I didn’t notice these scams: Higher Education Mental Health Religious Organizations Political Elections
1. Yes. 2. Yes. 3. You don't have to join and don't have to pay anything. 4. Yes
The little black book of scams (2016)
41–50 of 70 posts
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#42I remember the first time I got one of these "Nigerian scam" mails. In retrospect it is funny that what made me suspicious was not the offer to make millions in return for an upfront price of a few thousand bucks; it was the fact that the mail did not address me by name but started with the claim that I seemed to be trustworthy person. If I was trying to move a huge amount of money out of the country, would I ask som…
It dates back longer than the territorial boundaries of Nigeria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Prisoner
My mother's husband had lots of interesting stories to tell that involved scammers and con artists; it seems people very quickly let go of all skepticism when faced with the prospect of making lots of easy money.
I also remember that kind of email that used to go around back in the late 1990s that said Microsoft was sending out this mail to measure the size of the Internet or something silly like that, and that if I forwarded it to people from my address book, I would get some stupidly large amount of money for it, like 10$ per person.
As far as these things go, this was fairly benign, of course, but I almost fell for it. And what made me delete the mail without forwarding it to anyone was not that "to good to be true"-aspect, but the fact that I started wondering how Microsoft would know I had forwarded this mail. And then I wondered, if everybody did forward this mail to everyone they knew, for $10 a pop, how much would that cost Microsoft? I mean, they were filthy rich back then, but still, such a thing could easily get out of hand.
And even when I got the first phishing mail from "my bank" asking me for my PIN and a TAN, what made me delete it was not the fact I had deleted dozens of these from other banks where the scam was obvious because I had no affiliation with them, but the fact that I had not ever given my bank my email address.
It is so easy to think that I would never fall for an obvious scam like that. But it pays to remember that the human psyche has some major bugs, and scammers know disturbingly well how to exploit those.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#43I recently fell victim to a nasty scam I've never heard about before. Wonder if anyone had similar experiences. Happened in Serbia on a highway. We had an RV on German plates and slept on a gas station there, next to the truckers. Morning comes and the clutch pedal is dead - no resistance when I press it (this is a manual transmission car). Obviously not driveable, and we're not car gurus to debug it. We call the ins…
As a Serbian expat I would very much avoid putting too much trust in Serbian locals. Sure, there are obviously some nice people but overall it's a very poor, corrupt, and cut-throat country. Serbian doctors have been caught stealing children from hospitals for god's sake.
Learned this the hard (but not too hard) way.
Also I hold no grudge against Serbian people in general - had some great Serbian friends in the US, they made fantastic barbecue. I'd sooner blame the general state of the country.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#44I recently fell victim to a nasty scam I've never heard about before. Wonder if anyone had similar experiences. Happened in Serbia on a highway. We had an RV on German plates and slept on a gas station there, next to the truckers. Morning comes and the clutch pedal is dead - no resistance when I press it (this is a manual transmission car). Obviously not driveable, and we're not car gurus to debug it. We call the ins…
> she tells me she's seen that tow car waiting seemingly for us for several hours FWIW, at least in the U.S. it's common for tow truck operators to wait alongside various roads. Breakdowns are predictable and service is faster if the operator is already nearby. It's not like the driver has anything better to do during his shift. That doesn't mean you weren't overcharged or even scammed. Really can't say without more…
Yeah the cable cutting is just a conjecture, have no evidence for that. Overpriced repair - pretty sure about that one.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#45I recently fell victim to a nasty scam I've never heard about before. Wonder if anyone had similar experiences. Happened in Serbia on a highway. We had an RV on German plates and slept on a gas station there, next to the truckers. Morning comes and the clutch pedal is dead - no resistance when I press it (this is a manual transmission car). Obviously not driveable, and we're not car gurus to debug it. We call the ins…
Count your lucky stars it wasn’t worse than it was. A terrible scam indeed “tow it to my shop” should have set off a flag but I can totally understand your desire to just get going again. Sorry to hear about your terrible experience, it could have happened to anyone really, myself included. Try not to lose sleep over it and be extra careful from now on.
Thanks! I've checked off the lost cash as an expensive lesson and am at peace. Hopefully someone else can benefit from knowing this story.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#46I didn’t notice these scams: Higher Education Mental Health Religious Organizations Political Elections
Can you tell me why each one is a scam? I'm curious because none of those to me seem like a scam.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Experience helps a lot. For example, I will never give money to a Buddhist monk walking the streets asking for donations, er, ever again. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-09/victorians-warned-aga... "Genuine monks do have a practice of having gifts or giving alms as part of their religion but it is meant to be a generous donation of those who wish to give without any solicitation whatsoever." In a similar way, I'd…
I was once waiting to board an airplane and a Buddhist monk sat beside me. I had a glance at him and notice a rolex watch. "That's odd", I thought. But sometimes Buddhist monks have stuff like that. And then I noticed that he hadn't shaved his head. Or his beard. "That's odd", I thought. But different orders do different things. And then he got called up to the desk and the attendant asked him, "I'm sorry sir, but I…
Well, well. You still have a lot to learn, my Padawan. The better answer is not "that's odd" but "we'll see". ;-)
http://buddhistinspiration.blogspot.com/2011/12/well-see-zen...
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#48As a teenager I fell for the most dumb in person scam. I was coming out of Barnes and Nobles with my gf and a guy approached me asking for money. I said no initially but then he made up this whole story about being out of gas on the way to see his kids and so on. You’d have to be an idiot to fall for that and idiot I was. So I ended up giving him $20, left feeling weird right away. I got in the car, looked at my gf a…
>I can confidently say I’m scam-proof today
Congratulations, you are _the_ perfect mark, one that is confident in not being one
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#49As a teenager I fell for the most dumb in person scam. I was coming out of Barnes and Nobles with my gf and a guy approached me asking for money. I said no initially but then he made up this whole story about being out of gas on the way to see his kids and so on. You’d have to be an idiot to fall for that and idiot I was. So I ended up giving him $20, left feeling weird right away. I got in the car, looked at my gf a…
I don't think this makes you a gullible person. I think it means you are a helpful, empathetic person. That the world has a number of bad actors does not mean you should change.
Re: The little black book of scams (2016)
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> she tells me she's seen that tow car waiting seemingly for us for several hours FWIW, at least in the U.S. it's common for tow truck operators to wait alongside various roads. Breakdowns are predictable and service is faster if the operator is already nearby. It's not like the driver has anything better to do during his shift. That doesn't mean you weren't overcharged or even scammed. Really can't say without more…
Yeah the cable cutting is just a conjecture, have no evidence for that. Overpriced repair - pretty sure about that one.
Most clutches are hydraulic, not cable-operated. There will be a bleed valve under the car which can be opened with a wrench, causing the symptoms you experienced. Would take an experienced scammer maybe a minute to do.