Have I Got a Deal For You!

I spent a good deal of my childhood living in small towns in Kansas and Nebraska. The kind of towns where you knew most everyone, you didn’t lock your doors and you weren’t afraid to leave your car running if you were just dashing in to the store to grab a quick item or two. It didn’t concern my mom at all when I went out of the house to play without telling her where I was going or when I’d be home. Growing up that way sort of instills a belief that you can trust everyone.

Then I grew up and discovered that there is a side to this world that wants to separate you from your money any way they can. Years ago, their main weapon was the phone. Unsolicited calls wanting you to invest in something that “couldn’t miss”. It was going to be the next big thing. You would quadruple your money in the next year, but you have to act today because this deal will be gone tomorrow. They were always friendly and they knew your name. It was hard to say no and unfortunately many people didn’t and lost lots of money.

Today, while these slick talking scam artists are still around, they have also become experts at conning you out of your money through social media and texting.

Let me share a personal experience:

I went to Uganda about six years ago to do some volunteer work in an orphanage in Jinga. I developed a friendship with our driver and we exchanged contact information as we wanted to “stay in touch”. I got back to the states and we exchanged a few emails. One day, I received an email from him that was a bit unusual. He stated he was in a hospital waiting for care because he had badly damaged his leg in a scooter accident. The email came with a picture of a badly damaged, bloody leg. He needed money to help pay for the surgery, and he needed it right away. It was a major tug on my heart and I wanted to help, but there was this nagging doubt. After a couple of emails to some other parties that knew my friend I found out that he was fine. He had had his phone stolen and the thieves found someone in America that they thought they could scam.

I have written an number of articles and given a number of classes on recognizing and protecting yourself from scam artists. The advice hasn’t changed. It’s pretty easy to recognize a scam.
1.) You are contacted by someone who you don’t know that seems to know you.
2.) They want you to invest in something that can’t miss and provides great returns.
OR
3.) Someone you know is in trouble and needs you to send them money to get them out of trouble.
4.) You have to act now!

Your defense is quite simple. JUST HANG UP or hit DELETE. I know many of us were brought up that it is rude to hang up on people, but these people are used to it and will just move on to the next number or email address and not think anything of it. It’s also a fact that if you engage them, the longer they can keep you engaged, the greater their chance of hooking you. So don’t engage. Just hang up or hit delete.