Mini Mag Mar 9 2021

Consumer Scams Continue Increasing

“If you don’t trust somebody, you don’t trust anybody.” Sometimes it seems safest to not trust anyone, but it’s essential to have certain senses of confidence. Yet with all of the crooked doings going rampant nowadays it sure is hard to know exactly what to believe. Evidently many face the same situation, at least the truly honest folks, because stories about scams are reported daily. Even if correspondence appears to be from a known acquaintance, it still may not be honest. Emails coming with friends names on them yet having a peculiarity are typically not too hard to identify. But last Friday, an email came up with a colleague’s name on it. Wording didn’t seem quite the norm, but response was made without much thought. Sure enough, the almost immediate return verified another scam. There was a request to buy something without funds to pay for it or reason for the purchase. Immediately the emails were deleted. Impossible to figure out exactly how all scams work and how there can be profit from those doing the soliciting. Whatever, they are making a dishonest buck doing nothing but cheating. Daily media of every kind promotes handfuls of dishonest opportunities such the attorney general’s office can’t keep up with them. Most prolific phone calls are offers to renew car warranties on 30-yerar-old vehicles. Even a poor money manager ought to be able to figure that crooked deal out, but obviously not all people do. Medicare and Social Security are essential for many, especially senior citizens. Yet several times every day prominent spokespersons promote how much more is available. They claim all one has to do to get it is give personal private information.