Have you ever been scammed? / LJWorld.com

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Asked at Checkers, 23rd and Louisiana streets on January 23, 2009

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“I have never been scammed. … I don’t really sign up for a lot of things.””

— Eric Luschen, student, Leawood

“No. I’ve been lucky.”

— Loretta Ojeleye, housewife, Lawrence

“Yes. I bought DVDs on the Internet. … They were really poor quality.”

— Terri Meyer, housewife, Shawnee

“Not that I can recall … I’ve been pretty lucky.”

— Fedro Dillon, disabled, New Orleans

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ohjayhawk 4 years, 4 months ago

Not that I'm aware of...I'm sure that Nigerian prince got so busy he just forgot to send the money. Although, he doesn't reply to my e-mails. And, all the money that WAS in my account is now gone... damn...

looza 4 years, 4 months ago

I bought a gold necklace FOR $20 at a blackmarket fleamarket in one of the back alley ways in Naples , Italy. By the time I got back to my hotel it was in pieces. Piece of cr%#!

FMT6488 4 years, 4 months ago

The only "scammers" that have scammed me lately were all elected officials - POLITICIANS! I will forever regret that vote for Dubya Bush!

sunflower_sue 4 years, 4 months ago

Yes, I married a man for his money. But then again, he married me for mine. Turns out, neither of us had any.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years, 4 months ago

Yeah,In High School. This chick was playing me just to go to a Fleetwood Mac concert.

xbusguy 4 years, 4 months ago

I was married once

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years, 4 months ago

The Fleetwood Mac concert ended up being a good learning experience.Plus I ended up hooking up with this Stevie Nicksesque chick from Omaha.Yeah, who's our alpha dog now, baby.

jonas_opines 4 years, 4 months ago

she said she loved me, once

Godot 4 years, 4 months ago

We're all being scammed right now. It is called TARP - aka the Big Banks Bailout.

jaywalker 4 years, 4 months ago

I dated a Stevie Nicks-esque girl in high school. Yeah, c'mon!I was hired once to supposedly take over an operations division but later discovered I was being used as pseudo-contractor to complete a big project. Cheaper to pay my salary for 9 months than to contract the work out. Quit as soon as I found out.

Leslie Swearingen 4 years, 4 months ago

Only the greedy can be scammed.

xbusguy 4 years, 4 months ago

Cleo- I wasn't greedy.... just needy

trinity 4 years, 4 months ago

yeah i was scammed once by a guy i was dating...told me he had a motorcycle, went to his garage&he proudly showed me a small honda shadow. whoopdeedoo. i'm a harley girl through&through. :)friday friday friDAY friday friday friDAY friday friday friDAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

ms_canada 4 years, 4 months ago

Recently a gal called and asked did I want to renew the publication (can't explain the whole deal) She lead me to believe that my husband (his business) had ordered it in the past. So I says yes, go ahead. Then the invoice comes, $492.00. My husband flipped out. he had never ordered said publication. They hounded me until I called the Better Business Bureau who advised me not to pay a cent and to call the RCMP fraud squad. I told the bums that I was going to do that. A prompt email came to me stating that, if I did not call the RCMP, they would cancel the order.And that finished that!!!! Do you think I should have made that call?

Dejacrew423 4 years, 4 months ago

After working for a seasonal tax company for 4 years during tax season I was hired on as a salary employee. They said that in the winter you'll work 60+ hours a week but it'll work out because in the summer you'll work mostly from home and only come into the office 1 day a week. I thought great, so it'll suck in the winter but it'll all work out for my girls and I in the summer. Plus the same pay throughout, PREFECT! I was laid off May 1st, 4 days before my bonus. I worked 6 moths, 6 days a week, 60+ hours a week and got paid crap. For being a company I thought I knew and trusted, they scammed me and made me miss out on very special months of my daughters 1st year of birth. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt but I really think they planned it the whole time. Oh well. All you can do is learn from the scam right?

Dejacrew423 4 years, 4 months ago

ms_canada, the same thing happened to me a long time ago. I had just started working at a gas station and someone called and asked if we needed more receipt paper. Didn't say they were with a business, just asked like that. I went in the back and looked, thinking it was the manager or general manager I said yes we do, we've only got 2 rolls left. Well the manager didn't tell me that these "scam" calls come in often and that unless they identify themselves as the owner then I can't answer on the phone. I didn't get in trouble but it would have been nice to know that before hand. Guess that's why I never got that raise I was promised!I also dated a guy a long time ago that I just thought was the bees knees. For his birthday we went to JC Penny's and I bought him like $300 worth of stuff. I was making good money, or what I thought was good money back then so I didn't mind spoiling my "boyfriend". The next day his friend let me know that he had gotten on a bus to go live with and met some chick he had been talking to on the internet. Apparently he had it planned the whole time. While back then I thought I was crushed and so hurt I was at least smart enough to tell him to kick grass a month later when he was calling me wanting me to send him a bus ticket. Guess the internet girl wasn't what her picture made her out to be. :-) Needless to say, I trust no one now! Well, maybe.

ms_canada 4 years, 4 months ago

Is there another Titicaca besides the lake in Peru? Am I missing something here? Oh, and rantor, I have been posting on this board for more than 4 years, how about you?

alm77 4 years, 4 months ago

I remember once when I was about 20 or 21 a lady called me with a free vacation and wanted my credit card number to reserve our spots as a deposit in case we didn't show up. I asked her to repeat how I was chosen and why I qualified for this exciting offer and she replied "Cause yous [sic] pays your bills on time." If you're going to try to scam someone, maybe take a grammar course first?

ms_canada 4 years, 4 months ago

Multi - cab drivers in Peru will take you anywhere you like. There are even water taxis that will take you out on the lake to the little islands that are entirely made of the totoro reeds that flourish on the shores of the lake. These Islands are fantastic. Small groups of people live on them and fish the lake at night. Their life revolves around the reeds. Their houses are made of reeds, they burn the reeds to cook their food. When the bottom layer of reeds seems to be rotting away, they just add another layer to the top. The boats they use are made out of the reeds also. It is a fascinating sight to see. If it is the Peruvian Titicaca that snap is visiting, I hope he does not miss this example of a life so incredibly different from ours.

sgtwolverine 4 years, 4 months ago

Yeah -- a couple years ago we went to the Detroit Auto Show and parked in a lot a couple blocks from the convention hall where a guy with an orange flag was waving people in. We spent a couple hours in the auto show, and when we walked back to the lot, our car -- and everybody else's -- was gone. My father -- whose car was the one we'd taken to the auto show -- had to take a cab to the lot where all the cars had been towed to get our car back.To make it even better, the towing company refused to take anything but cash, and they wanted a little over $200. And it wasn't as simple as my father walking to a nearby ATM because the towing company was located in one of the less pleasant sections of Detroit (of which there are many). Fortunately, since the rest of us had stayed at the convention hall, he was able to call us and have us get the money and meet him at the towing company.What really irritated us was that the police presence in and immediately around the convention hall was quite strong, and yet they didn't bother to walk an extra block or two to check for parking scams -- which seemed to be reasonably plentiful, as the towing company told us quite a few cars get towed like that during the auto show.

sunflower_sue 4 years, 4 months ago

sgt, that scam recently ran in the KC Power and Light district. I think they have it cleared up now.Ms_C, I would have called. Those dirty__!R_I, aren't you married to a Stevie Nicksesque type?Prospector, I've got the salt.

hawklet21 4 years, 4 months ago

trinity, you forgot the moral of the story: if you're going to fake-compliment a guy, never begin with the words, "That's a cute little..."

fleeba 4 years, 4 months ago

I once won a cruise, and all i had to do was pay the "docking fee".. well, this fee was about $500 bucks. We paid it, and then the cruise line went out of business within two weeks of it coming outta our account. I cried so hard. I was just a kid starting college at that time, and really thought I'd won a cruise. But you can believe me that it taught me a huge lesson. I will NEVER fall for anything like that again!

denak 4 years, 4 months ago

Years ago when I was working in a drive thru, I had a quick change artist rip me off. Never made that mistake again.

sgtwolverine 4 years, 4 months ago

Multi, that's a good question; I'm pretty sure it was a parking scam (some yahoo on the street gets his hands on an orange flag and makes a few bucks). It definitely wasn't owned by the company; it was a church parking lot.

ms_canada 4 years, 4 months ago

prospector - we were on the Peruvian end of the lake. We took a twelve hour train ride from Cusco to Juliaca, then taxi to Puno which is on the lake. The train ride was something else. So interesting. It is not a far journey but slow because of all the stops. It is almost the only transportation for the people living in the High Andes. The people are so colourful and quite charming. At the very high point of 4000meters, the porters come around with cups of coca tea. (coceine) this helps with the terrible headaches brought on by the lack of oxygen at that height.. shining path Sendero Luminoso did not bother us, this was before their time. I will have to pump Bob for all the info about the Lemur festival. I used to have a boy in Bolivia with Foster Parents Plan of Canada a few years back. I loved getting his letters.

ms_canada 4 years, 4 months ago

TOB and sunflower - it might not be too late to give a heads up to the Mounties. This only happened a few weeks ago.

Dejacrew423 4 years, 4 months ago

Donnuts, I agree with that.

Leslie Swearingen 4 years, 4 months ago

xbusguy you guys make it way too easy. When I was in my twenties I was fit and a size 35doubleD. Yes. The world was mine for the taking.Oh, Multi, a TJ donkey show is something thought of by very perverse men using their own women. Mexican women should stand up in righteous anger and stop this sort of thing. Of course, Mexican women might be like their sisters everywhere else in the world, and think that because they are so pure, what happens to others is just what they deserve.I protested most heartily and let's just say that I made it back across the border alive.Do you still respect me, Multi?

1029 4 years, 4 months ago

Everytime I get a bill from Sunflower.

XEPCT 4 years, 4 months ago

I went to India ... and every time you leave your "hotel" room people try to scam you ... but I guess since I was paying $1- $10 per night ... I was actually the scammer

trinity 4 years, 4 months ago

hawklet, your memory is TOO good. {:-/md i've no plans but to sit&listen to the wind flap my awnings...and have some cold ones. i am sure hawklet probably already has the chess set up&the pieces filled with some yummy beverage. ;)a trip would be splendid; do i need a passport to get to titicaca?