In modern society, greed and desires that seem too good to be true often tempt people into making stupid decisions. Different types of scams are occurring in the United States every year and around the world. Often times people who are in need of making more money or trying to find the best deal often end up being deceived by professional scammers. However, it is not all the time that greed takes over a person’s decision making capabilities. Often times, people who are ignorant on certain policies or do little research on what they are getting themselves into fall right in the hands of these conniving leaches. These leaches drain away people’s personal savings, banking accounts, personal possessions and even their own identities.
Bernie Madoff is in prison serving a 150-year maximum sentence for ripping off investors including individuals and corporations. According the Wall Street Journal (2009), in a period of 20 years, Madoff had defrauded investors of almost $65 billion. These investors were unaware of what they were getting themselves into, and they were unaware of where their money was actually going. Madoff took part in one of the biggest Ponzi Schemes ever recorded in U.S history.
It is important to understand the different type of scams that occur. Many individuals believe that they are incapable of becoming victims of these types of crimes; I thought the same thing until it almost happened to me. I was almost defrauded over an item that I was selling through e-bay. I will later talk about this experience and how it has affects others when I talk about the largest organization that is known for scamming people all around the world. If we do not study this issue, more people will end up losing some, most, or even all of their investments. In this modern age, surfing the internet has become a part of our normal day activities. People rely heavily on the internet which also opens the door to scammers to take advantage of its capabilities.
After looking into the different scams there are, I found it humoring and outrageous to see what kind of ideas people come up with. For example, the New York Post did an article about a con man who went around different restaurants handing out letters that claimed that a waiter had spilled coffee on his coat. Within these letters, the man had included a falsified dry cleaning receipt of $38.50 and demanded that he be paid. One of the owners of these restaurants discovered this to be a hoax after discovering that his brother, who is also a restaurant owner, received the same letter. Who the hell comes up with this stuff? The most disturbing part is that ignorant people fall for scams like these. The video below demonstrates the different types of scams involving the internet and normal people going about their business. We may sit here and tell ourselves that we are not that dumb to fall for such fraudulent schemes, but out of our own unawareness we may become targets in the future and/or become victims.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/laundry_marks_Obx0OhY2uoon2TQKBmAq6O
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123685693449906551.html?mod=djemalertNEWS
