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RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/27/2008 8:43:41 AM   
MistressMiracle


Posts: 56
Joined: 9/23/2007
Status: offline
what a shame that scams do happen.   A couple of years ago, I had a "Nigerian scammer" attempt to have me send money for a very expensive plane ticket.  At first,  when we were chatting, I was not aware he was a scammer.  When money became the subject of phone calls and IM,  I knew something was wrong.  So, I wasted his time.  I kept telling him I was going to send money in two days.  Then had a foolish excuse why it wasn't sent.  I told him, that Western Union would not send money to him, because of Nigerian scammers.  Of course, the address was Nigeria.  lol. Then, I told him a friend of mine with the FBI was going to wire the money to him.  I continued to make up the most foolish excuses.  In fact, became a game for me.  Finally, I told him directly:  YOU ARE A SCAMMER.  I am forwarding all your info to the FBI.  I imagine I was one of hundreds, or thousands he was writing to. 

(in reply to sweetnurseBBW)
Profile   Post #: 81
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/27/2008 9:20:08 AM   
SailingBum


Posts: 3225
Joined: 12/10/2007
From: Sailin the stormy sea
Status: offline
<quickie>


I must be one of the idiots that doesn't get it.  I have been approched countless times and heard countless stories for cash over the net and as of  today never sent a dime.  Is my bullshit meter better or am I smarter than the average bear.  Um no.  This is common sense folk.  How many times do you have to be told NEVER to send money to strangers.  comon ppl it's posted all over the net HELL it's embedded in the CM mail.  Just say no.

BadOne

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Profile   Post #: 82
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/27/2008 9:21:08 AM   
tsatske


Posts: 2037
Joined: 3/9/2007
From: Louisville, KY
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: JerseyKrissi72
I would never give money to someone I barely know, I just don't have money to throw around like that anyhow lol...


actually, my rule, even with friends and family, is never lend money i can't afford to give away. That seems like it doesn't apply since we are talking about giving money, but it causes one to rethink all handing out money - can i afford this? can i do this without any expectations? ect.

My rule is i believe anything and everything anyone on the internet tells me about themselves, right up until they ask me to bet the farm - which sending money qualifies for.
Then I step outside myself and ask myself what this looks like if i am not wrapped up in it, and i do the testing.

I would have wanted to send the money in a way that allowed me to get it back if it NEVER got picked up, because my first hubby had an international gf when we met (that he had traveled to met and dated several times) (back before the internet, he met her while in her country on buisness). After he and i were together, she wrote and asked for money, and he sent it, but it was never picked up. it would have been bad if he had sent it in a way that it was lost when she didn't pick it up.

I would have wanted to put something in the mail. a check would be ideal, but she would say she had no way to cash it. if you offered to throw in another $20 to cover the fee for cashing, and she said had no ID - i don't know, my point is, if you insisted on using a check, but got very involved in helping her find a way to cash it, you would have had to do some foot work and would have ended up outing her. Perhaps, trying to call the hotel and ask if the manager could help cash, or whatever, and discovering there was no hotel.

Always do the same work, as a Dom, that you would tell any sub to do, in a safety call type of way. Like, if someone gave me a phone number, i always get a backward listing on it. always google people, addresses, ect. I google statements of law not because i am suspicious people are lying but because people are so often wrong about law, and i want to be able to point out to them that they are wrong, which might make their lives a little easier.

A visit is always superior to a 'test period'. What if she was real, and she moved to you for a test period, and there was just no chemistry? Now she is stuck in your state, and homeless and jobless, but you are going to feel responsible. you would end up living with and supporting a slave you had no attraction to, for an indefinate period. Tell her the safety works both ways - does she want to be stuck virtually owned by someone who does not own her, because she has no interest in being owned by them, or vice versa, or both?
Taking the attitude that visits are important and can't be skipped will help you a lot, as well.

Make finding out what they want a requirement. If it is going fast, i know the 'surveys' get trashed on here a lot, but, they are good conversation starters when you are running into conversation blocks - like 'i just want to do whatever you want, really, it doesn't matter to me....' surveys are really only good as a conversation starter, but they can be good for that. send one and tell them they have to fill it out. it could be filled out on line and just emailed when done, taking only minutes of email time. (does anyplace in the US still charge for online time by the minute anymore? really?) Other writing assignments, as well. They can even be done in a notebook, then typed into wordpad, then cut and pasted into email while online.
Keeping contact short should make you feel you are not having sufficent chance to get to know them, so that you push for more, even if you are blinded to the red flags.
The best personal safety rules are the ones that work rather you see the red flags or not, because, sometimes, they are really, really good at it, and you just don't see them.

Sorry that happened to you. You deserve so much more, i hope you find it soon.

_____________________________

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~Dr. Seuss quote

(in reply to JerseyKrissi72)
Profile   Post #: 83
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/27/2008 9:27:23 AM   
camille65


Posts: 5746
Joined: 7/11/2007
From: Austin Texas
Status: offline
I had a stranger on the journal site I use PayPal me money when I was in a very bad spot, it was only $50 but it mattered to me. He insisted on no repayment but eventually I was able to.  

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(in reply to tsatske)
Profile   Post #: 84
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 1:41:22 AM   
RuheMaus


Posts: 142
Joined: 5/19/2007
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Damn scary, this is...

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(in reply to sweetnurseBBW)
Profile   Post #: 85
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 2:56:03 AM   
LadyPact


Posts: 32566
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I find it very interesting that this thread about scamming was brought back from the dead by someone who had a thread regarding having males tribute them yesterday. 

Think on your feet, folks!


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(in reply to RuheMaus)
Profile   Post #: 86
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 3:10:06 AM   
DomAviator


Posts: 1253
Joined: 4/22/2008
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In response to Beverly's comment below - an INSTANT red flag is when a "pilot" is looking for money! Flying is an expensive past time - I fly airplanes and helicopters for both fun and income and you can figure $80 to $140 an hour rental on a single engine prop plane, $160 - $220 an hour for a twin engine prop plane, $200 a hour for a small trainer helicopter or $495 an hour for a real helicopter like a Bell 206. Even if you own the plane, you can figure a minimum of $1200 a year on the annual inspection, maintenence at roughly $100 an hour, and for something like the ubiquitous Cessna 172 a fuel burn of 9.5 gph at $5+ per gallon (110LL Avgas is more expensive then car gas.) People who are pilots won't be begging for money on here...

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bearlee

so of course these scammers tell me they are a pilot with a plane,
 


As for the other warning signs mentioned by other posters - the "living in a motel" thing is really not the issue some make it out to be. For example, here in Houston, there are some extremely well paid people who have been living in motels / hotels / extended stay suites for 6 -9 months as part of the Orion spacecraft project. It is a matter of cost accounting / govt contracting - ie the hotel stay can be billed to the project whereas an apartment couldnt and then the engineers involved would get relocation expenses, paid moving etc from the company none of which would be reimburseable. I myself, while undergoing some training, lived in a hotel for three months. I got mail there, had a drivers license with the address there, etc... (State law was that you had 30 days to obtain a drivers license, vehicle registration etc and the local cops took advantage of the three month training program to build revenue. Sure enough, a month after a class entered they would be pulling over the students with out of state plates for $400 worth of tickets.) 

What I would consider the bigger red flag is merely asking for money. Occupation or temporary living accomadations isnt the issue - when I was living in the hotel I had a very health paycheck including per diem, access to my bank accounts and credit cards, and wanted for nothing. Beware of beggars.

(in reply to Bearlee)
Profile   Post #: 87
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 3:17:25 AM   
RavenMuse


Posts: 4030
Joined: 1/23/2006
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All too easy for people to say "I wouldn't have fallen for it" but then peoples situations are different. I wouldn't but then the UK is a lot smaller would I have maybe fallen for it if I was in the US where distance is so much greater... I have no idea. Personaly I wouldn't put My hand in My pocket till things have started in real life. If they needed help with travel cost, fine but they would need to get here and I'd reimburse them on arrival if needed.... but then, as said I have the luxuary of a smaller country, where that isn't unreasonable.

Hopefully Your OP will help others to not fall for it. A brave post!


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(in reply to SEVADom)
Profile   Post #: 88
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 10:11:48 AM   
BlackPhx


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Joined: 11/8/2006
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Consider that as $350-$500 per person scammed times 3-5 people a week..not a bad payoff all tax free,l and the pwork may seem far less onerous than flipping burgers at McDonalds or flatbacking which she may have done as well.

poenkitten

(in reply to ResidentSadist)
Profile   Post #: 89
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 10:26:33 AM   
BlackPhx


Posts: 3432
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ZapRobo

Necroposting... it's not just for Halloween :) Seriously, who dredges up these two year old postings? :)


Does it really matter whenh the subject is just as relevant today as it was a couple of years back? We have many new members to these boards a veritable carousel of users as people join and drop off on a daily basis. The lesson that Sevadom posted originally is just as valid now as it was then.

Interestingly enough I have never been scammed online regarding money but I have taken some veritable mighty hits in person helping out those less fortunate than I. 2 of them nearly cost me my house supporting them through a bad period when they had niether job or place to live. There was always some reason they didn't get the job they went after..or lost the one they had just gotten. Finally I got fed up and botted them to the curb though again I was overly nice and gave them 2 months warning of eviction date. So why did I do this? When I escaped from my parents, someone helped me. Apartment rent share, food, clothes like I was her own child. I will never forget her or what she did for me, knowing what I was going through and risking everything to help me escape and stay free. She was married, had her own kids one of whom was my firend and she had seen the aftermath of my parents care with her own eyes and been unable to get me help. So, I pay it forward whenever I get a chance.

It got paid forward to me another time when I was stranded in California by a couple who were supposed to supply a plane ticket home, since we were unsure of the return date and I had paid for the ticket out there. Many posters to the usenet group Alt.torture, contributed money, time, car trips and safe places to stay as I was passed hand to hand across the country and safely back home. This is one HELL of a community and has some really special people in it. If you look for the milk of human kindness most palces you can starve before a helping hand reaches out. Most people are very jaded and wary of helping someone they don't or barely know. Withint eh BDSM community and the LARP Gaming Communities I have found some of the most generous caring people around.

Yes there are always going to be people who try to take afdvantage of you, but, the odds are higher you will meet someone who cares. Caution but don't close your heart and always remember..to Pay it forward.

poenkitten

(in reply to ZapRobo)
Profile   Post #: 90
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 11:55:49 AM   
subtee


Posts: 5133
Joined: 7/26/2007
Status: offline
~FR

Okay, I'm not one of those who would ask for money...and I don't live in a motel. Pffft. It's a mini-van. It is kinda old though. It's probably unreliable and I do worry for my safety. And I want to meet you all. Each and every one of you! We've gotten so close, but I'm so far away.

~sigh~

--Tee hee! Wouldn't I would look so cute in, say, a red Mustang convertible?! Of course, I couldn't live in that. I'd have to figure out something then, if ever I could have a dream like that come true. I'd be able to relocate in it though! I just wish we were, you know, physically closer. Because we're definitely mentally close...you all feel it too, don't you?

~sigh~

I'd never ask for a thing! I'm soooooo not like that. But do you know I have never yet, not once spent a couple of weeks or a month at a spa? Having massages, mani-pedi's, gourmet food, tanning...Oh, I love to dream--can't you imagine me pulling up to the spa in my Mustang! With my new outfits? (I couldn't wear old clothes to a spa, sillies!) What a great beginning that would be to prepare me to come to you all. Or any of you.

It's good to have dreams...just like I dream and hope and wish so earnestly that we could just...be together!

I wonder if...

~sigh~


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Don't believe everything you think...

(in reply to BlackPhx)
Profile   Post #: 91
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 12:04:56 PM   
BlackPhx


Posts: 3432
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline
Ahh my dear I suspect we shall indeed have to meet at that Spa...they won't let you in without me you see, so we might as well go shopping while we are at it.

(checking mapquest and credit limits)

I will need a new wardrobe...subs may only wear oil and herbal rubs at this Spa and you shall be such a heroic sub.

(licking lips and savoring the sweet scent of marinad...umm...massaged sub)

I can see it now as you sacrifice everything to have that Mustang and save me money on gas at the same time, hitching yourself up to it and digging in to pull it forward at highway speeds. You are really just too good to me, I am so glad I have found you.

(Hiding bit and horse harness behind back)

*Blink* Oh Damn...you have to serve all of them FIRST? Shoot!!! Master and I were looking forward to your visit, the cage was all ready and in the bed of the truck for hauling you off to the Spa...DAYUMMMMMM!

poenkitten

(in reply to subtee)
Profile   Post #: 92
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 12:13:42 PM   
parttimehotty


Posts: 4002
Joined: 11/19/2007
From: Virginville
Status: offline
Uh, OP, I want to serve you anywhere in the world. All you have to do is send me the $$ to travel to your desired destination and I"m yours.

Sorry, but no pity here. I know this thread is OLD, but since it has been "revived", I have to say that I've laughed at several posts that seem to indicate they've been living in Lala Land where nothing bad happens and you can send $$ to people you've never even met before! Let me give YOU some $$...Here's a some change buy a clue.


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(in reply to BlackPhx)
Profile   Post #: 93
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 1:54:48 PM   
vivere


Posts: 8
Joined: 4/23/2008
Status: offline
Well, for me......I wouldn't want to fall for anyone who would relocate immediately.  Doesn't that mean that the person has absolutely no life, if they are willing to leave it immediately for a relative stranger,. wonderful as the stranger may be?  Do you really want to pursue someone with no life of their own?  That's the part I don't get.

vivere

(in reply to parttimehotty)
Profile   Post #: 94
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 3:01:24 PM   
BlackPhx


Posts: 3432
Joined: 11/8/2006
Status: offline
Double checking here Pip that you were just bouncing off my post, with a quick reply. At no point have I ever said go ahead send money, I did relate something tthat happened to me, and aid I have given others, but I don't send anyone money blindly and only once sent myself that way trusting in the Doms  keeping their word. They didn't, but others restored my faith by helping me get back home though time, effort and hosting on thier part as I traveled from Stockton California  back to Ocala, Florida with their help.

poenkitten (there are the good and bad in all walks of life..I've been lucky and met mostly the good)

new keyboard...sigh

< Message edited by BlackPhx -- 4/28/2008 3:03:38 PM >

(in reply to parttimehotty)
Profile   Post #: 95
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 6:43:04 PM   
Griswold


Posts: 2739
Joined: 2/12/2007
Status: offline
By the way...your check bounced.

(Wait, did I say that outloud?  Does that implicate me in any way???)

(in reply to SEVADom)
Profile   Post #: 96
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 7:24:55 PM   
cjan


Posts: 3513
Joined: 2/21/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: subtee

~FR

Okay, I'm not one of those who would ask for money...and I don't live in a motel. Pffft. It's a mini-van. It is kinda old though. It's probably unreliable and I do worry for my safety. And I want to meet you all. Each and every one of you! We've gotten so close, but I'm so far away.

~sigh~

--Tee hee! Wouldn't I would look so cute in, say, a red Mustang convertible?! Of course, I couldn't live in that. I'd have to figure out something then, if ever I could have a dream like that come true. I'd be able to relocate in it though! I just wish we were, you know, physically closer. Because we're definitely mentally close...you all feel it too, don't you?

~sigh~

I'd never ask for a thing! I'm soooooo not like that. But do you know I have never yet, not once spent a couple of weeks or a month at a spa? Having massages, mani-pedi's, gourmet food, tanning...Oh, I love to dream--can't you imagine me pulling up to the spa in my Mustang! With my new outfits? (I couldn't wear old clothes to a spa, sillies!) What a great beginning that would be to prepare me to come to you all. Or any of you.

It's good to have dreams...just like I dream and hope and wish so earnestly that we could just...be together!

I wonder if...

~sigh~



*Slips a couple or five $100 bills into tee's g-string*

Pssst, spend it fast, I just printed them. You will have some headstart time in Iowa.


_____________________________

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A bird will fall ,frozen , dead, from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."- D.H. L

" When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks in to you"- Frank Nitti



(in reply to subtee)
Profile   Post #: 97
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/28/2008 10:09:49 PM   
Poetryinpain


Posts: 341
Joined: 3/20/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: BlackPhx

Double checking here Pip that you were just bouncing off my post, with a quick reply. At no point have I ever said go ahead send money,


After scrolling up and down the pages all the way back to the old part of the thread, I realize that you mistook someone else for me [grin]

I would certainly never think that you would endorse blindly sending money to unknown folks. From all your posts, I have the impression that you have your head pretty firmly attached and in good working order.

pip, thanks for thinking of me, though


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(in reply to BlackPhx)
Profile   Post #: 98
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/29/2008 9:52:28 AM   
SensibleSam


Posts: 77
Joined: 11/17/2007
Status: offline
How do we know that there was in fact a scam? Maybe she was real and maybe she was just trying to be cautious by giving you a fake address. Then after she got the money she changed her mind or decided to join a nunnery or was abducted by aliens or whatever.

The reason for this suspicion is because the "take" of the aleged scam was so low. By your own account she must have spent many, many hours setting all this up. Let's say she invested 20 hours in this scam. That's not a very attractive venture in terms of risk-benefit. Admitedly the only things I know about confidence (wo)men I learned at the movies, but still it seems to me to be a stupid career if it barely beats minimum wage.  I pay the illegal aliens I hire for my yard work more than that. If you were really a victim of a master criminal who was both diabolically clever and well organized, then I must conclude that our moral leaders were indeed correct, "Crime Doesn't Pay".  

The only way for something like this to make economic sense as line of work for a criminal is for there to be many such scams being conducted simultaneously. If for example this phantom con artist was conducting 100 such transactions at once then there would be enough money involved to make it worthwhile. You couldn't actually get rich with 100 parallel scams but you could eke out a living.

We can be pretty sure that there have not been 100 such scams conducted on this site. If there had been they would have been noticed and the forum administrators would have done something about it as they did with the Nigerians.

I don't know what really happened in this particular case. It may have been a scam but if so it was likely created ad hoc. If someone did do all this in the way you relate it would seem to have been a prank rather than a scam. 

(in reply to Poetryinpain)
Profile   Post #: 99
RE: A cautionary tale of a successful scam (warning -- ... - 4/29/2008 10:30:39 AM   
pettingdragons


Posts: 421
Joined: 8/16/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: MistressMaamNH
  support themselves enough to have a full-time job, and a secure place to live....where is the value in any sort of control they may give to Me as their Dominant?   ..they should have been maintaining a "vanilla" life out there as well..can't live in the Dungeon 24/7.
MMNH




Each person is looking for something different in their D/s relationships.
Looking after some Masters is a 24/7 job, so is watching ones childern. i hope you are thinking that they are considered full time jobs and then some.....
Though not usually found in D/s , M/s is usually 24/7. In fact even though i do not currently live with Master...we are 24/7.
just my 2 cents
pamela
**Master Dragons considered slave**

(in reply to MistressMaamNH)
Profile   Post #: 100
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