What to do when you've been snookered
We posted the electric lift chair on Craig's List for $500 with my cell phone number as the contact. Two separate parties sent a text indicating their interest and one asked if we would be willing to accept a check and the extra funds on the check would be used to pay for the shipping to their location.
When the postman came yesterday, he said the envelope was postage due: $7.11.
What went through my head when I paid the postage due? "This is an elderly or disabled person who is of modest means and didn't adhere enough stamps to the envelope." The postage was not a problem for me and I thanked the courteous postal man for delivering the letter to me instead of returning it to the sender.
When I opened the envelope, this check was inside:
Whoa! That's a lot of extra money to pay for delivery of a chair.
But my momma didn't raise no fool (at least not a complete one)!
A Google search for Granite Planet in Tulsa, Okla., brought no hit and a call to Arvest Bank confirmed there was no money in the account.
So, out of curiosity, and to learn more about the sociopathic mind, I reached out to the check sender and called the number from which he sent a text. No answer from the Google voice over internet number.
But he was quick to respond with a text saying he was deaf and preferred to communicate that way. Several "f" bomb-laced texts later from him and a suspicious voice call from his foreign-accented "secretary" he realized he wasn't going to win this game of snooker.
I reported the incident to Arvest Bank whose fraud department is taking it from here and followed the link on Craig's list to report to the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The sociopath hiding behind the Internet we interacted with isn't rare in trying to defraud elderly people. Posting a listing of a lift chair was a definite clue to the criminal that he was going to victimize a vulnerable person. In fact, these sociopaths likely spend their working hours hunting for listings such as ours. In 2010 the Bureau of Justice reported "three incidents of Internet crime are perpetrated against the elderly for every one of incident of violent crime."
We are fortunate that all we are out is $7.11 in postage. Other families and individuals aren't so fortunate. Sociopaths know they are interacting with a population whose cognitive skills are on the decline.
While I hope you, as the reader, have strong cash register honesty, be warned not everyone does even if you want to believe they do. Be careful of the information you share with people you don't personally know and offer to be the contact person for your elderly friends and relatives who may want to conduct business transactions.
Also, there are other local resources to advertise a personal product you may no longer need that can be marketed to the needs of elderly and disabled. Nearly all communities have home health care agencies, senior citizen centers, hospice groups and nursing homes.
Getting snookered is only fun in the game of billiards.
Brenda Henning is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of New Mexico and owner of Great Life Gifts, a consulting and coaching business.
When the postman came yesterday, he said the envelope was postage due: $7.11.
What went through my head when I paid the postage due? "This is an elderly or disabled person who is of modest means and didn't adhere enough stamps to the envelope." The postage was not a problem for me and I thanked the courteous postal man for delivering the letter to me instead of returning it to the sender.
When I opened the envelope, this check was inside:
But my momma didn't raise no fool (at least not a complete one)!
A Google search for Granite Planet in Tulsa, Okla., brought no hit and a call to Arvest Bank confirmed there was no money in the account.
So, out of curiosity, and to learn more about the sociopathic mind, I reached out to the check sender and called the number from which he sent a text. No answer from the Google voice over internet number.
But he was quick to respond with a text saying he was deaf and preferred to communicate that way. Several "f" bomb-laced texts later from him and a suspicious voice call from his foreign-accented "secretary" he realized he wasn't going to win this game of snooker.
I reported the incident to Arvest Bank whose fraud department is taking it from here and followed the link on Craig's list to report to the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The sociopath hiding behind the Internet we interacted with isn't rare in trying to defraud elderly people. Posting a listing of a lift chair was a definite clue to the criminal that he was going to victimize a vulnerable person. In fact, these sociopaths likely spend their working hours hunting for listings such as ours. In 2010 the Bureau of Justice reported "three incidents of Internet crime are perpetrated against the elderly for every one of incident of violent crime."
We are fortunate that all we are out is $7.11 in postage. Other families and individuals aren't so fortunate. Sociopaths know they are interacting with a population whose cognitive skills are on the decline.
While I hope you, as the reader, have strong cash register honesty, be warned not everyone does even if you want to believe they do. Be careful of the information you share with people you don't personally know and offer to be the contact person for your elderly friends and relatives who may want to conduct business transactions.
Also, there are other local resources to advertise a personal product you may no longer need that can be marketed to the needs of elderly and disabled. Nearly all communities have home health care agencies, senior citizen centers, hospice groups and nursing homes.
Getting snookered is only fun in the game of billiards.
Brenda Henning is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of New Mexico and owner of Great Life Gifts, a consulting and coaching business.
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