["Open Mike," the Editorial page of TOP, usually appears on Wednesdays, but I had to drive to Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua yesterday to get my first vaccine shot, and that, plus lunch while I was there, took up most of my afternoon.]
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We've had an unusually mild late March, especially since the "official" first day of Spring, with several deliciously warm and windy days. But this morning I raised the shade to find that a layer of sticky snow about the thickness of cake frosting had been artfully applied by the wind in the night. The sun came peeking above the ridge in back in about the same spot where the full moon rose a few nights ago. Its light glittered on the new-fallen snow. Beautiful.
Wasn't Spring just here? Fooled again.
The old iMac
Not long ago, I got my old computer back from servicing and put it on Craigslist. Immediately I got a message from a nice woman who said she had researched computers and mine was just what she was looking for. One small problem—she lives in the area, she said, but she's on vacation, and could I please accept a cashier's check, deposit it, and then hold the computer for her movers, who would pick it up for her?
She offered $500, and I accepted. I had paid $177 to the Macintosh specialist to check its functions, physically clean it, wipe the hard drive, and install a fresh operating system. So I won't be getting much in the balance. But then, it's old.
At least it sold quickly. Isn't that nice?
And she followed through! That was a pleasant surprise.
When the check arrived, however, I was surprised to find it was not for $500 as we had agreed upon. She had sent me $1,950.
No problem, though—she had simply included the payment for her movers; her idea was that when the movers picked up the computer, I would pay them, on her behalf, in cash. It won't be a problem, because I will already have successfully deposited the check.
So I'll deposit the check in my bank account, and then some stranger will show up at my door and I'll let that person walk away my computer and $1,450 in cash. That was the plan at that point.
Sound smart to you?
Sure.
Just a few wee "flaws in the ointment," as my brother used to say when he was a kid (the expression is flies, of course. But I like "flaws"). The first doubt I had, believe it or not, was that a supposedly local buyer who talked me down from $550 to $500 would then pay someone $1,450 to pick the computer up for her. That did not compute. Wouldn't she just have a friend drive over and pick it up, for nothing?
Turned out I had quite a few additional questions. Like, how she managed to purchase the cashier's check from a small bank that only has branches in Central Pennsylvania, and then mail it to me from St. Louis, Missouri. Where was she vacationing, anyway, the little-known state of Pennsylvania-Missouri? Also, why the return address in St. Louis doesn't exist. Why there is no name in public records associated with the telephone number she was using. Why the bank branch named on the check didn't match any of the branch locations on the bank's website. And so on. Little things like that.
At least I knew the check was official, because at the top it is emblazoned with a badge that says "OFFICIAL CHECK."
This type of Craigslist scam is made possible by the fact that banks will accept fake cashier's checks at first, lulling you into thinking the money is safe in your account. The bank's assumption is that you've only accepted checks from people you trust. Your assumption is that the bank will only accept for deposit checks that they trust. The space in between those assumptions is where the scammers weasel in and find room to operate.
Some time later, your bank will contact you to tell you the check wasn't good after all and that it will be deducting the money from your account again. To add insult to injury, it's even possible that you could suffer legal consequences for having submitted a fake check to them!
These little irregularities meant the buyer and I had, ah, a little more to discuss. After several more exchanges, here's the last text I wrote to her/him:
Finally, I would like you—the real you—to take a little time and reflect that you are wasting your life. Doing evil and victimizing others might seem convenient to you now, but you only have one life to live on earth, and your time and your actions cannot help but be visited upon you. You will be deprived of the joy of spiritual fitness and you will never know the clarity and freedom of righteousness and decency, of holding your head up and meeting others with forthrightness and sincerity. You're probably young--one day you will need to make amends for your own sins. They will weigh on your shoulders increasingly as you go through your life. Back up, be willing to change, and decide who you really want to be.
I'm quite serious. Think about this. The way you are following is not the way. Ultimately the real victim will be you.
My would-be scammer thinks he is safe (probably it's a he) because he is covering his tracks and no one can figure out his location or identity. He's hidden. But there is one person from whom he can hide nothing. One person who will always know that he has been a shifty little rat in a hole who preyed on his fellow human beings. One person who knows every detail of what he did. One person from whom he cannot hide and from whose judgement he will never be safe.
That person is himself.
Good in the world
Will my little attempt to reach through do any good? Probably not. If the scammer is a sociopath, then certainly not.
But I try anyway, sometimes. Most people have both good and bad in them; few people are all one and none of the other. Self-awareness is an attribute of increasing maturity, and can change over time. And many people who have fallen into bad habits of outlook are susceptible, at some level, to the tug of conscience. In my recovery program, where we share our stories with each other, I have heard many times of people who were awakened by a seemingly small encounter, event, or realization, or a few choice words. So it can happen. I myself was started on my long journey to sobriety—at age 25—when the phone rang and the caller, who first asked for me by name, said, brusquely, without preamble—"When are you going to go get help?" It turned out to be my parents' marriage counselor, whose name I have long since forgotten. Our entire conversation lasted maybe two minutes.
"Who is this?" was my actual answer at the time. But the real answer to her question turned out to be, in about three weeks. By calling one of the numbers she made me write down. I never spoke to her again. My journey to sobriety would take eight more years, but she gave me the shove I needed to get going toward change.
Thanks, by the way. Whoever you are. Or were.
I can actually feel grateful that the Universe threw that Craigslist scammer into my path. Why—? Because writing that little perhaps overly optimistic note gave me an opportunity to reaffirm to myself the values I aspire to, and to remind myself of the lessons I had to learn. Maybe my suggestion doesn't do him or her a lick of good, but the attempt to reach another human does me some good.
So every now and then, when I have an insight, I'll just toss it out there. It can only hit home if the words are what the hearer needs to hear. But you never know when, or where, or how something you say might do someone, somewhere, some good.
Mike
Book o' this Week:
Sugar is the silent nutritional crisis that is hiding in plain sight. The best book about it might be the prescient 1972 classic Pure, White and Deadly by the British scientist John Yudkin. Recommended. <—This is a portal to Amazon; also available at the Book Depository for global delivery with free shipping.
Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
c.d.embrey: "During the 1970s there was a head-shop across the street from Pasadena City College. They sold art-prints as well as smoking accessories. I bought as couple of Dali prints from them. They had a sign on the wall that read 'Shoplifting F*cks Up Your Karma.' Every time I hear as story like yours, I think of that sign."
Lee Rust: "Quite a story. We definitely have to be on guard these days. But yes, every little bit helps...you hardly ever know exactly how much, but the bits do add up."
Thomas Mc Cann: "About 35 years ago weighing over 20 stone [280 lbs. —Ed.] I decided on a diet and realised as long as I still took a drink I was never going to lose weight as the alcohol would lower my inhibitions. That was about November, so I elected to stay dry for six months. Coming up to the Christmas break I proudly announced in the office I had been dry for two months. An employee, who I barely knew, sneered at me and said, 'You think you've got it beat.' It annoyed me intensely. What did this guy know about me and what problem did he assume I thought I had beaten? I had been thinking about a wee drink at Christmas but his comment tightened my resolve. I didn't take that drink. Two months later I realised I was a better person for being dry and I haven't touched a drop since. I am eternally grateful for that man's few words."
Mike replies: Great example. Over the years I've come to believe that's how insight works. It requires the incisive outside perspective (whether deliberate or by happenstance), but it needs a recipient who's willing and open to hearing it. Sometimes the latter might be even more important than the former. I've found I have to be willing to let an attempted insight fall on deaf ears. Not only because I'm sometimes wrong, which happens, but simply because sometimes they just don't "land." The person it's meant for isn't ready to hear it. If you tell someone something that's true but they're not ready to hear it, however, they'll just forget about it. What this means is that there's no real risk in trying. You haven't done any harm. To them it just becomes more noise in the air that sifts out of memory and consciousness in no time at all. I've also had to learn that it's not necessarily my place to share an insight just because I have one. I try to consider whether it might be none of my business. In the example I related in this post I didn't have that problem—the scammer made it my business, by attempting to rob me!
Tom Burke: "Good to hear about the vaccination, Mike—I'm sure that's the way back to something like how we used to live. And we are having very variable weather here in northern England—sunny enough to sit out until sunset last week, freezing nights over the coming weekend. My daughter reports much the same from her home in Mississippi.
"Honesty—the cultural norm that 'you don't steal'—seems to be fraying, sadly. And a planned theft (actually, I suppose, fraud) seems especially shocking because of the knowingness of it all, the intent—that wasn't an opportunity that just presented itself; they prepared for it. I don't think my response would have been as measured or as thoughtful as yours! I've never been the victim of an online fraud—my experiences with the great auction site in the sky have all been good, in fact very good—but over the years we have suffered two actual burglaries of our home and they were deeply upsetting."
Keith: "Scammers get by with this stuff because there are hardly any consequences. It would seem to me that there would be a branch in law enforcement that investigates some of these type of crimes. Maybe they could be at your house when the 'movers' arrive to pick up their check. At least maybe they could get the identity of some of the individuals involved and question them a bit. Oh wait, we de-funded law enforcement...darn it.
Mike replies: Except I'm pretty sure there would never have been any "movers." What probably would have happened next was that the scammer would have waited till I thought the money was safely in my account, then "she" would tell me that the movers had wanted payment up front and "she" had to pay them, so would I mind please reimbursing "her" by returning the excess money...probably via a cashier's check sent by mail, same way I was supposed to believe I had been paid.
Or something like that, something that kept their exposure to zero.
Note that they didn't actually want my computer—what they were after was that wad of cash, the supposed "moving fee."
JOHN B GILLOOLY: "Funny you should mention that scam. I had a similar scam attempted on me in the photography space so maybe of value to folks on TOP.
"Sometimes my LinkedIn page pops up with job opportunities and one looked good a couple months back—especially in the bleak year of COVID. It involved a fashion shoot in Boston for Esquire magazine of two models and had details and pay presented and organized. The contact was one Avidan Grossman from Esquire. The job, while paying what I would typically charge, just seemed to be too easy. I've been doing this a long time and jobs don't typically just fall out of thin air—at the rate and terms you are comfortable with. It involved a strange arrangement like your Mac. They are going to send me $6,000 immediately. Of that, $2,000 is my deposit and $4,000 will go to the talent agency. Once I complete the job I will get my remaining $2,000. So a total of $8,000—$4,000 to me and $4,000 to the talent agency. After I sign a 'contract' a check arrives from 'Esquire Magazine' and I deposit the check and it appears to clear for a day or two. Of course I was never going to actually make arrangements and pay the talent agency until I knew I was using their money. After two days, the check bounced and I incurred a fee.
"Avidan Grossman is a real person at Esquire and his name appears on many articles. But he seems to have little to no social media presence, so maybe that's why this scammer latched on to his name? I actually left a message at Esquire saying that the name of one of their employees is being used to scam, but never heard back.
"People are sick!"