|
|||
|
Back to the Forum Archives The media people are forever warning us seniors that we have to watch out for con men. These people prey on seniors they say. The reporters put on a very sad face when they do this. They act very distressed that seniors are so easy to con. Then they do a feature about two or three seniors who got caught in a local con. What they don't show you is the three hundred thousand other seniors who live in the same area and did not get caught in the con. It's all bull. Seniors are not as easy to con as teenagers. The reason is simple. We have a great deal more life experience. We have already been conned a few times when we were younger. We know the trite truth. If it sounds too good to be true it is. There are some kinds of people who are easy to con. Some of these are the simple minded people who never learn. They were easy to con all of their lives and will continue that way until they die. These are often people who really do believe in magic. They believe they can get something for nothing. These are the very same people who spend enormous sums on lottery tickets. Others are those people who are good hearted, but naive. It is all but impossible too protect people with this kind of naivety. There are really only three kinds of cons. If you think about it you will realize all the other cons are simply variations on these three forms. First is the, "I'll give you something for nothing" con. These often work on people who have enough larceny in their own soul to fall for a con that tells them, in one way or another, they can get a free ride, or they can cheat and get away with it. This con can also take the form of, "I'll do the job cheaper than anyone else." It's the same con. "Something for nothing." The classic of this con is what is called the pyramid scheme. You receive a letter telling you to send a certain amount of money to several other people. The letter provides you with a list. Then you are to add your name to the list and send the letter to ten other people who you know. Then you just wait for the bucks to roll in. There are many variations on this theme. One is where you become a salesman and recruit other salesmen, but you never really sell anything. You just recruit more salesmen. Any time you are recruited to a group, asked to pay a fee, and urged to recruit others watch out. There are also investment swindles that work in a way similar to this. It's always a "something for nothing" concept. The most evil of these investment swindles are the state lotteries. They pander to a virulent and destructive form of human pathology. They promise huge riches for a very small investment. Many people gamble away their entire life saving on these lottery cons. Casinos, of course, are of the same nature. They pander to human pathology. Many outfits run a variation of the "I'll do the job
cheaper," con. I have been caught in a couple of these.
Here are some rules to protect yourself. The second kind of con is the "Pity me" con. These are played by people who make a great deal of effort to appear as people in need for some reason or another. Often they will appear as hapless victims of some kind of dire or unfortunate circumstances. They count on human kindness to help them out, with money if course. One variation of this is where a person, usually a young woman, approaches you in a parking lot or other public place. She has this story of how her car ran out of gas and she needs a buck or two to buy a can of gas. There is no offer to pay back the money. It's just begging of the "Pity me," variety. Another variation is the kid at your door selling magazine subscriptions to work his way through college. It is a straight con. If you give him money, kiss it goodby. There are no magazines. Another variation is the little old lady at the door. She has knit some baby booties or some such that she is selling to pay her rent. My dear mother. Gord rest her soul, was a ready and frequent victim of this one. She was as kind hearted as she was naive and was always ready to help those who were less fortunate than she. Considering her own life I would be hard pressed to think of someone who was less fortunate than she. Hand to mouth was her way of life. She raised six kids through the great depression. Our father, through no fault of his own, was struggling to find work. Poor as they were they were too proud to ask for aid, though they would easily have qualified. Yet, through all of that, that naive woman could be conned by a man of the cloth with just a few words about the unfortunate others of the world. Men of the cloth gets me to the meanest most evil con of the
three. This is the religious con. It is the most profitable and
most common. It is the one played by radio or television evangelists.
The name of the game is,"Send us money and save your soul."
They will often tell you they are building a monument of some
kind to God, usually in the desert someplace. Only gullible religious
people fall for that, but the world is full of gullible religious
people, Anyone who has read scriptures knows that God does not
want monuments. No matter. Most gullible religious people only
pretend to read the bible. The truth is, it's too confusing for
them to understand. These evangelists know that and take advantage
of it. There are many of them around.
|