Okay...Josephine White and her accomplice were scumbags. Nobody is arguing that. I am glad she was captured and I hope he was too.

But seriously...was that old lady one of UM's stupidest victims or what?

A goofy strange lady approaches you and tells you she found a big bag of money. She is going to SHARE it with you, even though she doesn't know you. Then she needs $5,000 to keep it. First of all, why couldn't they just take the $5K off the sum of money that's there, and get it back when everything comes up legit?

Number two, how is it that these two seemingly professional people can't come up with the money between them and need to use the old lady's life savings?

Number three, how f-ing stupid/naive/gullible are you that you would drain your bank account and give all your money to a COMPLETE STRANGER? Big deal that she showed you a large sum of money. None of that was signed over to you...she could have shown you a black-and-white picture of the cash, and you would have had as much right to it.

As I said, the scam artists are scum and I don't wish anybody to get duped. But, come on...how much sympathy can you have for that amount of stupidity?

Okay...Josephine White and her accomplice were scumbags. Nobody is arguing that. I am glad she was captured and I hope he was too.

But seriously...was that old lady one of UM's stupidest victims or what?

A goofy strange lady approaches you and tells you she found a big bag of money. She is going to SHARE it with you, even though she doesn't know you. Then she needs $5,000 to keep it. First of all, why couldn't they just take the $5K off the sum of money that's there, and get it back when everything comes up legit?

Number two, how is it that these two seemingly professional people can't come up with the money between them and need to use the old lady's life savings?

Number three, how f-ing stupid/naive/gullible are you that you would drain your bank account and give all your money to a COMPLETE STRANGER? Big deal that she showed you a large sum of money. None of that was signed over to you...she could have shown you a black-and-white picture of the cash, and you would have had as much right to it.

As I said, the scam artists are scum and I don't wish anybody to get duped. But, come on...how much sympathy can you have for that amount of stupidity?


Some people just have trouble conceiving of evil. They do business on a handshake, not a 34 page legal contract. They believe that all people are inherently good. Is it naive? Yes. But I don't think it is fair to call someone stupid because they don't assume everyone is a con man.

Now, the other thing is, ever notice many of these scams target the elderly? There are likely a few reasons for that. Maybe it is that the elderly just fall for it more often or maybe they specifically target the elderly because they are lonely and they are in a state of mental decline. The beginnings of dementia are often overlooked. Before dementia develops there is often mild cognitive impairment. Studies suggest 10-20% of people 65 and older suffer from Mild Cognitive Impairment. The older they get, the more common it is, just as with dementia (Alzheimers and other forms)

http://www.alz.org/dementia/mild-cognitive-impairment-mci.asp

Experts classify Mild cognitive impairment based on the thinking skills affected:

MCI that primarily affects memory is known as "amnestic MCI." With amnestic MCI, a person may start to forget important information that he or she would previously have recalled easily, such as appointments, conversations or recent events.

MCI that affects thinking skills other than memory is known as "nonamnestic MCI." Thinking skills that may be affected by nonamnestic MCI include the ability to make sound decisions, judge the time or sequence of steps needed to complete a complex task, or visual perception.

BBM

That's a really old scam which for some reason has worked on a lot of people of different ages for many decades. The doorman at that building in New York could give you an idea of how many fell for the coin scam.

That's a really old scam which for some reason has worked on a lot of people of different ages for many decades. The doorman at that building in New York could give you an idea of how many fell for the coin scam.

The "Coin Scam" has been going on at various "Adult Penny Arcades" (That's Casinos for those of you in Rio Linda). Someone will roll a coin alonside a Player that has A LOT of $1.00 (and higher) Tokens/Chips in their buckets. They'll tap the person on their shoulder and say something like "Is that your Chip?" then, while they stoop to pick up the chip their bucket will get swiped.

A few years ago my mother almost got scammed by some cons. I went to the bank to deposit a check, but for some reason the ATM wouldn't accept the check, so I entered the bank to see why the ATM wouldn't accept the check (It turned out to be a software glitch) I then saw my mother standing in line, she was waiting to deposit a check. When she saw me she exclaimed she had won over two millien dollars from Publishers Clearing House. Her exclamation was overheard from the bank manager, who IMMEDIATELY came over and had us go to his desk. He then let us know this was a :angryfire: SCAM. :angryfire The check, for over $50.000 was to be deposited to her account, then she was to go to Western Union to wire $45,000 Dollars to them, this was allegedly to be the "Tax" she'd have to pay on the winnings. The manager told us that if she'd deposited the check (By law they are supposed to take cashiers checks and let the customer deposit them or cash the check if desired). Of course a few days later the check would bounce, and the depositor (In this case my mother) would be taken to the cleaners. If I hadn't been there my mother would have lost a good chunk of her money market savings! :eek: Several other letters from similar "contests" came in the mail for both me and my mother, but as soon as they were taken out of the I'd say "Burn Baby Burn" as I "Deposited" these checks into the :devil: "First Mercantile Bank of Gehenna" :devil: (The Fireplace) and I'd shout out "Burn Baby BURN!" as I chucked the letters into the flames. :lol:

For the record Publishers Clearing House DOES NOT notify their winners by mail, they actually tell the winners when they come over to inform them.

When I was a freshman in college, early in the year, I boarded a city bus with a bunch of other frosh as we tried to get across the hell that was the college city to the mall. On the bus, a guy started doing the shell game. Here were some well above average intelligence, legal adults who were about to fall for the scam. I let it go until the guy asked one of my friends to bet.

I smiled at the guy and said "I'm from New York City. You're done." (I am not actually from NYC, but I figured that would get my point across. The guy smiled at me knowingly and went elsewhere. My friends couldn't figure out how I knew. Needless to say, most of them were from cow towns. They were also amazed I could read a bus schedule and figure out how to transfer busses.

Some people are just easier marks.

These scams work because of human greed & age related conditions like Dementia, along with people not wanting to accept they have been conned/wanting to believe they have won.

There was a show about boiler room scams here a few years back & one old couple eventually lost everything-even when the police finally convinced them they had been scammed they refused to accept a practically identical scam they had fallen for wasn't legit. One of them ended up dying & the other one in a cheap care home as pretty much all the money had gone from having to sell the house & contents to clear the debts .

I have a neighbour in her seventies with early stage Alzheimer's & who is obsessed with saving money who keeps telling her kids she has won a prize draw & every time they tell her just to chuck them in the bin-expect one day she will send a huge sum of money to one of them.

A while back I watched the "Jorge Cortez" segment from season one. For those who may not remember, Cortez was the faith healer and spiritualist who conned his victims through a series of rituals including rubbing their bodies with hard boiled eggs to cleanse them of evil spirits. The victim who was the primary focus of the story claimed she sought out Cortez because someone had put a hex on her. Cortez convinced her to withdraw her life savings in cash, put it in a suitcase, leave it with him for a few minutes so he could perform a private ritual, then open the suitcase in a few days to find that the sum of money had tripled. Of course, she opened the suitcase to find it was empty.

My knee jerk reaction was to think "how stupid can you be?" On the other hand, the Cortez victims were mostly Mexican immigrants and laborers with likely limited education and resources. They were religious and often superstitious, and someone like Cortez was charismatic and crafty enough to prey on those vulnerabilities.

I guess my point is that there are certain people who because of their background, beliefs, or what have you, make easy marks for fraud. While it's easy for us to watch these stories and think it's ridiculous that someone would fall for what appears to be an obvious scam, we're not considering the victim's POV. Moreover, a consistent theme throughout all of these cases such as Cortez, the pigeon drop, the coin scam , etc. is the belief that you will get "something for nothing" or that your wealth will increase exponentially if you invest in the scam. Afterall, if you can buy the coins for $100, that money seems like peanuts compared to the riches that await you. The bottom line is these scams work due to greed, and greed is a human condition, regardless of our walk of life or background.

I guess my point is that there are certain people who because of their background, beliefs, or what have you, make easy marks for fraud. While it's easy for us to watch these stories and think it's ridiculous that someone would fall for what appears to be an obvious scam, we're not considering the victim's POV. Moreover, a consistent theme throughout all of these cases such as Cortez, the pigeon drop, the coin scam , etc. is the belief that you will get "something for nothing" or that your wealth will increase exponentially if you invest in the scam. Afterall, if you can buy the coins for $100, that money seems like peanuts compared to the riches that await you. The bottom line is these scams work due to greed, and greed is a human condition, regardless of our walk of life or background.

^ This.

Con artists are well-skilled at knowing who to target. I used to know a woman who got scammed with one of those Nigerian email cons and she lost a lot of money and wasn't able to pay her rent or bills because of it. My coworker's mom almost lost almost $600 thanks to a phone scam but luckily she got the money back. And when my grandfather was alive, I'd always warn him about not answering calls that came up on the ID that said unknown caller or "Florida" on it, a state where most of these scams originate from. He also never opened the door while he was alone because we both knew about criminals that come to the door posing as utility workers wanting to get into the house.

Con artists are well-skilled at knowing who to target. I used to know a woman who got scammed with one of those Nigerian email cons and she lost a lot of money and wasn't able to pay her rent or bills because of it. My coworker's mom almost lost almost $600 thanks to a phone scam but luckily she got the money back. And when my grandfather was alive, I'd always warn him about not answering calls that came up on the ID that said unknown caller or "Florida" on it, a state where most of these scams originate from. He also never opened the door while he was alone because we both knew about criminals that come to the door posing as utility workers wanting to get into the house.

Yep. And they know when to walk away. That's why the shell game guy smiled knowingly at me. He know I knew better. It was weird, his smile was almost a show of respect.

Oh, and just so I don't come off as a know it all, I once got pick pocketed in a church. Because who thinks you're going to get pick pocketed in a freaking church? Yeah, apparently the pick pockets take that all the way to the bank.

I still miss that $5 wallet.

Con artists are well-skilled at knowing who to target. I used to know a woman who got scammed with one of those Nigerian email cons and she lost a lot of money and wasn't able to pay her rent or bills because of it.

That reminds me of something awesome I saw on the news a few years ago. There is a guy who actually messes with the Nigerian scammers. I don't recall all that he did, but some of the pranks consisted of faxing/emailing them fake information, telling them he went to Western Union and sent the money and he's not sure why they didn't receive it, etc. He would go back and forth with them over email, and some of the scammers got really annoyed/angry. Considering LE generally can't touch these guys, and there isn't a whole lot you can do anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

Oh, and just so I don't come off as a know it all, I once got pick pocketed in a church. Because who thinks you're going to get pick pocketed in a freaking church?

Only when the collection box gets passed round.:lol:

Only when the collection box gets passed round.:lol:


Heh, it was a tourist church in Prague. No collection plate. I know better and it still happened to me. I had a cross body purse. It was velcro. The flap was against my hip. I must have let my guard down and taken my hand off the top of it (my usual stance) because it was a church, dernit, who steals in church? Shouldn't they get instantly smote or something for that? Sadly, there was no instant karma smiting and I lost an adorable embroidered wallet that matched my purse. :) (and some money, but I was way more annoyed about losing the wallet. sure, it was 5 bucks, but it was adorable)


Someone tried another time in Central America, but that time I was in a huge crowd and had my hands in my pockets. She didn't look pleased when she came up empty.

I get them from time to time-normally somebody with an Indian or Pakistani accent claiming to be from Microsoft saying my PC is infected & you need to go download some software from a link they will give you-obviously most people will know it is a con but you only need 1 or 2 out of 25 calls to fall for it & you can make thousands if you get their bank details from them & older people who are not that savvy tend to panic.

A few years ago I got a call from one of those lottery scammers claiming I won $1 Million in some foreign lottery game.

Guy told me that I had to send him money to cover the costs of the "processing fees and taxes". I told him to just take that out of the prize money and send me $500,000 and I'll be happy.

The guy then hung up.

I get them from time to time-normally somebody with an Indian or Pakistani accent claiming to be from Microsoft saying my PC is infected & you need to go download some software from a link they will give you-obviously most people will know it is a con but you only need 1 or 2 out of 25 calls to fall for it & you can make thousands if you get their bank details from them & older people who are not that savvy tend to panic.

I used to get those calls every day. When the guy would tell me he was from Microsoft and my PC needed fixed, I would tell them I knew they were scammers and I wouldn't give them any information, then hang up. One guy started arguing with me as I hung up on him! The funny thing is, I barely use my desktop PC and instead use my laptop or my tablets.

It should be noted that nobody is intelligent in every single aspect of life. People are intelligent on some topics and not as much on others.

This isn't the greatest example since it's a fictional character, but it gets the point across: Alex Keaton from Family Ties. A straight-A student who was wise beyond his years in matters such as politics and finance, but couldn't construct a kite or prepare a meal even with extensive directions.

My point is, we all have our strong suits and our not-so-strong suits.

Therefore, I find that blaming the victim and calling them "stupid" and 'underserving of sympathy' to be tacky, obnoxious and rude.

It's also important to keep in mind that the victim was being dealt a heavy hand of psychological pressure, too. Remember the accomplice who claimed his wife was dying of cancer and that he needed the money? These people can be extremely good at what they do--and I don't mean getting the drop, per se. I mean sheer manipulation of other people.

She wasn't stupid; she was just singled out as a good mark by a criminal, deviant woman.

It's also important to keep in mind that the victim was being dealt a heavy hand of psychological pressure, too. Remember the accomplice who claimed his wife was dying of cancer and that he needed the money? These people can be extremely good at what they do--and I don't mean getting the drop, per se. I mean sheer manipulation of other people.

She wasn't stupid; she was just singled out as a good mark by a criminal, deviant woman.

Exactly. I was thinking that, but couldn't remember a good example.

That reminds me of something awesome I saw on the news a few years ago. There is a guy who actually messes with the Nigerian scammers. I don't recall all that he did, but some of the pranks consisted of faxing/emailing them fake information, telling them he went to Western Union and sent the money and he's not sure why they didn't receive it, etc. He would go back and forth with them over email, and some of the scammers got really annoyed/angry. Considering LE generally can't touch these guys, and there isn't a whole lot you can do anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.

Interviewed on this radio program. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/363/enforcers

And when my grandfather was alive, I'd always warn him about not answering calls that came up on the ID that said unknown caller or "Florida" on it, a state where most of these scams originate from. He also never opened the door while he was alone because we both knew about criminals that come to the door posing as utility workers wanting to get into the house.

My mom keeps getting called by this cyber bitch. phone: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/contest-combat-robocalls