Comments on: If You Say You’re Not a Scammer, Does That Make it True?

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:25:29 +0000

Wade, we probably did. I get that sometimes life kicks us and we need a hand up, but don't ask people you don't know! Ask friends, family, colleagues with whom you've communicated.

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:12:30 +0000

Lori, I'm pretty sure we got the exact same email. The boldness of some people really blows me away.

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:23:08 +0000

The sad truth also is that if someone weren't responding to spam it would go away… but it pays and pays and pays.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:59:23 +0000

Allie, I get a lot of those, too. Tiring, aren't they?

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:43:05 +0000

I suppose there are a few masters of manipulation out there. But most of the spammer/phishing types don't have that snake oily quality.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:40:49 +0000

Paula, I wouldn't be so sure. I ran across one once who was so slick he was like Clark Griswald flying down that hill in Christmas Vacation. In less than five minutes, he had told me his story and, without even asking, had found a way to get me to volunteer my time writing a release for him. He wore sincerity in his voice and was way too good at it. Turns out he's a career scam artist who knows which buttons to push and when to back off and just let it happen.

Made me doubt nearly everyone after him.

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:00:15 +0000

I guess my spam filters (e-mail and for the blog) do a good job of screening out the spam (so much so that sometimes legitimate e-mails wind up in my spam folder). Phone calls? I get those all the time.

Yesterday I got one from some vaguely named police-related beneficent fund. First, local news has been full of reports about such scams. Second, when I said I wasn't donating the guy said I'd donated last year. Excuse me? He wouldn't back down in saying how "generous" I was last year, and that it would be great if I could donate again, even just a little. No matter how many times I said I'd never donated to them before, he was insistent that I had. Huge red flag. Another red flag? If I were a past donor, don't you think he would have known my first name - or at least the initial?

The only donations I've made in the past couple of years have been in clothes, winter coats, shoes or non-perishable food items I've given to local clothing and food drives. Oh, I also texted in a Red Cross donation after the Japanese tsunami because I have dear friends in Japan.

My guess is he was trying to get me to agree to "donate" so he could ask me to confirm some credit card information or a bank routing number. After the third or forth time I told him there was no way on earth I had ever donated to them before, he launched into phase two of his pitch and I hung up.

By phone or e-mail, scammers are seldom as slick as they think they are.

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:45:32 +0000

And that was supposed to be scum of the earth-I hope scammers aren't the SUM of the earth. LOL!!

Allie-those "guest bloggers" are spammers in the most annoying fashion!

By: Allie

Allie — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:18:09 +0000

I haven't been spammed like that, but I have had people e-mail me requests to guest post on my blog purely in order to increase their Google backlinks. One even wanted me to provide them a topic to write! If they had looked through my blog at all, they would see I've never accepted a single guest post and they would know what topics I'm interested in covering! I'm all for helping other people grow their business, but not at the expense of my own.
It's a shame that people aren't willing to do any research before sending blind requests.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Cathy, that's hilarious, and all too common. We had an email not long ago from one of the monks in our meditation group. Same thing. Lost his credit cards and had no money. The last part I believe (they take a vow of poverty), but the first part? Yea, they don't carry credit cards. When my husband wrote back and asked what the problem was exactly, the response was "Just help me!"

Big, wildly waving red flag.