Protect Yourself From Scams

A Little Advice To Make You Think Twice.

by Roland Kriewaldt

It's been proven that corporations and politicians are frequently the perpetuators of massive economic fraud and opportunistic deceptions. They can generate billions in revenue, as invading Iraq has done for Haliburton and other companies close to the Bush Administration, and they can also ruin many lives to enrich the already wealthy, as the Enron debacle proved. Yet civilian level scams are probably the most common and directly harmful to us.

The internet has helped to publicize many of the common scams. They include getting fake emails from people pretending to be a company that we do business with. They'll ask us for personal information which they'll use to invade our computers, use our credit cards or even steal our identity. Legitimate companies don't ask for personal information via email, but until everyone knows this fact, there will always be people too naive, trusting, or too distracted to investigate further and protect themselves from such scams.

Another popular scam is perpetuated via a letter or email. We will receive a frantic plea from the "wife" of some dead Nigerian political leader. She always has access to tens of millions of dollars but needs the help of some complete stranger to get to it. Again, the more wishful our thinking, the less we look for clues that could save us a lot of misfortune. We have to keep our feet on the ground when it comes to promises about getting something for nothing.

Some scams are perpetuated by telemarketing fraud. Usually this begins when some overly excited, friendly sounding person calls to congratulate us on winning a trip to Florida or some other prize. Our first clue should be that we can't win anything without entering contests first. But again, if we want that prize, then the facts will only get in our way.

We never do get our prize. Ever. There will always be some costly condition that we are required to fulfill before the deal can go through. The object for the con artist is to see how many times you are willing to pay before you get wise. The more naive and needy we are, the more trustworthy the person with all the promises seems to become. We create our own downfall in this way, hearing only what we want to hear, and purposely avoiding the warning signs, especially our gut feelings.

We are victims of our own greed. Many of us want something for nothing and this is our downfall because anyone can promise us exactly that and string us along on hope and anticipation. Yet ultimately, they are always the one who gets something, and we get nothing. In fact we lose something. Politics is a great example of this process. Every election some politician sticks a carrot in front of us, whether it's to clean up crime, lower taxes, or save the country from ruin. But when the time comes to deliver on their promises, they rarely do. Usually they lie for the convenience since promises don't cost anything to make and the only way we can get what we want is by giving them what they want first, which is political power. All scams are run this way. Gain trust, make a promise, take the money. Stop returning calls.

Bottom line: we will all learn this lesson the hard way at some point in our lives. It could be from a trusted family member, a close friend, a neighbour, a politician, or a complete stranger. I recall one incident many years ago where I let a neighbour borrow a portable television I owned. I was going away for the weekend and when I returned, this person had moved. And they took my tv with them. Surprise. Life will always keep us on our toes until we learn to pay better attention. Maybe we need a Reality Check!