There are more good people in the world than con artists, crooks, or predators, but the con artists, crooks, and predators are very industrious. Taking your money and good name is their business and business is always good. A single bad apple can cheat scores of people every day. It’s their job and they are experts at it – you’re not going to outsmart them, so don’t try. But you can beat them right from the start by protecting yourself.
The Internet and telephone are your windows on the world and bad people will try to climb in through those windows and steal from you. Here is some advice to help you hold on to your hard-earned cash.
Not all bad deals are illegal; sometimes they are just bad deals like payday loans. Remember if you need a payday loan at their outrageous interest rates, you can’t afford to one. If you can afford to one, you don’t need one. This goes double for the Internet; In other words, forget it or you’ll probably regret it.
Never donate to charities by phone and only donate to charities you know and trust. Do you really know who is on the other end of a phone call?
If you’re on the federal Do Not Call List and get a call from a salesperson or a robocall, they are already breaking the law and they know it. Don’t do business with criminals; don’t even speak to them or press any buttons, just hang up.
No matter what your email says, you did not win the Irish Sweepstakes or any other prize or trip. Your cousin is not stuck in some foreign county needing you to wire him only a few hundred dollars to get home and that princess that needs you to help her claim millions from a bank in Nigeria is a phony too.
EBay, Amazon, PayPal, your credit card company or your mortgage holder are not threatening to close your account via email; it’s a scam to get your password by steering you to a fake site. Never use the link in an email to visit any website even one you know. If you’re worried, just log in as usual from the Internet at home and check to see if you have messages in your account.
If you hold the bag of found money while the other people go into the store to look for the owner, that’s exactly what you’ll be left with – the empty bag. This swindle is 100 years old, but they still pull it off targeting the elderly and immigrants.
Someone who comes to your door with “leftover” materials from another job that they will use to fix your roof or driveway or whatever, is a scam artist. Close the door and call the police. Using any door-to-door contractor is an invitation to be fleeced.
Crews pick up people to be illegal street vendors and promise them a few bucks to sell stuff. The merchandise can be stolen or unsafe. The crews will frequently keep the money and cheat the person who did the selling. Don’t patronize illegal street vendors.
Don’t give any money to street people; they often use it for drugs or alcohol. If you want to help them, donate to your favorite local charity, one that runs a shelter or serves meals.
It’s too bad that there are so many people you can’t trust, but that’s the way of the world, especially in the communications age. Good luck and be careful out there.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
