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My mother recently went off the deep end (oddly specific religiosity, conspiracy theories, wasting retirement money on dumb poo poo*) and has come close to being scammed a few times. She's pretty intelligent and can usually sniff them out but an Abnb scam nearly fooled her. Basically she click on a link to become an Abnb host and signed up. Everything looked pretty legit: email and website from abnbcompany.ca, logos, payment system, etc. The catch came when they were going to prepay her for a month worth of work and all she had to do was cash a cheque they sent her and wire some money back. I got involved before money could change hands when she asked me to read an email they sent detailing the plans (though not mentioning the obvious money laundering bit). The email and website were impressively almost legit. Problem was the spelling. Once it twice per paragraph there was just a simple grammar or syntax mistake that a native English speaker wouldn't make. In the end I told her it was definitely a scam and when she got the check in the mail she just dropped it off at the local pd and let them do whatever with it. *- she believes that the world will end any day now and got conned I to buying silver and a safe for it (hooray! My mother gets to come live with me when she realizes that her retirement money was all scammed away!). I tried to get though to her but she's convinced that society will collapse any day now and that for some reason silver will be the currency when that happens. When it became apparent that she wouldn't listen to reason I asked her if I could see the silver bars. When she showed me I immediately pocketed them and informed her that they were mine now. She got pretty ticked off and the sardony was completely lost on her. I also had a friend who bought truck speakers like an idiot. He was sold on them being heavy. Must be high quality, they weight like 20lbs a piece! Well we opened them up and they had literal sand bags glued to the bottom. I'm happy to report that that man is now an economist working for the federal government.
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Mar 7, 2016 09:40
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I knew a guy (real dirt bag) that imported crates of cheap garbage from China and walked around selling it. No real scam, just selling crap to unemployed people during the day at bars and strip clubs. He actually pulled a decent profit most of the time as units would come in costing him pennies and he'd flip em for a few bucks. When he could stay out of jail long enough he was pulling a decent income and not giving any to the tax man (which conveniently allowed him to avoid his various child support payments). Anyway, he's back inside now (hopefully long term) and isn't hawking crap to people who don't know what the Internet is. A friend if mine who is rather intelligent and also a goon got taken for the cruise robocall once years ago (around 2010 iirc). Free cruise and all that just pay for the flight! And a small administration fee! And like 500 each in taxes! Can't recall the details exactly but apparently after they charged his cc when he got home he disputes the charge. When they threatened him he got a relative of him that was a lawyer in Florida to call them up and launch their own threats. In the end he got away with only paying a couple hundred bucks and a nasty sun burn on the backs of his legs (he doesn't do sunlight too well, as indicated above). Always nice when someone can scam the scammers.
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Mar 20, 2016 08:07
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Not much of a scam but if you're friendly and have a bit of charm you can get all kinds of stuff for free from minimum wage employees by just asking. Works best with companies that aren't huge corporations. Night shift, especially when they're alone or few, also boosts your chances. When target was closing I was looking at a TV and asked the guy if I could just have it and he said he didn't care one bit and basically encouraged me to just walk out with it. In the end the security guard were the only ones with guaranteed jobs in the near future so I passed. Also, if you can quick talk and get someone into a heated discussion they will frequently forget to scan items. Best I got was a couple free games on two occasions by arguing with the clerk at blockbuster that he'd be out of a job within six months. He vehemently argued that they would be fine. This was six months before all the blockbusters closed forever. Cocaine Bear fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Apr 22, 2016 |
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Apr 22, 2016 06:56
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Lol, you got me! The ideal that minimum wage employees don't give a gently caress is pretty radical and out there. Here's another doozie for ya: if you treat people like humans they're often happy to repay your kindness. Crazy, right?
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Apr 22, 2016 07:30
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Buncha goons butthurt cause they too ugly and autistic to every get free poo poo ITT. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 22, 2016 17:54
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