Quote of the Day: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -- Albert Einstein
Writing about the phone scam the other day, got me thinking about scams in general. If you believe what you read in the papers, there seem to be quite a number of popular scams. I can only think that people must fall for them, or there wouldn't be enough profit in it to keep the scamsters at it.
Easy money they call it. Must be called that for a reason, but I don't get it. I suppose you could get someone with a home repair scam. A widow perhaps whose husband handled that sort of thing. But the scam I really don't get at all is the "found money" ploy.
It goes like this. Someone claims to have found some money - the circumstances vary - but they pick a stranger and offer to share.
Now why would they want to do that? Why would anyone who found money offer to share it with a perfect stranger? That should tip you off right away. Share it with friends. Share it with family. Give it to a charity. I don't get it.
After offering to share, they they demand that you put up some sort of security bond. Huh??? Why? What is this bond for? Let me get this straight. You found the money. For some bizarre reason you have chosen to share it with me - a perfect stranger. Don't know you from Adam. But I should put up a bond so you can trust me. Right about now you should be smelling a rat! If you aren't, there's something seriously wrong with your olfactory glands (and don't look now, but if you are seriously considering it, get your brain checked out as well because it has obviously short circuited.)
Doesn't anyone find this odd? My response would be, "If you want to share it. Let me have it, thank you very much. It's been nice doing business with you. Sorry, but I'm not putting up any bond."
Who are the people who fall for this scam? What can they possibly be thinking? Are they that greedy? That stupid? I just don't get it.
A few years ago, I read about a man who put an ad in the paper. It read simply, "Send me a dollar," and included a post office box number. Apparently 500 people sent him a dollar. Several of them complained to the better business bureau and the post office that they didn't receive anything in return. Duh! The ad didn't say he was going to send you anything. Why would people respond to something like that? It wasn't even a scam. It was just fancy begging. He couldn't even be prosecuted. He said, "Send me a dollar," and people did. Boggles my mind.
I read in Meryl Yourish's Blog that she has sworn off emoticons - including the simple <g>. I say "Brava" to her courage, but I'm not that confident. I figure people are often not quite sure what I mean. And sometimes I just want to grin just for the heck of it. You can't see me doing it behind my computer screen, so I have to throw one in now and again. It's a very old habit - one I'm not sure I want to break. But that's all you get from me. Just the occasional <g>. No fancy emoticons or happy faces (though I must take some credit for the proliferation of those happy faces - I gave away bunches of them in the early seventies <g> - long before they were so ubiquitous.)
I envy Burningbird her wanderings, but I miss reading her multiple postings.
Almost forgot. I've been meaning to tell you about a movie I watched when I was sick. It's called "Where the Heart is." It's the kind of treacley story, I don't usually like these sweet little stories, but this one was kept from being overly sweet by a strong kookiness. There's a lot to be said for kooky. And the characters are ... well, characters. The pregnant heroine gets dumped by her boyfriend (father of the baby) at a KMart in Oklahoma. She ends up living in the Kmart. Many humorous and poignant tales follow as she finds her way through life trying to avoid the number 5.
It's on HBO this month. Check it out if you get the chance. Girls only - no guys - this is definitely a chick flick.
Posted by Cyberkat at February 13, 2002 7:59 AM | TrackBack