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Episode 32 The Con
My email just included a warning about a jury con that is now going around. It works like this:
Most of us take the summons
for jury duty seriously, but enough
people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of
scam has
surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen,
reports
CBS. In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court
official
who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest
because
you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury
coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for
jury
duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and
date of
birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest
warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give
out any of
this information and .... Bingo! Your identity has just
been stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states.
This scam is particularly insidious because they use intimidation
over the
phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending
they're with
the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have
issued
nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
Today those of us with a
computer and Internet Service have
probably all experienced the letters from
One of my favorite –
and I use the words loosely – favorite cons happened
to a coworker of mine in
He had entered into a
partnership to buy a ship. I mean a big
ship. These guys, his partners, had contacts with a United Nations
ambassador
that assured them of a contract with the United Nations to haul food
and
supplies to
He had been in contact with
these guys who had this special deal
going. The owner of the ship was short on cash. He needed money and he
needed
it now. He was offering this ship that was worth 3.5 million dollars
for sale
for just 2.5 million. The contract would go with the ship.
Sam had somehow come to know
these guys in
Sam had sold his house at a
loss to raise cash. He sold his
apartment building at a loss to raise cash. He was drawing out his
Sam had taught for over
twenty years in
It wasn’t long till I
heard the news, or the rest of the story.
Sam had arrived in DC and stopped by the office on Saturday morning.
The demand
for money had been pushed up. The seller was desperate. If they could
get the
money that day to the seller he would cut another half million dollars
off the
selling price. Sam delivered the cash to his new business partners. The
following Monday they would meet at the office and go over all the
details and
their future.
The office never opened on
Monday. Sam never saw the guys again.
Sam never saw the money again.
I chanced to run into Sam a
few years past that horrendous experience.
He was walking down the street like he owned the world. I avoided the
subject
of the con. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was
teaching
classes on – and this true - he was teaching classes on how to
succeed in
business.
This is Retirement Talk.
A resource from a listener: Best Free Online Degrees for Seniors guide is designed to assist seniors who aspire to enhance their intellect or consider starting a new career path. It features an overview of the top online degrees for seniors, emphasizing their numerous advantages, and a broad range of subjects to choose from. A friend's website: Terra Firma Designs: Fine Furniture, Stained Glass and woodworking workshops. Copyright 2010 RetirementTalk.org |
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