Harrison
12-09-2003, 05:49 AM
Hey, folks.....
Just thought I'd start a thread about being ripped off
or scammed. I'm sure it's happened to a bunch of us
at one time or another, although I hope none of us
has lost tens of thousands of dollars.
Here is the excerpt from the beginning of an MSNBC
article about fake escrow companies and how some
consumers are getting cleaned out. Maybe it'll save
some of us some money!
SENDING $10,000 or more to someone you’ve only met in cyberspace could — and probably should — give anyone a case of the jitters. But consumers who don’t want to miss out on great Internet automobile deals eventually have to take that leap of faith. Unfortunately, many are finding out that when they take that leap, their money just disappears.
Nearly a year ago, MSNBC.com shared the story of Bruce Lachot, an Arizona dentist who sent $55,000 through cyberspace thinking he was getting a great deal on a new BMW. Instead, he ended up with nothing other than a lot of unwanted media attention.
He thought he’d done all the right things. He even sent the money using an escrow service, supposedly the safest way to fund big transactions online. Escrow services act as a middleman, a third party to a transaction that holds on to the money until the goods are delivered and both parties are satisfied.
And that’s where he went wrong. On the Internet, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a real Web site and a scam. Lachot was talked into using a fake escrow site, one operated by the BMW seller. So the seller, who perhaps never had a car in the first place, simply disappeared with the money....
http://www.msnbc.com/news/999900.asp?0cl=cR
Was it PT Barnum who said "There's a sucker born every
minute"?
He was right. In the example above, the guy taken for a
ride was an educated professional with eight years of
college, and a probable IQ of 135 at a minimum, BUT he
still got hustled.
There are a few main issues that make you an easy mark:
1) Greed. Shameless naked greed! We all
want something for nothing, or something for
super-cheap, right?? The Wal-Mart Syndrome!
This is part of the American character in my opinion. (We
began as a nation of slaveholders, after all! ;) A lot of
people forget that.)
2) Laziness. Not being willing to check out a "deal" carefully.
Asking for a physical address and phone number, calling
a local police department or a Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency of some kind is the least you
can do when you are operating with big money, but aren't
100% sure of who you're dealing with.
3) Stupidity. Or naivete. Nothing much can be done
with this one. Some folks just aren't meant to keep the
money they have, 'cause they are so simple and lack the
most basic common sense.
Does anybody have any experiences or deals with scams
that they are not too embarassed to reveal? I will tell
about some of my own "bad deals" later on.
Just thought I'd start a thread about being ripped off
or scammed. I'm sure it's happened to a bunch of us
at one time or another, although I hope none of us
has lost tens of thousands of dollars.
Here is the excerpt from the beginning of an MSNBC
article about fake escrow companies and how some
consumers are getting cleaned out. Maybe it'll save
some of us some money!
SENDING $10,000 or more to someone you’ve only met in cyberspace could — and probably should — give anyone a case of the jitters. But consumers who don’t want to miss out on great Internet automobile deals eventually have to take that leap of faith. Unfortunately, many are finding out that when they take that leap, their money just disappears.
Nearly a year ago, MSNBC.com shared the story of Bruce Lachot, an Arizona dentist who sent $55,000 through cyberspace thinking he was getting a great deal on a new BMW. Instead, he ended up with nothing other than a lot of unwanted media attention.
He thought he’d done all the right things. He even sent the money using an escrow service, supposedly the safest way to fund big transactions online. Escrow services act as a middleman, a third party to a transaction that holds on to the money until the goods are delivered and both parties are satisfied.
And that’s where he went wrong. On the Internet, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a real Web site and a scam. Lachot was talked into using a fake escrow site, one operated by the BMW seller. So the seller, who perhaps never had a car in the first place, simply disappeared with the money....
http://www.msnbc.com/news/999900.asp?0cl=cR
Was it PT Barnum who said "There's a sucker born every
minute"?
He was right. In the example above, the guy taken for a
ride was an educated professional with eight years of
college, and a probable IQ of 135 at a minimum, BUT he
still got hustled.
There are a few main issues that make you an easy mark:
1) Greed. Shameless naked greed! We all
want something for nothing, or something for
super-cheap, right?? The Wal-Mart Syndrome!
This is part of the American character in my opinion. (We
began as a nation of slaveholders, after all! ;) A lot of
people forget that.)
2) Laziness. Not being willing to check out a "deal" carefully.
Asking for a physical address and phone number, calling
a local police department or a Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency of some kind is the least you
can do when you are operating with big money, but aren't
100% sure of who you're dealing with.
3) Stupidity. Or naivete. Nothing much can be done
with this one. Some folks just aren't meant to keep the
money they have, 'cause they are so simple and lack the
most basic common sense.
Does anybody have any experiences or deals with scams
that they are not too embarassed to reveal? I will tell
about some of my own "bad deals" later on.