Con-Men, Griftters, Matchbox Men, Thieves - can't hate them so much...
 

I heard recently that someone in our town got taken by a con-man. Pretty sophisticated scam. This couple wasn't dumb but they were looking for a nice turnout of cash that didn't require much money - problem was, it was too good to be true. I can't provide much more info yet as the law is now involved in the investigation but it does raise a point - generally smart folk can and sometimes do fall victim to scams. Not the typical crap but rather sophisticated ones.

I really do not like crimminals of any kind but the ones I have the highest amount of tolerence for are those who actually have put in a good amount of thought and effort into the crime. They still should be punished - don't get me wrong.

I will have to add that anyone who takes advantage of old people, poor people or people who do not have all their wits about them should be punished to the fullest extent of the law then some.

Those that have figuered out how to scam the Gov system actually are not lazy or stupid. It takes work and focus. I don;t like the idea that someone has scammed the gov out monies we paid into - thos people should be prosecuted for sure.

But ya gotta love a good caper...or at least appriciate the energy and thought even if it is misplaced.

I thought you were going to describe Las Vegas.

I thought you were going to describe anyone that bought real estate in the last five years.

HEY I resent that, I bought RE in the past 5 years....and in LV...

But you're a pelican, so your house can't go down in price, "it is different."

When half way intelligent people get scammed out of money, it's due to greed. I saw a bit on something like 60 Minutes once about con men. It had a guy in prison telling how he used to do it. He did all of his stuff over the phone and recorded all of the calls. He said it's all about greed, and after listening to some of the phone calls, I must agree. "Legitimate" telemarketers call and use the same tactics. "You want to save money, don't you?" "You want to have more money, don't you?"

Great commercial heard today on Sirius Maxim Radio, "Get rich flipping real estate, buy my book and find out how".

I am thinking of writing a get rich quick book and selling myself.

one of the local homeless vermin had a pretty clever scam. he'd route through the dumpster behind the local big electronics store. find a box that said DVD player, or something along those lines. put a brick in it, tape it back up nice. and stand by the freeway on-ramp yelling $20. amazing how many people fell for it.

That reminds me of the guys selling Audio gear out of the back of their van at gas stations on Friday.

They are still running around here in Florida.

i almost fell for that one. guy in a van pulls up to me as i'm leaving work. he tells me that he just delivered some high end speakers to the studio next door. but there was a problem wiht the invioce. he had 8 speakers, but was only had to give them four. would i like to by them for $100 each?

i'm not a stereo expert, but i know the look of something slapped together out of crap parts, and declined.



i recognized later, the con was based on involving me in something illegal. people who fall for it ignore the obvious problems because they're distracted by the bigger, it's been stolen, problem.

"Omni Audio".

Yep, I got their sales pitch too - this was back when I lived in Chicago.

**Walks into my office, he sees me sitting on my 2nd in commands office**

"Hey buddy, you like Steaks?"

"No, I hate Steaks they suck"


**Stands there and blinks, speechless, walks back out**


This is not the 1st time either, they come in with a story how their boss told them to sell the load because the refrigerator is broke at work, blah, blah, blah..... If I want horse meat I'll buy it from Alpo.

I once got a suit from the back of a truck when I was in college - real nice Brooks Brothers. I paid $20 for it. The guy had maybe had 300 of them. They were as hot as Texas pavement in August.

I wish I could fit into it now...

I once had a lot of trash I wanted out of my garage...but the dump was closed.
So, I put it all in an old lawnmower box, gift wrapped it...left it in the back of my pickemup when I parked downtown. When I came out of the tavern, some badass had stolen my trash!

That's awesome.

I might have to load up on empty Hitachi Plasma TV boxes from behind the Best Buy tonight. Entertainment for hours, and I get to be rid of my trash. :)

There was a scam awhile back where a woman would call a gas station or mini-mart saying she had been there earlier and lost her diamond earrings, was on her way down to look for them, and was offering a $200 reward for whoever found them.

A few minutes later, a guy walks in with a pair of "diamond" earrings that he "found" by the gas pumps. The clerk tells him a woman is coming with $200, the guy says he's in a hurry but if the clerk gives him $100 out of the register the clerk can keep the other $100 from the reward. Of course nobody shows up and the clerk is stuck w/ cheap earrings, minus the $$ from the till.

Classic dressing up a turd trick, nice.

this guy I know that worked for a nationally known investment chain started a pyramid scheme around town offering up to 40% quarterly on investment. raked in 16 million from lawyers, bankers, judges, doctors, businessmen over a few years. I personally knew many that "invested" 160k to 3-400k and more. some made money at first, most lost everything later. the con man got 2-4 years in jail, back out on the street and living large. wanted me to put in a pool and didn't blink an eye when I gave him the price. he was throwing away about 25K a month gambling. A while later I was installing a pool for a FBI man investigating the case. we sat down and I gave him a list of people that had invested he didn't know about. Funny how only the 3-4 people that filed charges were the only ones who's names made the paper.

I got the idea from a buddy who'd killed a possum for his dad...he put the possum in a pressure washer box in the back of his pickup...stopped off at the grocery store on his way home, and somebody had stolen the dead possum!

Johnco mentioned pyramid scams. A friend got caught in one...poor sap wanted me to join in. Part of his sales pitch, when I said no was: "You're telling me you have enough money?" I looked him straight in the eye, and said: "MORE than enough, and I want to keep it." End of sales pitch....

I agree, greed is what makes someone a mark for a con man. Just as ego makes one a mark for a pool hustler.

We recently had a professor from the University of Miami get taken by the Nigerian advance-cash scam. He was in trouble with the law as he cashed the "check" they sent him.

Forget that he was a college professor. How does ANYONE in this day/age get taken by the Nigerian scam?