mandated me to look for least known relative of our late client he deposited in our bank sum of fourteen million five hundred thousand dollars, send mail to my private email address so that I can explain more details to you, please acknowledge my mail, Best regards, Miss.Veronica
I always wonder how so many people can be that gulable, that these scams can keep going.
Don’t worry Mountainbike, I’m not one of those.
I have been waiting for my ship to come in, but then I realized that I had been waiting at the airport!!!
Quite frankly, anyone who is dumb enough to fall for one of these almost deserves to be scammed. It’s harsh, but you’d have to be a moron to believe any of this for one second.
Well I thought about that piddly $14 mil but instead bought a couple power balls for the $500 mil. Last time I bought some they were one dollar but with inflation they are now two dollars. Well worth it though for $500 million. I hope none of you wasted your money on it though since I’ve got it in the bag.
It’s not just people of low intelligence that fall for these things either.
A story I was reading in a magazine while waiting on my wife at the doc’s office one time had several examples of people who should know better being scammed out of a lot of money when faux sincerity on the part of the scammer and a little bit of greed overriding common sense caused someone to do something they would not ordinarly even consider.
One example was a succesful businessman who actually got snookered into meeting the scammer face to face at a hotel and handed over a briefcase with 45K dollars in cash. The scammer disappeared of course and the businessman was quite embarassed. At least the businessman 'fessed up to turning gullible beyond belief and admitting that he had learned a valuable life lesson.
When I’ve had a particularly bad day and receive one of these scam emails, I sometimes like to respond to them via an anonymous email service. (Google anonymous email) It’s refreshing sometimes to vent and tell them what you think of their state in life, their ancestry, their karmic status, and whatever else you can come up with. I encourage you all to do the same if so inspired.
@KnnNike…it is harsh, very harsh, but I feel there is truth in what you say. Over and over again I have seen a similar pattern. The exception is often the elderly sufferering from dementia or other issues. But all too often, it’s those looking for an easy way out themselves. They are vulnerable out of choice.
The pyramid schemes are most seductive to these people.
@ok4450, you are absolutely right…some of these people can be quite bright but greedy themselves. I maintain there is an element of this going on constantly, even in general advertising and politics as well…with state lotteries being right up there.
Staying informed and true to your beliefs helps, but it is really hard to do. We all get scammed to a lesser degree, sorry to say.
@oblivion you’re my hero, keep up the "good"work !
It can be kinda fun to turn the table and jerk them around a bit.
Some guy contacted me about buying a car I had for sale and referred to it as ‘an item’ - a dead give away that he 's a scammer. So I started asking him all sorts of questions pretending I had several ads like “the one with the leather seats?”, “the one with the sunroof?” and then went to "do you want the flux capacitor* included - I can throw it in for the right price…"
It went back and forth at least 10 times before he gave up. When he’s busy with me, he won’t be busy ripping someone off.
Another one I mentioned that I don’t like to deal with people I don’t know so had a conversation with the guy, taking about absolutely nothing, sharing a fake facebook page, etc. He thought he was slick. Eventually he even sent me a picture of supposedly was him and his GF and dog.
You guys are talking about us dumb people as if we DESERVE to be scammed!
You should be supportive of us. Someday one of us might be too dumb to realize the danger of rushing into a burning building to save your life!
Besides, I know a man in his late 30s with the intellectual capacity of a teenager…but a heart as big as an elephant. He’d jump over a cliff after you to try to catch you.
I offer a hug and a toast to those of us not blessed with high intelligence.
Speaking of the loto, one scam that the elderly fall for a lot is the one where the scammer tells you that you have won the lottery, but you need to send in a “processing fee”. Its only about $12, but those who go this far are then tapped for more money. Apparently once someone invests in something, they will keep throwing money into it until they are completely broke.
Keep an eye one the elderly in your family. These scams usually come via the phone or snail mail.
There’s a father and son here who are lifetime farmers and several generations before them were farmers also.
About 15 years ago someone convinced them that Emus were the wave of the future and the cash would come rolling in from selling Emu meat and eggs.
One would think that farmers of all people would not have bought into that scam but they waded right in to the tune of about 8 grand or so from what I heard.
The Emu franchise lasted about 7 or 8 months with the adult males trashing the eggs and breeding going nowhere.
@thesamemountainbike…I don’t think some of us called you dumb. Just greedy or old or uninformed or…if I were you, I’d sooner be called " dumb". Btw, I feel more vulnerable to getting scammed all the time too as I get older and " dumber".
And, if you rush into a building to save my life, I would sooner you did it out of greed. I would like to be wealthy enough to reward you handsomely.
Thanks foe the chuckles Dag. I admit to being all of the above. Dumb implies a lot to learn (which I acknowledge), greedy…well…yup, old means I made it this far, and uninformed means there’s opportunity for growth. For the record, we all get scammed occasionally. And in many cases we probably never even realize it’s happened.
This thread has caused me to reconsider my original “don’t do this” response, by the way. I realize now that it’s far better to get these scams out into the daylight and have people become better informed about them than to leave them unexplored.
Do any of us realize that state lotteries and social security are two of the biggest scams going. Social Security is 2.7 trillion ahead yet None of that money is secure because of the robbery in the trust fund. It doesn’t even appear in the nation debt. We will NEVER see it for that reason. The attempt to cut back on collecting benefits on any social security is to keep those surplus funds flowing into the general fund. SS is a pay go syestem and anything done to those now paying in immediately affects the benefits of those collecting. No administration, save a couple have ever been immune from raiding the trust fund. We are being scammed by everyone in office on the national level on this matter alone. To a much lesser degree, the same can be said for Medicare, where billions a year are used as unnecessary payments to drug companies, which some how, find their way back into the coffers of re election committees in both parties !
In our state SS payments are the biggest single contritor to legalized gambling as they are populated by retirees more the any other age group; another scam.
Dag, I agree on the SS but cannot agree on the lottery. To me, the lottery is a “cheap thrill” once or twice a week when the number is drawn. It makes no promises, is totally voluntary, is affordable, and actually does pay out as advertised.
SS is different. Its contribution is mandatory and the money enters into a dark and secretive world of smoke and mirrors. As to whether it pays out as promised, the groundrules are subject to retroactive change at any time.
Same, I see your point. It does honesty demonstrate the outcomes. But, as a math major, I have yet to see any demonstrations on ones chances of winning as part of their advertising campaign. I see the ones who overspend when their budgets can’t afford it. On the whole, I do agree, it’s not a scam for those who feel it a guilty pleasure, like gambling, and enter into it with no expectation of winning, but do so to share their own good fortune. At least they know the money tends to stay in state.
SS is actually a huge money maker for the govt. under partially false pretenses with NO expectation they will ever pay it back. Because it is a pay go system, how about taking the surplus each year and reimburse the tuition for each student’s successfully completed year of college ? That would promote studying over partying…some what.
