Depending on who you ask, times are tough. On a macroscopic level, there’s the impending recession, direct impact of inflation, dwindling value of education in a shifting work culture, and a housing crisis producing long-term renters and more of the homeless.
Again, depending on who you ask, these more grandeur issues may not appear to be impacting people on an individual basis. That’s until individuals take a trip to the grocery store or are faced with increasing rent hikes come the first of the month. The result is a new season for scam artists, and their main tactic is to capitalize off of people’s naivety and empathy for others.
They’re sizing you up while you run your errands or as you shop in the stores. Some scammers work on those who desire quick and easy ways to wealth. What’s the saying? If it’s too good to be true, most likely it is. Here are a few scams traveling through the biggest metropolitans to the smallest of communities.
The Mobile Car Repair Scam
There’s a few families claiming to be mobile car repair persons driving around cities with the motive to take your hard-earned money. Usually, they will have tools in the back of their old model vehicles with a business decal magnet on the driver’s door to validate their company. Their version of certification or license comes in the form of an Instagram page or some other social media page with photos stolen from other business sites legitimizing their work.
Beware, these scammers are always working on a tight schedule and are only available for one day because they’re based out of another city. Even though they just met you, they will offer you a special discount because “you’re such a nice person.” All lies. They will ask to repair your dents and scratches with a rubber hammer and a white concoction, in which they ask you to wait at least 24 hours to see the final results. That means you will walk away from the experience with the original (and maybe new) damage masked by white lotion on your vehicle and $700 in the red, if you’re that gullible.
Instead of spontaneously receiving car repairs in a random parking lot by strange individuals enlisting teens to do heavy-handed work, do the right thing and go to a reputable business or repair the damage through your insurance. In fact, don’t even bother entertaining these scammers with a conversation. The only words they should hear from you is “No, thank you.”
Woman Victimized By Parking Lot Dent Repair Scammer
The Funeral Scam
The funeral scam used to be isolated to the busy intersections of the more impoverished communities. However, the signs of the times are drawing every race, ethnicity, age, and gender of people with an affinity for the quick buck via scams to suburban areas and nicer communities. They come as decent people down on their luck, holding signs with a photo of their loved one as they ask for pedestrians and drivers to help bury their loved one with cash donations. Most likely, they are not trying to pay for a funeral at all.
If you want to help people dealing with the burden of funeral costs, it’s better to donate to funerals that are verifiable through obituaries, funeral homes, and local news reporting of the person’s death.
Click Here For Social Experiment: Videobob Moseley Asks Scammers Can He Pay For The Entire Funeral
Real Estate Seminar Scam
In the search for upward mobility, it’s easy to fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book of scams — the seminar scam. These are the scams that offer people a chance to have the very life they’ve always dreamed of once they attend a seminar giving them essential information about a trade or industry.
The latest on the seminar circuit is the real estate investment scam. The initial fee to attend is usually priced at a rate just enough to make the scammers money but to not dissuade their prey from enlisting. The seminars are held at nice hotel conference rooms with free coffee, tea, and treats and the opportunity to mingle with likeminded individuals. What proceeds is an entanglement of to-do lists which may require people to pay more money for the “real” information or must-have materials or a commission-based task of recruiting more victims.
Eventually, the seminars are exposed for being pyramid schemes, defined as “fraudulent and unsustainable investment pitches that relies on promising unrealistic returns from imaginary investments,” according to Investopedia. You’d be better off obtaining your own real estate license or working with a broker and agent directly to obtain property. At least you’ll know exactly who to sue should the deal go awry.
Real Estate Seminar Scam Uses Shark Tank Host To Lure Victims
Other Scams On The Horizon:
The Petition Scam
These scammers are often located at shopping centers or in front of grocery stores. All you have to do is sign their petition and offer up a little bit of personal information. Unbeknownst to you, they’re using that information in an identity fraud scheme where your details are being sold to career criminals who create identification cards, passports, and much more in your name. A word of caution, don’t volunteer your information to anyone on the streets. If you want to petition something, go to Change.org or vote with your ballot in voting season. It’s just not worth it.
The High-Priced Merchandise Scam
Another oldie, the high-priced merchandise scam consists of scammers selling tech items for special deals. The items are usually Apple products, such as laptops, air pods, smartphones, and so forth. In exchange for your cash, you can take one of these items home only to find out that the box the merchandise came in is filled with books, bricks, or towels. Again, do things the right way and purchase direct from a verifiable source. If you just can’t buy something at full-price, check out the veteran, student and business discounts, or purchase using the latest payment plans. It’s better than getting got by another person who doesn’t value the average hardworking citizen.
Share this article with your loved ones. It may very well save them the heartache and pain of being fooled by dishonest people and losing money that could have went to a legitimate cause.
