Posted on 04/26/2009 8:30:33 AM PDT by george76
A distraught twentysomething woman called the Better Business Bureau in Louisville, Ky., one day last month. She'd wired $21,000 to a scam artist who had requested the money as "collateral" for a low-interest $100,000 college loan.
Crying hysterically, she told her story but then hung up before giving her name or before anyone could help her.
"The odds of her getting her money back are pretty much zero,"
Many young consumers have lost cash to scams... a quarter of people ages 18 to 34 admitted to losing money in a scam in the past six months. Other research suggests that more than 40% of recent fraud victims are in their 20s and 30s.
Overconfidence on the Web has a lot to do with it... tough times can make people less skeptical .
There's not usually much you can do after the fact:
Never, ever, wire money.
It doesn't matter if you've signed a lease, a contract or any other legitimate-looking form. Scam artists will gain your trust by producing official-looking documents, but when you're asked to wire money it's almost always a sure sign of a scam...
Don't give cash to get cash.
Don't give out personal information if you get a call or email from someone claiming to be from a bank or credit-card company.
"If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
ping. Don’t buy a car. Don’t get a credit card. Don’t take a loan out. Don’t invest in anything without approval from your grandmother first!
How could somebody this stupid walk and breathe at the same time?
She's too stupid to attend college.
Also, if you are scammed, calling the Better Business Bureau is a waste of time. They are completely toothless and impotent. In fact, they more or less cover for illegitimate businesses.
The only thing you can do is make it your hobby for a few years to try to get your money back, or find a class-action suit which is working on the case. The latter is rare in genuine scams, because the lawyers are only interested in class-actions which can bring them money.
The type of scam described here may be controlled from abroad, and for all we know this woman’s money is somewhere in Nigeria by now. “International Law” will do her no good. She just paid for some very, very expensive education.
Where did the $21,000 come from? That would pay four years of local state college tuition, or two years of community college plus living expenses.
Bet anything, from a credit card.
The grandmother knows best
My mother is a Certified Financial Planner, with a long history of prudent investment. Not everything she buys goes up, of course, but she’s never lost an unreasonable amount.
I’ll bet you’re right. I had forgotten people could do that.
Find the scam and put it on the rope.
She’d wired $21,000 to a scam artist who had requested the money as “collateral” for a low-interest $100,000 college loan.
She’s too stupid to attend college.”
Better send her back to about the tird grade, and have her try all those grades and classes first. Someone smarter should be allowed to fill the college seats.
But this is very sad state of things.
RULE #1
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!
A ton of obama voters seem to think so.
Waht levle is taht?
Very sad, this young woman obviously was headed for stardom at one of Americas finest economics schools. Just sad.
Thanks, I needed a laugh.
Hopefully she got the money via a cash advance on her CC. That way BO’s coming CC bailout will rescue her.
Maybe she is the daughter of a girl in a college class of mine back in 1971. It was a health class & we watched a film of a woman giving birth. This young woman (engaged BTW) raised her hand during the question period after the film. In complete seriousness she asked what kept the baby from falling out on the floor.
Good one.
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