# Scam **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566 "2014-07-07T19:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/21 "2014-07-07T23:04:28Z")
@ **Charlie Wayne** And stop the beating before you land even two punches? Where’s the fun in that? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/22 "2014-07-08T00:22:27Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Most people have older relatives who eventually will suffer from dementia. > > People with even a tiny bit of dementia do not deserve to get cheated. Yes, yes; let the record state that I am not in favor of having people with dementia fleeced for $500. I would have thought that would go without saying, but thanks for providing the opportunity for clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/23 "2014-07-08T00:36:31Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Except for the part where the scammer shows up, in person, at your door. That’s the part I’m having trouble believing. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/24 "2014-07-08T00:55:48Z")
WARNING!! If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and they ask you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO THIS! THIS IS A SCAM! They only want to see you naked. I wish I’d gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid!☹ ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/25 "2014-07-08T01:26:23Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > WARNING!! If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and they ask you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO THIS! > THIS IS A SCAM! > They only want to see you naked. > > I wish I’d gotten this yesterday. > I feel so stupid!☹ _Exactly!_ We don’t care HOW many free boxes of Do-si-dos she throws in. Don’t Be Fooled!!! ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/26 "2014-07-08T14:39:33Z")
May I make a correction,please?? The courier would be at your front door with the check after you sent them the $500.00 Another brainfart ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/27 "2014-07-08T14:46:53Z")
In other words, it’s exactly the advance fee scam. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/28 "2014-07-08T14:53:49Z")
Wow, how fast is mail service where you live? Most places I’ve been, five minutes wouldn’t seem to be a reasonable amount of time for the check to be delivered. It’d be worth putting up with the occasional scam phone call to get that level of service. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/29 "2014-07-08T15:03:24Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I had people from Jamaica calling me for MONTHS with this scam. I kept telling them I knew they were scammers, I kept telling them to quit calling me, and they would not give up. They called at all hours of the day and night, they became more and more incensed, as if _I_ was inconveniencing _them_ by not responding to their solicitations. They swore at me, they swore at my 85-year-old mother. I contacted the FCC, I contacted the local police, but nobody would do anything about it. Finally, thankfully, they gave up, but it must have been about 18 months of horror. > > And I always knew it was them because they always asked for “Mister ReeSHARD”. Don’t take this as victim-blaming, but I can’t fathom why you continued to answer the phone and engage with them rather than use caller ID and/or voicemail (or an answering machine) to screen your calls, or at the very least hang up on them immediately rather than try to reason with them. Like stalkers, scammers tend to lose interest faster if they get nothing every time they call. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/30 "2014-07-08T15:08:51Z")
I don’t have $500 cash but I can cut you a money order for $2000. Give me $1500 back and we’re square. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/31 "2014-07-08T19:56:21Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Don’t take this as victim-blaming, but I can’t fathom why you continued to answer the phone and engage with them rather than use caller ID and/or voicemail (or an answering machine) to screen your calls, or at the very least hang up on them immediately rather than try to reason with them. Like stalkers, scammers tend to lose interest faster if they get nothing every time they call. Shockingly, not everyone has caller ID. I don’t see the point behind it, and I"m not willing to give my “too small to compete, so you get your own monopoly” phone company another $5/month for a service I don’t really want. If the phone rings, answer it. I don’t play the “Can I ask who’s calling” or the “He’s not here” game either. (43yo btw, so I only yell at my own kid to get ON my lawn.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/32 "2014-07-08T20:35:56Z")
These scams are getting so devious and tricky, anyone could fall for them! Which is why I’m going to offer any Dopers (guests as well as members) my patent pending scam-buster device for the low, low, low fee of $9.95 a month for seven months, billed automatically to your credit card to make it simple, fast, and above all safe! Now, I can’t get into the science behind this device, since I am not a physicist, but lordy I’ve seen it work and now _you can too_!!! Send me a PM today before midnight and we can complete your paperwork. Operators are standing by! Don’t be scammed again!!! ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/33 "2014-07-08T22:21:01Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > Sorry - I live in a very small town with a population of uneducated old people… the info came from the Police. We try to look out for the gullable,but they want to believe. Did you get the information from the police directly (police giving a lecture that you were present at, obviously genuine police poster, genuine police website, Crime Stoppers episode, etc.) or did whoever/wherever you got the information from\*\* tell you\*\* that it came from the police? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566/34 "2014-07-08T22:42:40Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Don’t take this as victim-blaming, but I can’t fathom why you continued to answer the phone and engage with them rather than use caller ID and/or voicemail (or an answering machine) to screen your calls, or at the very least hang up on them immediately rather than try to reason with them. Like stalkers, scammers tend to lose interest faster if they get nothing every time they call. 1-They spoofed the caller id. 2-We had to answer the phone once in a while. 3-We did generally hang up on them once the whole thing started. But they would call back, over and over and over again, even if we didn’t answer the phone. 4-Yeah, they lost interest. AFTER 18 MONTHS!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scam/692566.md?page=1)