I pride myself on being rather savvy to the ways of the world and try to be on guard when I see scammers coming, but sometimes my radar is just aimed in the wrong direction and it has occasionally cost me.
About 18 months ago, I had met some great gals at a healthy living store where they did massage and other natural treatments. The girls got me started on Kangen drinking water, an alkaline water system, that filters out all the junk from your tap and provides water that, as research does show, is the best you can drink. Plus, disease is not supposed to thrive in an alkaline environment – however – it does thrive in an acidic environment.
The gals were giving me three gallons of the water every other day, which got me hooked on it. I couldn't afford the system, that ran around $5,000, so I found their generosity wonderful. It was all about the healing ... or so I thought.
Meanwhile, they had gotten involved in another networking marketing program called Zeek Rewards, which was based on "allegedly" placing Zeek's ad on freebie classified Web sites and trying to market to everyone you know to direct them to Zeek's other site that was a cheap rip-off of eBay. You know, those sites where you bid on products like iPads for $15 or so and can win them? Sound ridiculous? It sure is.
The women bugged me for months because they were making big bucks – literally thousands of dollars were collecting in their accounts – and I could too, if I would just try it. They never told me, however, that they were having difficulty actually collecting the money into their hands.
They pressured me and pressured me, meanwhile plying me with the free water that my dying sister was drinking and which was helping her. Eventually, I caved in and signed up, investing only $79.95 into the program instead of the usual $100-$10,000 they were getting. After spending 90 minutes with the gal showing me how to log in and do the "daily place an ad and that's all you do" thing, I went home still feeling like I had made a big mistake.
If it sounds too good and your gut says "no way!" then it's no good.
Twelve hours later I couldn't get onto the site with my password and user name. Eight hours after that and several more tries had me convinced to get out and get out now, even if I lost the $79.95.
The ladies, feeling sorry for what happened (I was told by a Zeek employee that my account had been hacked - AND - I had known one other person who experienced the same thing), did a conference call with some higher up person at Zeek a week later who promised to refund me my money.
Needless to say, two days after I spoke with the representative of Zeek Rewards, I found out the SEC had shut the company down for, guess what? Yep – fraud. It was big bucks – millions of dollars in fraud all over the world in what is one of the largest Ponzi schemes to date.
Having to tell my husband I did it was worse than losing the $79.95, which now the SEC is trying to recover. I will never, ever do that again.
So, "my bad" when a few days ago I received a friend request through Facebook who shared four mutual friends with me – high school friends. Now, I graduated 39 years ago and this fellow wasn't in his 50s, but I figured he was mutual somehow and like an idiot, I accepted his request. Then, I sent a private message to the women to ask them about him. That's a little like putting the cart before the horse.
None replied back until a few days later and by then I'd figured out the guy was scamming us.
The day after friending this fellow, I was on Facebook and got a private "Hi" message from him. I said "hi" back and told him bluntly I didn't know who he was and sorry I didn't remember him. He replied back that he was friends with my old high school pals and had seen my photo, liked my smile and could we be friends.
OK - schmooze me a little more will you? I'm not even smiling on my profile pic and my timeline photo is of a giant whale mural – not of me. And furthermore, why would some younger, 30-something guy like an old gal like me ... late 50s, gray, and suffering from gravitational pull – everything was hitting the floor at once.
I had looked at his profile and it said he was from Asheville, NC, but also attended school in Italy. He was attractive and had an Italian name, so I mentioned my brother lived in Asheville and loved it there and was a semi-retired minister.
I did say the guy was attractive. I'd forgotten that Ted Bundy was too and he was a serial killer.
Then I received a quick, rather muddled reply about how little time he actually spent in Asheville. Something didn't feel right, so I got out of the conversation quickly. An hour or so later, still disturbed by this guy's interest, I went back to the conversation to get onto his FB page and I couldn't link to it. I went to my friends list and he was there, but again I couldn't link to his page. A search for him on Google and on Facebook yielded nothing.
I went back and unfriended and blocked him just for good measure, and then posted a live message about my experience. The gals I had messaged earlier thanked me and deleted him too.
I don't know what he had in mind for us, but I do know that like most on Facebook, I post a lot of family photos and personal information. I have loved Facebook for reconnecting me with former classmates and co-workers over a lifetime of employment as well as allowing me to keep up with long-distance family members. I have my security set pretty high, but I still did a stupid thing.
While checking my security and privacy settings, I also found a little thing called "followers." This showed about a dozen people from foreign countries whom I did not know and who were following me. I had never allowed this, but found where I could deselect the option in my settings.
I know I'm out there in the Internet world. This blog is public and the years I was a news reporter are public as well. I work with the Jesse James Farm and Museum and thus my information is out there too.
In the very public world that is the 21st century, there is no hiding yourself. But we must remain vigilant about how and who we trust; how much we allow the public to know.
For someone with just a cell phone, I have more telemarketing calls in one day than I ever had on a landline. And I'm on the federal "do not call list."
Today in this very small Midwestern town I live in, I received an energetic knock at my front door. Thinking it was my son checking on me, as I've not been feeling well, I answered the door only to find some 20-something girl offering to shampoo my carpet if I'd just let her in the house.
I was polite, but firmly told her no. I went back to my desk and watched as she and a young man drove all over the neighborhood knocking on doors. On a mid-afternoon Wednesday, you won't find too many people home in this neighborhood of mostly working folks.
So what are these two really up to? Are they truly selling shampooers or are they casing the neighborhood to find out who is home and who is not?
No matter what, it pays to be vigilant. Be alert to those who want something from you. If you are on a social networking site, be careful and make sure you get to understand your account settings and how much private stuff you are posting and to whom.
The world is full of those who are good, wonderful people – yet it is also full of those who wouldn't think twice to price gouge you after a hurricane, pick-pocket you while you are visiting a sick loved one in the hospital (yes this did happen), steal packages or mail right off your porch, damage a car you work very hard to pay for, and generally don't give a hoot whether you live or die.
Be vigilant, alert, and prepared. And don't hesitate to ask questions. You can be polite, yet firm and still protect yourself.
It could mean the difference between life and death.
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