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the holy poopacy
May 16, 2009

hey! check this out
Fun Shoe

teh winnar! posted:

Only if you're in Iowa or something. A friend of mine actually teaches a HS computer class in San Francisco, and they're doing coding for Android.

Can confirm. I had a university course that made us turn in programming assignments on floppies, in 2001. Because Iowa.

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Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

teh winnar! posted:

Only if you're in Iowa or something. A friend of mine actually teaches a HS computer class in San Francisco, and they're doing coding for Android.

Public school is a crapshoot everywhere. In metro areas you'll at least get magnet schools where they can pick teachers and students who want to be there, but otherwise your computer teacher is probably less technically skilled than the students.

Not still bitter, decades later.

Sheep
Jul 24, 2003

Straight White Shark posted:

Can confirm. I had a university course that made us turn in programming assignments on floppies, in 2001. Because Iowa.

I had to do my C final with pencil and paper. Writing out code by hand like it was 1973, nary a computer in sight.

Anyways scam question: I bought a house and immediately got inundated with offers of "limited time only insurance!!!" to ostensibly cover some portion of the home's value that wouldn't be covered by normal insurance or something. For the first two months it was madness, a couple of offers in my mailbox every day, but has dropped to zero since. It seems obvious they just collect the public records on property sales every day but I can't figure out why. No bank is going to give you a mortgage without also requiring enough insurance to cover the full tax value of the property so what's the angle?

Rent-A-Cop
Oct 15, 2004

I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!

Sheep posted:

what's the angle?
Junk mail and robocalls are cheap enough that if one person in a thousand is dumb enough to pay then they win.

teh winnar!
Apr 16, 2003

Sheep posted:

It seems obvious they just collect the public records on property sales every day but I can't figure out why. No bank is going to give you a mortgage without also requiring enough insurance to cover the full tax value of the property so what's the angle?

And in some cases, the public agencies actually partner with the insurance providers (while this is more likely to be legit, it's still often pretty drat unlikely you'll need it). Our water company apparently sold their list to an insurance company that sends me notices every other month to sign up for flood insurance.

chemosh6969
Jul 3, 2004

code:
cat /dev/null > /etc/professionalism

I am in fact a massive asswagon.
Do not let me touch computer.

Sheep posted:

No bank is going to give you a mortgage without also requiring enough insurance to cover the full tax value of the property so what's the angle?

You get property through an inheritance or you have enough money to buy something outright are two off the top of my head.

Something at this price isn't something I'd go through a bank to pay for
http://www.homes.com/property/7116-horseshoe-bend-trail-weatherford-tx-76087/id-500025958921/

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

chemosh6969 posted:

You get property through an inheritance or you have enough money to buy something outright are two off the top of my head.

Something at this price isn't something I'd go through a bank to pay for
http://www.homes.com/property/7116-horseshoe-bend-trail-weatherford-tx-76087/id-500025958921/

Yeah, but the person who'd buy that place very well might have to.

chemosh6969
Jul 3, 2004

code:
cat /dev/null > /etc/professionalism

I am in fact a massive asswagon.
Do not let me touch computer.

PT6A posted:

Yeah, but the person who'd buy that place very well might have to.

Yes, but he was looking for reasons outside of a bank requiring the insurance because of a mortgage.

Konig
Feb 24, 2012

This stink up's mega
bam-bam to the J-Stop
Bringing this back down to small-time scams, a common one performed by students at my uni (and indeed skint people everywhere) is ringing up more expensive per-weight items like fruit and vegetables as cheaper ones (onions was common where I studied) at the self-service checkout. There were a dozen ways to rationalise this shoplifting behaviour.

unknown
Nov 16, 2002
Ain't got no stinking title yet!


Fun scam I've heard of recently.

Person rents a place using AirBnB for a couple of days, posts rental a listing for occupancy in a month or so and does a viewing/open house.

People multiple go, love the place - gives a deposit to the "landlord" (generally last month's rent) who cashes the checks and runs (takes from multiple future "tenants").

4 weeks later when they come to move in, loads of people are there and there's a pissed off building owner dealing with screaming people.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

It's pretty common in Stockholm where first hand rental apartments are like unicorns. Friend of mine was looking for an apartment and walked in on that scam, but he saw enough red flags that he never gave them any money.

Old Binsby
Jun 27, 2014

unknown posted:

Fun scam I've heard of recently.

Person rents a place using AirBnB for a couple of days, posts rental a listing for occupancy in a month or so and does a viewing/open house.

People multiple go, love the place - gives a deposit to the "landlord" (generally last month's rent) who cashes the checks and runs (takes from multiple future "tenants").

4 weeks later when they come to move in, loads of people are there and there's a pissed off building owner dealing with screaming people.

Yeah this one I know, a friend who was in great need of a place to live fell for it in Amsterdam. Awful really, they could handle a month's rent or deposit or whatever but it's such a nasty way to be taken advantage of. The timing of moving in can be stretched over the course of a week or so, they never met any other victims. Preying on the desperate is a great way to scam someone, as that group will take a little more risk usually, but they're also the one least equipped to deal with it financially (usually).

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

The housing rental sections of my local Craigslist are lousy with scams and discrimination. I was looking to move earlier this year and it was a ridiculous slog to wade through all of the scammers and morons. And I think the nature of the housing section is such that the Craigslist flagging system doesn't work very well. What I mean is that other sections of the site are ones that people might watch on a regular basis, for example used musical instruments or video games or contracting work, so you would get a critical mass of people for the flagging system to take effect. But with housing people aren't going to sit and browse for fun, they're going to start looking when they need a new place, and stop when they find one. Combine this with the (IMO) dangerously low level of knowledge people have about rental rights, and you get the cesspool that is my local housing ads section :/

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug
Housing anywhere that people actually want to live is an absolute poo poo show right now. The demand in too many places exceeds the actual supply and AirBnB is just loving things up even worse. Anything involving money at all is going to end up with scammers in it but good god drat is housing a wreck right now.

Craigslist is...not a place I would go for renting. Ever. I tried that when I moved here and got really, really tired of wading through pages and pages of blatantly obvious scams, listings in bad neighborhoods that said they were in good neighborhoods, and the rampant housing discrimination.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

ToxicSlurpee posted:

Housing anywhere that people actually want to live is an absolute poo poo show right now. The demand in too many places exceeds the actual supply and AirBnB is just loving things up even worse. Anything involving money at all is going to end up with scammers in it but good god drat is housing a wreck right now.

Craigslist is...not a place I would go for renting. Ever. I tried that when I moved here and got really, really tired of wading through pages and pages of blatantly obvious scams, listings in bad neighborhoods that said they were in good neighborhoods, and the rampant housing discrimination.

I would love to hear an alternative that you could actually find housing from.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

Thanatosian posted:

I would love to hear an alternative that you could actually find housing from.

I found my current apartment on apartments.com, actually. It has its own issues but isn't half as awful as craigslist.

None of what I found there was listed on craigslist at all.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

I included roommates/rooms-to-rent in my search so that made things like Craigslist and "walking around neighborhoods i liked to try and spot for-rent signs" a necessity. i eventually found a good place, it just took a lot of dead ends and dealing with idiots to find it

stringball
Mar 17, 2009

Moving services are also plagued with scams/theft/careless movers who break poo poo do a bunch of unfortunate people have been double scammed/conned when moving

Hell, searching "moving scams" brings up it's own world of fake reviews and fake websites that link to lovely places

stringball fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Dec 22, 2016

Haifisch
Nov 13, 2010

Objection! I object! That was... objectionable!



Taco Defender

Thanatosian posted:

I would love to hear an alternative that you could actually find housing from.
Padmapper is good - it scrapes several sites and displays the results on a map so you can see where poo poo is.

The only time Craigslist's ever come up in a housing search is when a place I was already looking at had a listing there(so I knew they were still available).

Balqis
Sep 5, 2011

I'd love to not use craigslist, but a lot of the realtors in my area use it almost exclusively, and even when they crosslist its often the ad that is the most up to date. Once you get good at recognizing the scams, and not giving into the urge to put down a deposit right away until you've done some independent research, it's not so bad.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

With a little experience, it's easy to spot the scams. I once had to correct a naive university student who was trying to rent out her room from afar while she was on holidays. It had all the hallmarks of a scam, but it was clear from our correspondence that she was just completely clueless.

Unfortunately there is a certain percentage of folks who will always be unprepared for scams or simply lack the intuition, so the problem will never go away entirely. A friend of mine has been conned twice in the past 6 months with flatshares and it will probably happen again.

In his case, the first contract had an agreement that they would have a shared food budget of about $450 a month on food. His roomie would then promptly blow it all on expensive organic food and alcohol and insist that my friend pay for his own food for the rest of the month.

The second time, he was paying almost twice the legal amount for a room in a rent controlled apartment, living with an angry 70-year old hoarder that forbid him from using the kitchen.

He went into both of these situations with open eyes and a blind trust that it would just work out.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Sorry to necro this, but I'm curious, and have learned a lot about how scams work from this thread!

These CL ads in the jobs/gigs/labor section are sketchy as gently caress; but what's the angle?

http://roanoke.craigslist.org/lbg/5977451589.html

http://roanoke.craigslist.org/lbg/5977181149.html

http://roanoke.craigslist.org/lbg/5976880123.html

The "loading a warehouse" one, I might guess they're getting patsies to move stolen/fenced goods; the others... I don't know, you show up at a remote place and get robbed? But I'm checking the "gigs" section of CL because I have no job and therefore no money, so that wouldn't really benefit them. Anyways, I'm stumped about these.

Over in the apts for rent, found a ridiculous scam. Ad looked like most others for this area, price seemed to match the pic of the house. Emailed the supposed owner of the rental home, who then sent a novel-length reply about how he was a pastor called to missionary work in Texas and had to move quickly, so he was renting it to a good Christian person. If we sent the deposit by FedEx/DHL, he'd overnight the keys. As if that didn't set off bells to anyone with two brain cells rubbing together, I looked on streetview out of curiosity and house in the address he stated in the email didn't even remotely match the picture in the ad. Was kinda tempted to string the guy along for p-p-powerbook fun but decided it wouldn't be worth it.

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

My GUESS would be that you show up and they lowball you on the labor and/or pile on lots of bullshit. Like "clearing leaves in the back yard" turns out to be storm debris in a three acre field that happens to be behind their house.

A lot of the people answering those kinds of things are either illegals or don't want the cops involved in their lives, so I could easily see part of this being that at the end of a day of backbreaking labor they decide you "did a bad job" or whatever and pay you a fraction of the advertised wage.

The "food provided" angle sets off major red flags for me that their preferred work force is illegals homeless and meth heads.

As an added wrinkle I wouldn't be surprised if the people throwing these adds up essentially subcontract labor. Agree to unload a warehouse for $1500, put out advertising for people to do it for less, then gently caress them on the wages because they're vulnerable members of society. Worst case a bunch of college kids who are willing to call the cops show and you break even.

Again that's all my cynical guess.

bongwizzard
May 19, 2005

Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"
Grimey Drawer
I used to work for this super shady touring bridal tradeshow and after the first year we all demanded absurd raises. The owner gave in but slashed our crew budget so the production manager had to post CL adds to find a crew every weekend.

We ended up getting a Hells Angels dude one time and from then on we would just hire his entire chapter to do the show in that city.

therobit
Aug 19, 2008

I've been tryin' to speak with you for a long time

bongwizzard posted:

I used to work for this super shady touring bridal tradeshow and after the first year we all demanded absurd raises. The owner gave in but slashed our crew budget so the production manager had to post CL adds to find a crew every weekend.

We ended up getting a Hells Angels dude one time and from then on we would just hire his entire chapter to do the show in that city.

I would read a thread and or many posts about Hells Angels doing a bridal show. Just sayin'.

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

bongwizzard posted:

I used to work for this super shady touring bridal tradeshow and after the first year we all demanded absurd raises. The owner gave in but slashed our crew budget so the production manager had to post CL adds to find a crew every weekend.

We ended up getting a Hells Angels dude one time and from then on we would just hire his entire chapter to do the show in that city.

Costs are down 20% from last year but stabbings are up 100%. Don't rehire the Stones.

bongwizzard
May 19, 2005

Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"
Grimey Drawer

therobit posted:

I would read a thread and or many posts about Hells Angels doing a bridal show. Just sayin'.

Not much to tell, they were a pretty good crew. Always arrived on time and while the club president was very much a nonworking lead, he kept the rest of the guys in line. Only shady incident was when A guy forgot to stash his gun and it fell out while he was running cables under a stage. But he just snuck back under during the show and got it and no one saw him.

ugh its Troika
May 2, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
I've always liked the "sell your game account to an idiot teenager, then email support the next day and say your account was hacked" shtick.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

JacquelineDempsey posted:

Over in the apts for rent, found a ridiculous scam. Ad looked like most others for this area, price seemed to match the pic of the house. Emailed the supposed owner of the rental home, who then sent a novel-length reply about how he was a pastor called to missionary work in Texas and had to move quickly, so he was renting it to a good Christian person. If we sent the deposit by FedEx/DHL, he'd overnight the keys. As if that didn't set off bells to anyone with two brain cells rubbing together, I looked on streetview out of curiosity and house in the address he stated in the email didn't even remotely match the picture in the ad. Was kinda tempted to string the guy along for p-p-powerbook fun but decided it wouldn't be worth it.

I think we've discussed this scam before ITT, but this one has some elements I haven't seen before. I haven't ever seen one where the person claims to still live in America, nor have I seen one where they ask for the deposit via FedEx. The "good Christian renter" angle is unique too. All the scams I've seen like this involve bank transfers and people who supposedly live in a foreign country but own this house back home.

many johnnys
May 17, 2015

Lutha Mahtin posted:

I think we've discussed this scam before ITT, but this one has some elements I haven't seen before. I haven't ever seen one where the person claims to still live in America, nor have I seen one where they ask for the deposit via FedEx. The "good Christian renter" angle is unique too. All the scams I've seen like this involve bank transfers and people who supposedly live in a foreign country but own this house back home.

Nah, the Christian angle is old as heck, I ran into it a bunch even ten years ago. Appealing to religion seems to be a good way to find suckers but the scammers always lay it on so thick.

That might have come out wrong, it's like "oh you're a part of my in-group" which tried to make them look more trustworthy, and a pastor! Doing a religious mission! And offering this opportunity to fellow Christians too! If you find that stuff significant (as many so) is easier to get taken for a ride.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

many johnnys posted:

Nah, the Christian angle is old as heck, I ran into it a bunch even ten years ago. Appealing to religion seems to be a good way to find suckers but the scammers always lay it on so thick.

Can confirm. Back in my Geek Squad days, I'd constantly see people come in with computers infected to hell and back and loaded up with tons of bible quote toolbars and stuff. They were always aghast when I suggested that the people offering such things might not be on the level. Not just old people, either.

Celery Face
Feb 18, 2012

many johnnys posted:

Nah, the Christian angle is old as heck, I ran into it a bunch even ten years ago. Appealing to religion seems to be a good way to find suckers but the scammers always lay it on so thick.
It's also because most of the rental scammers are from West Africa. Usually Nigeria. The pet scammers are mostly from Cameroon.

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007

many johnnys posted:

Nah, the Christian angle is old as heck, I ran into it a bunch even ten years ago. Appealing to religion seems to be a good way to find suckers but the scammers always lay it on so thick.

That might have come out wrong, it's like "oh you're a part of my in-group" which tried to make them look more trustworthy, and a pastor! Doing a religious mission! And offering this opportunity to fellow Christians too! If you find that stuff significant (as many so) is easier to get taken for a ride.

Why would you not lay it on thick though? Like, if I wanna find the densest, least aware person I can, being a little obviously scammy weeds out people who won't go on to be marks.

If you find someone with no ability to tell if you are being genuine or not, then you can really take them for a ride.

Blackchamber
Jan 25, 2005

The christian thing is two-fold. Not just finding an honest trusting renter, but at the same time it tries to establish that the renter himself is an honest person so it can't possibly be a scam.

many johnnys
May 17, 2015

Captain Monkey posted:

Why would you not lay it on thick though? Like, if I wanna find the densest, least aware person I can, being a little obviously scammy weeds out people who won't go on to be marks.

If you find someone with no ability to tell if you are being genuine or not, then you can really take them for a ride.

I didn't even make that connection, it's the rental scam version of Nigerian scammers always saying they're from Nigeria

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Blackchamber posted:

The christian thing is two-fold. Not just finding an honest trusting renter, but at the same time it tries to establish that the renter himself is an honest person so it can't possibly be a scam.

Yeah, you also gotta consider that this particular area is super Bible Belt USA. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University is just a hop away, and I'm not sure what there's more of here: cows or churches. Playing the uber-Christian angle's a smooth move for scammers, I can see some poor naive, brainwashed Liberty grad falling for this. :(

AlbieQuirky
Oct 9, 2012

Just me and my 🌊dragon🐉 hanging out
There's a great book called God Wants You to Roll about scammers that preyed entirely on churches.

Blackchamber
Jan 25, 2005

Big Dan Teague was famous for posing as a Bible salesman and robbing people.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

AlbieQuirky posted:

There's a great book called God Wants You to Roll about scammers that preyed entirely on churches.

American Christianity itself also has scammers baked right into it. The prosperity gospel is a gigantic scam from top to bottom but that doesn't stop people from sending $80 to Reverand Money McRichpants when he literally says on TV "God wants me to have a private jet. He will reward you for helping me achieve that! Tithe generously. Plant a seed and it will grow!"

The "seed" being a series of donations that will totally pay off some day, promise!

And they wonder why Christianity is on the decline in America.

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Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

ToxicSlurpee posted:

American Christianity itself also has scammers baked right into it. The prosperity gospel is a gigantic scam from top to bottom but that doesn't stop people from sending $80 to Reverand Money McRichpants when he literally says on TV "God wants me to have a private jet. He will reward you for helping me achieve that! Tithe generously. Plant a seed and it will grow!"

The "seed" being a series of donations that will totally pay off some day, promise!

And they wonder why Christianity is on the decline in America.

And they wonder why evangelicals think Trump's a good Christian, you mean.

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