This ‘n’ That
Nicky De Lange
Well-meaning friends occasionally forward me e-mails warning about some scam or dangerous event I might encounter. I know as soon as I read the first paragraph of the cautionary tale that it’s one of those never-ending “urban legends” that seem to circulate repeatedly.
Just to be sure, I always check out the truth – or lack of it – with my favorite urban-legend website, Snopes.com.
Snopes stays up to date with all the squirrelly nonsense that seems to spread across the net. The scams are criminal, while the “warnings” are just someone’s idea of how to scare innocent, trusting folks who in turn pass the message along, with the best of intentions.
The “warning” e-mails usually tell about some horrific event that’s happened – or almost happened – to the cousin of a friend’s ex-wife or late son-in-law. Someone thinks, “The sky is falling!” and promptly re-sends it to everyone on his or her contact list.
And so the urban legend goes on, endlessly. Unless you check it out on Snopes.com or some similar legitimate site.
I recently checked in at Snopes and found some of today’s most popular scams.
You’ve probably heard of the Nigerian scam. It’s gotten so much publicity that it’s become something of a joke but, in spite of that, some reasonably intelligent folks fall for it.
Here’s the gist. A wealthy foreigner contacts you out of the blue saying he needs help moving millions of dollars from his homeland, promising you a hefty percentage of this wealth just for your assistance.
Ri-i-i-i-ight. And how did this unknown foreigner select lucky you?
First, you’ll need to furnish him with very important info of your own – your bank-account number and other private financial data he’ll need to transfer those millions to you.
Do the words “too good to be true” come to mind? I hope so. There are lots of variations on this scheme. The bottom line is that it IS a scheme.
Another popular way to part you from your money is the “family member in distress” scam. You receive a message from a relative or friend who is traveling and urgently needs money wired to get them out of some serious predicament.
The scammer has just enough information (phone numbers, names, ages) to impersonate someone you know. Grandparents seem particularly susceptible to this scam because they may not be in close enough contact to know where their grandkids are. They want to rescue them and don’t realize it isn’t really them making contact.
Scammers pull this off in various ways including phone calls, e-mails and text messages. Snopes advises trying to get as much information as possible, then contact someone you think will know if there’s any possibility this is a verifiable emergency.
One of the trickiest con games out there is the secret-shopper come-on. There are genuine jobs available for secret shoppers hired by retailers and manufacturers to check out how well their merchandise is marketed and how their customers are treated.
But, unlike ads for fake secret shoppers, you don’t have to send them money for instructional materials, a sign-up fee or some other nonsense. It’s important to remember that scams always ask for money.
Disregard promises of a money-back guarantee. They’re tip-offs that you’re being hustled. Instead, check out the company with Better Business Bureau.
Put snopes.com on your computer’s Favorites or Bookmarks page. Then use it before getting involved with con artists and their scams.