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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.

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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. :(

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Lutha Mahtin posted:

even just bad/rancid produce, poorly-produced non-meat products. there's a lot

I just took my first exam towards becoming a certified FDA canning process authority, and if there's one takeaway from that class I got right now, it's fuuuck canned mushrooms. I mean, gently caress em anyways because they have the taste and texture of pencil erasers, but they come up in case studies of botulism more than meat products.

Going back to car repair scams: I've got a few (pretty boring) stories of mechanics trying to fail my car's state inspections over the years with fake poo poo, including one quite similar to the caliper story. I forget the exact issue, but thankfully young dumb me called my car-savvy dad who said "uh, there's no way they'd know that without [details I don't recall], and they don't do that on inspections." This shop had a young woman with a sticker about to expire the next day, and was more than ready to take advantage of easy prey.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Super tangential, but when I moved into my first apartment 20 years ago, my landline had the same or a very close number to Busta Rhymes's old digits. I'm not sure who was more confused, me or the guys on the other end. Kinda makes me wish I still had that number, I could have tons of fun with scammers.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Not quite a scam in the traditional sense, but some thread here (I forget which) posted this article about Kirby vacuum salesmen.

http://www.citypages.com/news/minnesotans-tortured-by-the-vacuum-salesmen-who-just-wont-leave/475781863

The guy who sold a vacuum to a woman for $130 while neglecting to mention it was the down payment on a $2300 vacuum seems pretty scammy. Or at least scummy.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



BigDave posted:

I used to work at Sears, and we had a 20 track CD for the in-store Muzak. About every 45 minutes, Hey There Delilah would play.

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

And Over.

I now hate this song with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

This, but a thrift store and a Kelly Clarkson cd that occasionally skipped. I drat near break into hives if one of her songs comes on the radio.

On the foot fetish tip: at one point when I was desperately broke, I trawled the CL "ETC" ads for just such an opportunity to make quick cash. Replied to a guy who wanted smelly socks from waitresses, $20 a pair. I worked as a dishwasher for the army, and believe me, my feet/socks were probably way more rank after a shift than any waitress. I was even willing to wear frilly girly socks instead of my usual Hanes/Dickies, and would've taken pics proving, yes, I have female feet. But nope, guy very specifically wanted FOH staff. :(

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



I worked as a canvasser for the political arm of the AFL-CIO last year, going door to door (but specific doors on a list, so I already knew the name/s of the people I was supposed to talk to). We were told to still knock on doors with "no solicitors" signs, because weren't selling stuff or asking for donations. It was about a 50/50 split on people with those signs that would either take the couple minutes to answer my three questions, or flip the gently caress out.

I have a fond memory of the one house I had that had a specific NO SALES OR RELIGION sticker. Guy answers my knock, and I broke from script by starting with "Saw your sign, sir! I'm not here to sell you goods OR Gods." He chuckled at that, we had a nice chat, and he let me use his bathroom. We got dropped off by van in various neighborhoods, and hoofed around for 5 hours until the van picked us up. Sometimes that person going door to door legit really just needs to pee, they aren't casing your house, I swear!

It did occur to me that canvassing would be a perfect cover for casing out houses, though. Like, ring the bell and hear some giant dog barking its head off? Scratch that one off the list. See a baby grand piano through the front door glass? Hmm, maybe put a star by that one, they got some good poo poo in there.

Also, and this has nothing to do with door to door scams or crime, but I can't NOT tell y'all this story from those days: I once had a house where, as I'm walking up, I can see there's a guy and his gf/wife watching tv in the front living room. Dude answers, woman seems totally engrossed in the tv (Wheel of Fortune) and doesn't pay me any mind. Nice fella, agrees to talk to me. One of my questions was "When you think about the upcoming governor election, what issue would you say is most important to you and your household?"

Guy answers, "Well, it's just me living here, but [blah blah whatever]" I glance past him at the woman, who is still staring at the tv, chin in hand... and that's when I realize guy is watching tv with a Real Doll. Those things are freakishly life-like, I honestly thought it was a woman who was either trying her best to ignore me so she wouldn't have to answer questions, or just drat intent on solving that puzzle.

I'd pay good money to see how a JW/Mormon would react when they asked to speak with his "wife".

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Eric the Mauve posted:

You are not the first person to have this thought.

A+ post though, would read and chuckle at again

Thank you! :tipshat:

Yeah, it gets a bit monotonous going house to house pitching the same spiel, and I recalled a goon A/T thread from a former pro burglar about casing houses in swank neighborhoods, so I kinda started doing that even though I have/had absolutely no intention of committing a robbery. It was a fun brain exercise while I was hoofing in 90 degree heat up some 1/4 mile, 45 degree grade driveway to a McMansion just to ask "who do you think you might vote for this November?"

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Gotta a crisis here, guys.

So my buddy's iPhone locked up. He used someone else's phone to look up how to get it fixed, and apparently got a scam number. They told him to buy some cards (apps store, iTunes, and Google Play) and give them the card numbers. They kept telling him it would be credited back immediately, and in his panicky state he believed it. He did what he was told, and is now out a chunk of change, because, yep, scam.

He paid via his bank card; is there any hope he is not totally turbofucked?

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



EL BROMANCE posted:

I have Nomorobo. It works to a degree I think. I still get a few slip through but not too many now. I ignore any calls from numbers I don’t have saved/or ordered an Uber or food or whatever.

You mentioning places you order food from reminded me of something from way back.

Roughly ten years ago, I got my credit reports from the big three companies. Not just scores, but the full reports. On one of them, they had listed as a former residence of mine the address of a Chinese restaurant that I went to exactly once, about five years prior.

In those years, I never once had a fraudulent charge. Of course, I was also dirt poor and had craptacular credit. Did someone try to do something with my card number, and realized, "lol, I can't do poo poo with this", or what? It's always been a curious mystery to me.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



EL BROMANCE posted:

Yeah we constantly get calls from sales people trying to get through to the manager under false pretenses. I'm not sure if they think "Well, they managed to fool our workers they must be a great company who deserve my business!" or what. Everyone just gets put "on hold while I connect you" now. Hold is the park feature.

One place I worked at, our finance manager got so sick of the "can I speak to the person in charge of buying ink and toner supplies?" cold calls (and the employees that would transfer those instead of hanging up), she had a extension set up that just went to a phone with the ringer off in a closet somewhere. If someone called my line asking that, I cheerfully said "sure! Let me just transfer you!", hit the 4 digit Extension Number to Nowhere, and went on with my day.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



EL BROMANCE posted:

When you’re in a badly designed, busy transport hub these people are definitely useful. Throw in a language barrier, and they’re essential. It’s good to know they exist and are doing it for a few bucks (the ones I’ve seen before were homeless) rather than kindness and the system works.

In a similar vein, my favorite panhandler when I lived in NYC would say "hey, you wanna hear some jokes?" and follow you for a couple blocks, telling jokes the whole way, for some spare change and/or a cigarette. He didn't hassle you for it, seemed genuinely destitute (not like the trustafarians/crust punks that dominated the LES), and made me laugh on the way to my soul-crushing job, so he was kinda providing an essential service to my mental health. :unsmith:

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



I only ever see men defending old school razors. Do any women use them? As cenotaph pointed out, that pivoting head makes a world of difference when you're half asleep in the shower at 3:45 a.m. standing like a flamingo in a slippery tub, trying to work around your knees and ankle bones.

gently caress if I'm spending more for some product because it's pink and marketed to women, though. I just use whatever my man buys. I'm a fan of the Mach 3 and its knockoffs, myself.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Friend of mine just got a text msg saying his Amazon is sending out a package, and he hasn't ordered anything in months. The phone number they list is only 6 digits. What up with this?

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



We had a good laugh at work a couple weeks ago when a bunch of underage girls came into the restaurant and ordered drinks. First girl to get IDed smugly hands over "her" license to the server.
"This isn't you," server says, and calls for the manager.
"Wha... what do you mean, of course that's me!"
"No, it isn't. I graduated high school with her."

In a city of tens of thousands of people, this girl just happened to get the one waitress who personally recognized the name and photo of the real person in the ID. :lol:

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



My mom had an ileostomy before she died, which is like a colostomy only they route your guts to a bag starting at the small intestine, rather than colon. One of the most heartbreaking conversations I had with her during her last year on earth went like this:

:( : "So, uh, when you got that done... howzit work? Do they sew your butt closed?"
:smith: : "Yep. I don't have a butt anymore."
:( : "...."
:smith: : "...I really miss pooping."

Screw that; if I inherit her weird, rare form of uncurable cancer along with her arthritis and bad knees that I've already got, my plan is:
1. Hike to the top of a remote mountain or cliff
2. Get turbo-high
3. Eat a whole pot of chili
4. Take one last triumphant poo poo
5. Throw myself off said mountain or cliff

fake edit: this is one hella strange derail

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Pharmaskittle posted:

Your mom got in one last own

As amusing as that would be, just gonna drop this like I'm gonna drop my triumphant deuce one day:

http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/Fi-La/Ileostomy.html

quote:

For some patients, an ileostomy is preceded by removal of the colon (colonectomy) or the colon and rectum (protocolectomy). ... The anal canal is stitched closed.

I'll stand corrected that apparently that's not always SOP, as they say "some". But yeah, in some instances, they do.

(Can't wait for THIS conversation later ---
husband: "So what'd you get up tonight?"
me: "Oh, got in a pedantic spat with internet strangers about whether or not you get your butt sewn closed after an ileostomy."
husband: :yikes: )

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



goatsestretchgoals posted:

Add a blaze orange/neon yellow vest and I’d probably hold the door for you. :(

I've worked a wide variety of places, from retail to hospitals to libraries to offices to restaurants.

I've never seen anyone ever question the pest control dude. Show up in some coveralls with some Orkin patches and one of those spray thingies, no one bats an eye, and they'll let you in anywhere.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



I don't do Facebook very much, but find it a necessary evil for promoting my art/music shows so I pop in occasionally.

Got an email that looks very legit from them saying that someone had tried to log in on my acct from an unknown device, at an hour I know for a fact I was dead asleep. It offered a link (also looks legit) to ensure the security of my account.

My question: yeah, I think this email actually came from Facebook, I'd like to think I'm pretty savvy on spotting email bullshit. But the paranoid part of me wonders: did someone actually try to randomly brute force "hack" my account, or is this FB's sneaky way of gleaning more personal info from me? They could easily send out "oh noes, you may have got hacked! Send us some more personal info like your phone number an another email, so we can scrape your info and sell it to ad companies!"

Thoughts/experiences? I'm just ignoring it for now.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Shopping around for rental homes/apartments, and got this old gem from a Craigslist ad:

quote:

The rent is $600 monthly and security deposit of $500 for just rent, for rent to own the rent is $600 and down payment of $900, to view the house drive by and look through the window or go through the back door to view the inside because I have been transferred to New York for my new job contract and the bunch of keys is here with me in New York with the intention of sending it to any interested tenant through fed ex. The realtor has been increasing the price in other website like Zillow, trulia the house actually cost $127500, 15 years term to own, which is making it difficult to get applicant, every payment goes towards the purchase price of the house. tax and insurance already included.

My initial plan was to sell the house and I involved a local Realtor's, I don,t want to use the realtor anymore due to high charges and I don,t want him to get involve in the house again to avoid extra charges for tenant, as soon as I get a good tenant, the sale sign will be removed from the house. My last tenant took advantage of me, he did not send my payment after I shipped the keys, looking forward to get a good tenant, you can go over and view the house through the window and get back to me if you like it so we can discuss about the contract and sending the keys through fedex, the house is located [address redacted]

God bless

:allears: God bless :allears:

I went back to CL to flag it as scam/spam, but the ad's not there, I guess someone beat me to the punch.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



BiggerBoat posted:

These people steal all this money and can't afford a simple, basic translator/proof reader.


bamhand posted:

The idea is they want to find the people who are too dumb to realize it's a scam. Making the language seem off actually helps them.

That's the thing; the ad itself was well-written enough that I bothered to reply to it. The gibberish I posted above there was their email reply. I guess they just steal copy from some other (legit) ad, then use their crazy form letter to fish for marks.

There's another place that looked promising, and I did a drive-by yesterday to see if the property actually exists (it does, and is the house in the pics). There's supposed to be an open house today, but as of noon yesterday the lawn looked like it hadn't been mowed in months. Stay tuned for more exciting "Adventures in Craigslist Rental Scams"!

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Dr. Platypus posted:

My father talked about how people would try to push fast change scams on him when he worked at a newstand as a kid, I feel like they'd work best when there's no actual cash register. I saw someone try to pull it at a store once, and the manager shut down the till to do a count and the guy bolted.

Yeah, I used to run a shop at a flea market; all of us vendors had to be crazy careful about quick change artists since few of us had anything more than a calculator and (maybe) a locking cash box. We also had to be super diligent about counterfeit money, since a primarily cash-based market like that was a great target for people passing off bad bills. It got to be just a thing that another vendor would wander up the aisles and warn the rest of us "bad tens going around" or "bad twenties today", like he was giving a weather report.

That said, some advice: if you ever go to a flea market or even a big garage sale, be really careful about checking the change you get back. If the vendor didn't notice a bad bill, there's a good chance it might get it passed on ---- not necessarily an intentional scam on the seller's part, just you getting burned as an innocent bystander, so to speak.

I guess I have counterfeiting on the brain right now because the city I live in now has had a rash of bad $10s going around, the place I work at has gotten two in one week. Bars are a logical place to pull that off; busy bartenders dealing with cash all night in a poorly lit environment and all that. The gas station next door has actually started using the detection pens on $1s, it's nuts.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Also weird: The book says she's lying in bed at the hotel with her little nephew in the next bed. Yet the only mention of her sisters is that they come home from college. And there's no mention of any sister's husband. So, like, did one pop out a bastard kid in high school, or...?
Speaking of school, does this poor kid even go to school, what with all the traveling around to conferences and poo poo?
This book is disturbing as hell.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



And if you're a giant Doctor Who nerd like me, the fact that gay-as-gently caress John Barrowman is the blonde dude singing "Springtime for Hitler" in the remake is just :love:

Seriously, everyone should watch at least the original, if not the remake.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



DamagedGoods posted:

Wonderin' about a letter x2 I got today for Nextdoor. It's got a stamp on it. Dumb postal carrier put both in my physical mailbox. Thing is, oops noticed that there are 2 different codes. Seems fishy. Shredding atm. Activation code was said to expire in 7 days. Red flag for me. Watch out for this bullshit.

I'm perplexed by this. Isn't Nextdoor, as was said, an online thing like FB but for your neighborhood? Why would they be sending physical snail mail? What did the mail say? Was it addressed to you, or just "current resident"?

I've never used it or even seen it, just going on what I learn from these forums.


Pharmaskittle posted:

One was about a homeless guy who'd been in a specific area for awhile, so I went and found him and was like "hey some psycho may call the cops on you thanks to this online thing, just fyi."

You are good peeps in my book for doing that. :)

I hate nebbish neighbors trying to make person's lovely life even shittier like that. My last neighborhood, I had a cop wake me up by pounding on my door first thing in the morning. I looked thru the peephole, saw him, and had a panic attack and woke my husband up to answer the door (I once got arrested and jailed for a bit, so I'm super jumpy about cops even when I know I haven't done anything wrong). Turns out a lady across the street who didn't even live in our apartment building noticed my car hadn't moved in a while (starter was dead), and called the cops because my car's inspection was out-of-date. By, like a month or two, she's not some rust-heap on blocks; I was unemployed and just couldn't afford to get her towed, fixed, and inspected at the time.

The cop seemed exasperated for getting called out for this lame-rear end "crime" and after hearing the explanation just told my husband "eh, try to get that fixed soon, okay?", no ticket. Same crazy neighbor also left nasty notes, threatening to call the cops, on the windshield of anyone parked too close to a fire hydrant on our street (narrator: they were all perfectly well outside the legal space limit).

/rant over, thanks for coming to my TED talk

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Gotcha, thanks for the explanation, y'all. I've just never seen any physical junk mail from Nextdoor so I couldn't figure out how someone signing up for an internet service got that crap in their mailbox. I guess because I never tried to sign up!

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Spent a bunch of time bingeing John Oliver today, and this episode on psychics reminded me of this thread. They're loving con-artists that prey on desperate people who are just looking for a shred of hope or closure in their life, and I despise them.

Also, if you enjoy a side order of schadenfreude: oofah, there's some delicious footage of a few getting called out on their hot garbage to their faces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMGcp9xIhY

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



D34THROW posted:

You know what my favorite loving scam is? I see it in every goddamn loving issue of Popular Science I get, a big two goddamn page spread for the loving John Ellis Water Machine.

I think that website design just gave me cancer of the eyes.

Also, as someone who lost her mom to cancer, quacks like this have taught me how to independently move my toes so I can flip them the bird with all four of my appendages simultaneously.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Midjack posted:

I remember making a lot of jokes about Tammy Faye Bakker’s makeup as an elementary school kid whenever I’d see her on TV or in print.

"The Eyes of Tammy Faye" is a pretty good documentary that, as I recall (I saw it 20 years ago), actually makes you kinda sorta sympathetic towards her by the end. Like I wanna say she kinda got sucked into Jim Bakker's hot charismatic nonsense just as much as any of the other rubes he takes advantage of, I felt somewhat sorry for her after watching it.

The part I do distinctly recall, which is why your post made me remember watching it, was her candidly showing how she puts her makeup on. She never actually took any off that mascara off, she just added a new layer on every day. Like, there is a fossil record of makeup coating her eyelashes.

Anyways, it's narrated by RuPaul, and looks like you can get it on Amazon and Netflix, if you're quarantined and looking for an interesting watch to pass the time. Heck, I might watch it again, I don't think my husband's seen it.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



EL BROMANCE posted:

Seems there's been a community on Facebook mocking the Chef that's involved in that, so hopefully some good content in their archive - https://www.facebook.com/petesdunningkrugerpage/

This is some pro-click right here. Do y'all know that his fancy light machine costs $15-loving-thousand dollars? (Not sure if that's AUS or US, but who gives a poo poo, you're still paying more money than I've ever had for what's basically glorified LED Xmas lights)

Also, "chef", my industry rear end. Dude's a paleo nut who also claims a keto diet cures cancer. I'd say "gently caress this guy", but loving's too good for him. (Maybe if I hosed him with a industrial stick blender.)

(Sorry for ranting, but as someone who lost her mom to cancer, idiots like this REALLY make me start frothing)

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



The Lone Badger posted:

Don't they also extort family members for money so the prisoner can afford to buy actual* food at the commissary at hugely inflated prices?

gently caress actual food, when I did a jail stint you had to buy your own condiments. And I'm not talking something "fancy" like hot sauce, we had to buy our own salt and pepper.

That's while paying $2/day for the luxury of staying there. The US correctional system is the biggest scam ever, don't get me started.

As for your question, TheComicFiend --- could actually not be a scam and a genuine repeat wrong number. Since the advent of cell phones, people don't remember or write down phone numbers, and obv you get your phone taken away when you get locked up. This leaves you with no way of knowing how to get in touch with people. A great many times I had to ask my husband, during my calls to him, "what's so and so's number?" If he mixed up a couple digits in giving me, say, my sister's number, I could see trying to call a wrong number repeatedly. Does your wife have an outgoing voicemail greeting, or is it just the stock computerized "you have reached the voicemail of: Five, five, five. Four, two, zero. Six nine, six nine" kinda thing?

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Wrong number/wrong email chat just reminded me of this fantastic story recently posted over in PYF SA Sagas:

quote:

mines firstname.lastname@gmail and i have the same name except different middle name as a music producer so i pretty regularly get email from wannabes who want me to produce their stuff. if i feel like it, ill ask for some acapellas and make some insane turd for them.

one time, lindsay lohan's people got in contact because they wanted a list of songs we recorded together or something, so i made up some titles. then they were like, wait what are those? could you send htem over? and i was like how can i be sure youre lindsay lohan's people, i cant just send them to anybody!!

so they proved it & then i made some really bad songs with my sister in garage band

they got really pissed at me for wasting their time, the whole email thread was like 2 weeks

emails & songs are here (from back when i was called Snapchat A Titty):
https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post456016998

songs here:
https://soundcloud.com/blqh/slap-it?in=blqh/sets/lohan

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



TheComicFiend posted:

I'm gettin a 404 on that thread--wait is this the scam??

That's weird, it links fine in the original post but I got the same thing from my c/p above.

Try this?

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=1&threadid=3712267&perpage=40&pagenumber=511#post456016998

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



I haven't had cable tv for over a decade, but have been staying in a motel lately and so I've been seeing a lot of commercials new to me.

Every commercial break on some channels, there's a million ads for "Were you sexually abused while in the Boy Scouts? You might be entitled to a HUGE CASH SETTLEMENT/AWARD".

These reek of scam to me, but I can't figure the angle. I noticed on one ad just now they slipped in "you pay nothing up front" (emphasis mine), and they all say "we dont get paid until you do" so what do they do? Get your card or bank info?

Even if it's not technically a scam, it seems pretty scummy. Not just preying on abuse survivors, but cripes, if I was sexually abused, I wouldn't want to be reminded of it every 15 minutes while I'm trying to relax and enjoy this Godzilla marathon.

Edit: I literally just hit "reply" and these same jerks are now saying I can get compensation if I got lung cancer and ever used talcum powder?!

JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Sep 21, 2020

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Thanks for all the replies re: those Boy Scout ads! Makes sense now.

I'm hunting for housing now, and dear lord the amount of scams for apts/rental homes on Craigslist is like, 90% fake to 10% legit. I thought I finally found one that seemed okay, the ad didn't have pics of a 1200 sq ft apt nor listed how close it was to Lake Michigan --- when I live in Virginia --- for only $399 (seriously, that's how incredibly fake most poo poo is on there). Guy texts me back this morning, saying I have to fill out an app and pay the fee just to schedule a tour to look at the place. So you want me to pay you $25 to apply for a place sight-unseen? Mmmmm, no.

So many of these want payment just to look at them "because COVID makes our showings by appointment only". It's disgusting, and very disheartening.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



MisterOblivious posted:

The asphalt and tree scammers are summer seasonal professional scammers. They migrate up from the south (don't poo poo where you eat) when it warms up here in the north and station their wives and children to beg in suburban neighborhoods while the men work their scams. Never ever ever ever ever agree to let somebody "refinish your driveway" or "trim/cut down" your trees if they knocked on your door. They'll promise still sorts of things, take your money, and disappear into the ether.

Who would pay someone for landscaping before the job was done? Even if the business is legit, if they did a lovely job then you'd have the hassle of trying to get it fixed or a refund. Only an idiot would prepay a sevice like th ---- oh wait, I'm in the scams thread, where I'm reminded of the fact that suckers are born every minute.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



The Lone Badger posted:

Isn't a common scam to do half the job, so everything's hosed, then demand payment to finish it?

Ahh, that kinda makes sense. especially on a roofing or payment job, where they tore up your roof/driveway, then swanned off. Still, if a contractor did that me, I'd tell them to pound sand and find someone who will actually finish the job before demanding payment.

greazeball posted:

Or just take half the money up front and then gently caress off instead of doing any real work at all

This, less sense. Why would you even give a contractor half money up front? If I take my car to a mechanic, I don't pay them $100 up front and then the other $100 when it's done.

The only business I can think of where I pay up front for a service without seeing the final product/work is fast food.

Fake edit: Well, and I guess utilities; I gotta pay Cox/Dominion/cell phone to connect my services before I see how much they suck. And in the case of Cox and Dominion, they've got a monopoly in my area anyways. :(

Fake edit 2: and buying weed.

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



TheParadigm posted:

Thats what i was afraid of.

I remember there was an old story post/archive from a homeless goon that started a thread to just socialize; and they ran into an 'insurance license/scam' thing that sounded incredibly similiar.

I was wondering if anyone happened to remember which one? I lost the bookmark sadly.

I wanna say that was 50s Girl Groupon/Unexpected Road? They had an e/n thread, and as I recall we were all "yay!", rooting for them because they got a job, then it slowly veered into "oh. Oh no" territory.

I think that thread got goldmined once Road got a real legit job and an apartment. Sorry I don't have a link!

JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



On tourist/travel scams:

You know how if you use your card to pay at the pump while getting gas, it will put a hold of $100 on it (maybe more now that gas prices are so high, idk)? This is somewhat reasonable, as the pump/system has no idea how much gas you need.

Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in New Orleans does the same. They charge an entry fee of like $20, and you have to use a card, no cash. Then they run it for $300.

Which we found out the following day while trying to get money from an ATM. We went back to the club to ask "wtf, why did you charge this" and the answer was "well, most people spend that much on drinks and table dances, so we automatically set up a tab". How that is legal, I have no idea.

The dancers were top notch, but spending half a precious vacation day getting that charge reversed was not worth it.

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JacquelineDempsey
Aug 6, 2008

Women's Circuit Bender Union Local 34



Edit: took pic out bc I'm a dumb dumb that left her address in it

Okay, so maybe not a scam like MLMs or robocalls about the IRS and such, but what's the angle here? Got this in the mail today.

I was a paying Cox customer for years before we moved into an apartment with free wifi, and they sure aren't offering free internet for poor people if they aren't getting something out of it, if my experience with them is worth anything.

JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Oct 5, 2022

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