Scams abound
Forget about the golden rule…
I mean Oregon unemployment is at 9.9% and that doesn’t include February’s ugly numbers…Homeless shelters, food banks, churches are being pushed to the extremes with many families struggling to make ends meet.
So with all of this cheery news out there, what do we see for troubled folks…
Scams…yep here they come. I mean why be nice to people that are in trouble when you can try and rip them off?
The Oregon Attorney General issued a warning to consumers about scams regarding the stimulus packages. Never ceasing to amaze me is the depths that some individuals go in order to take advantage of others in distress. Not the best in humanity here.
So what is the current scam?
Apparently there are some web sites popping up where consumers can pay a small fee to get a magical list about how to apply for stimulus money. All you have to do is punch in your credit card with expiration date, zip code, and that handy three digit number on the back, for the low…low…scam price of $1.99. In return, the “special” members of our human race take your little ol’ credit card number and rack up charges on your behalf.
Special.
Apparently the FTC has received some complaints nationwide regarding this scam so consumers beware. In these difficult times beware of scams such as this one. If you are a troubled homeowner or business owner, I would go directly to the government sources for information.
Clearly some scam artists are saying “Let the games begin…”
Ugh…
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March 9th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
On the one hand, I agree that it’s a shameful thing that so many of our brothers and sisters see a time of plight not as an opportunity to give and assist, but rather to take for others themselves. That’s greed, but you know what? It’s that same sense of greed that makes so many people fall for these scams.
But on the other hand… My parents taught me that you don’t get something for nothing. If it sounds to good to be true, it probabyly is. Where has all this common sense gone?
When I see adds prompting me to pay $249 for a real estate sales program where I buy properties with other people’s money and profit profit profit, or pay whatever for this book and find out how to get FREE money, or any of the other scams that are out there, I simply shake my head and wonder how many people have fallen for it.
But do I feel sorry for them? That’s a hard question to answer. Compassion, perhaps, for I know taking a loss or being lied to really hurts, emotionally and in this case often fiscally. But if we aren’t smart enough to know certain things, then the hard lesson will teach us.
Facebook and Google both are AWASH with the ads screaming “I just got my $12k stimulus check from the government! Find out how you can, too!” I wish the advertisers would refuse to take the ads, but of course they don’t because they want to profit.
Greed.
I go back and reread this and I sound just like I imagine my parents would. ha! I’m still a few years from 40!
(BTW, great blog. Thanks for the great local real estate info.)