New scam threat...

[MissJacksonCA]

http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/fbi-probes-string-of-strange-store/20070829233509990001

I can't believe people would send this guy money... is this another Nigerian scheme? I keep getting those silly emails but the more I get them the more I want try to toy with whoever sent it...

Who would take this guy seriously?

[Maitreya]

Scared people.

That's all it boils down to, people get scared if there's a threat of something that has a potential of harming them.

After Virginia Tech, all of the front doors of the dorms (flimsy glass doors) were and still are locked to provide an illusion of protection. Scared people do stupid things.

[Yojimbo]

Stupid is as stupid does.

At my funeral home we have begun to receive on a regular basis relay calls from folks who are purportedly hearing disabled bereaved who are requesting that we assist them in their efforts to bring a loved one's remains to the USA from a different country. The first call I received of this nature I took seriously, however various inconsistencies immediately popped up which made me suspect the call was bogus. Then when the overseas "mortuary" made a request that we send via western union several thousand dollars to them for release of the remains, I knew it was fraud and reported the case to the Secret Service Fraud Investiagation squad. Now when I receive a relay call that is suspicious I immediately ask them if they are in Nigeria after which they simply hang up. MCI has also confirmed to me that they have recently noted an increase of this sort of relay call abuse

These scammers are inventive, though. Gotta give them at least credit for that!

[Cody]

I hate scammers. Well, your not supposed to hhaattee anyone or anything, so I gues I really dislike

[MissJacksonCA]

Stupid is as stupid does.

At my funeral home we have begun to receive on a regular basis relay calls from folks who are purportedly hearing disabled bereaved who are requesting that we assist them in their efforts to bring a loved one's remains to the USA from a different country. The first call I received of this nature I took seriously, however various inconsistencies immediately popped up which made me suspect the call was bogus. Then when the overseas "mortuary" made a request that we send via western union several thousand dollars to them for release of the remains, I knew it was fraud and reported the case to the Secret Service Fraud Investiagation squad. Now when I receive a relay call that is suspicious I immediately ask them if they are in Nigeria after which they simply hang up. MCI has also confirmed to me that they have recently noted an increase of this sort of relay call abuse

These scammers are inventive, though. Gotta give them at least credit for that!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a second hold the Hearse... you run or own a mortuary? Wow... and in LA... its like ROTLD right here in HPOTD... your name wouldn't happen to be Ernie would it? At first I thought it was Jim or something til you said you were Asian and I thought yojimbo means warrior... wooow...

On a more relevant note...

Cant beleive (well I can but you know...) people would try to scam you like THAT... reminds me of a movie I loved as a kid... S.A.M. (strategically altered mutant) ...it was about two kids who off with a stolen rental car from the late great Chris Penn and the one brother manages to convince his younger brother that he's in fact a strategically altered mutant... the scams the kids pulled off in the movie were pretty sweet and much inspiring to my imagination...

still waiting for Dateline to finish their To Catch and ID Theif report...

[Yojimbo]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a second hold the Hearse... you run or own a mortuary? Wow... and in LA... its like ROTLD right here in HPOTD... your name wouldn't happen to be Ernie would it? At first I thought it was Jim or something til you said you were Asian and I thought yojimbo means warrior... wooow...


No not Ernie, or Jim. I do run a mortuary in Los Angeles, CA, but I'm not the owner. Just a lowly Funeral Director, and rather than it being like ROTLD it is more like Phantasm or Six Feet Under, depending on the day!

I am a Japanese American, but I'm fifth generation so you wouldn't know I was an Asian if you spoke to me on the telephone since I sound like a typical Southern Californian (which actually has a lot of Mexican accent mixed in with some Valley/surfer tones). "Yojimbo" is loosely translated to "bodyguard" or "sword for hire" I'm a fan of Akira Kurosawa films, and in my thirties was known as "Sanjuro" which means "Thirty-Something" but as I move towards my 40s I figured I'd have to change my name eventually as the joke no longer fit in the same way.