It’s a helluva world, isn’t it?
Caveat emptor.
One of those old expressions sent down from ancient Rome, it translates as “Let the buyer beware” and basically means if you’re spending your money, be aware that the seller may or may not be honest.
I screen nearly all my incoming phone calls these days, and unless it’s someone I know or are waiting to hear from, I generally don’t answer. It’s either someone asking for money for a charity or trying to sell us something we don’t need.
You’re probably aware of the latest gimmick — extended warranties for automobiles.
Our car is 12 years old and we’re put nearly 147,000 miles on it since we bought it new in 2009 in California.
I’m not saying these people are scam artists, but I’ll guarantee you they expect to get more money from you than they’ll pay out to you. That’s pretty much the meaning of insurance.
That’s a “buyer beware” kind of situation. People ought to know the pluses and minuses when they’re going to spend large amounts of money, but there are situations involving far more peril, many of them online.
All the way back to the early days of email, people got messages about some guy, usually in Nigeria, who needed help getting millions of dollars out of the country. This was one of the bigger scams, because the target would be required to go to Nigeria, where he would be taken hostage and not released till a large ransom was paid.
Far more insidious were various forms of identity theft, usually involving the capture of personal information used for passwords — favorite pet’s name, mother’s maiden name, etc.
Yeah, yeah. We know all this. What is your point?
My point — such as it is — is that it’s one thing to scam people into buying a legal product by convincing them it’s better than it really is or someone needs it more than they actually do.
That’s caveat emptor.
Or maybe such good salesmanship.
But getting money from people who get nothing in return, knowing that what you are doing is illegal and preying on naivete or stupidity, that’s bad.
And that’s what we’re seeing more and more of.
Way more.