Work from Home and other recent scams

With the job market in a state of flux, you had to know the greedy, low life scammers would find another angle.

Preying on people's worries of unemployment and fear of contamination, the scam now involves selling COVID preventative essential oils from your doorstep. From the one phone call I received on this matter, it sounds like a call center in the Philippines or Thailand, and they are pushing essential oils that will counteract COVID symptoms. Of course, this is just scented water with no proven healing or curative factors and using people's desperation & panic to bilk them out of their money.

There is also the Work from Home Scam, where you are supposedly a shipping clerk for an office supply company. But once you buy and ship the office supplies requested, the "reimbursement check" suddenly bounces and leaves you in the red.

I also encountered many years ago, when I worked in NYC, a scam that involved Security Guard job placement assistance. This one, you would actually interview and meet the scumbags face to face while they chat you up about a starting pay rate of $22/hr. and immediate jobs hiring. Only to demand $199 for training classes, where they show videos or movies, give you a security guard certificate printed on Loose leaf paper and then tell you go out and find your own way. I remember smelling a rat when I asked the guy's name over the phone and he said Mr. White. Did a quick search online and saw hundreds of complaints about the company and the scam itself.

One can only hope society doesn't stoop any lower once businesses open, but these rats always come out when things are at their worst.

There were some scams on Facebook where they were telling you in ads they were trying to hire people, but it was just a pitch to sell some program. Something like computer software sales etc., making $72,000 a year. All kinds of scams out there one way or another, most of the ones advertised to me are under the guise of education. Back in the old days, there would be books and infomercials selling programs, but then now it's pay this, pay that, pay that. They're pretty convincing if you don't know better or don't do research.

Yeesh, it's bad enough the tech support and IRS fraud scams were outsourced, now we got the social media scammers working in the states.

The best are the Instagram "money flippers", send them $300 and they'll send you back $3000! And their "proof" is pics of various people holding money and giving a thumbs up. But you only see young, urban folks wearing baggy jeans and durags in the pictures and a number to call Jamal at 555-***-9855.

I saw a news report where they tracked down the figure head of the job scam, an old Jewish fella named Herb Marion from NYC. I wonder if he was working with the Hasidic guy in Brooklyn who bought up all the medical masks and gloves and sold them at a 700% mark up?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnNZyajqZPs

The job scams have been around for years. In the 1990s a big one was "Mexico Jobs." Pitch was they needed people who could do what the Mexicans could not handle or something like that. I remember when it hit the news, had some woman who was promised a job as a foreman in an oil field if she paid the broker fee. She paid, you can figure out the rest.

Now, I look at her and would like to ask, "Other than putting gas in your car what kind of experience do you have to supervise this kind of work?" Really?

Some pitches entice people down on their luck or not that bright in how things work.

It is why I am for Life Skills classes in high school. Flat out say, "You have to either be the kid of the owner or start at the bottom doing the awful job. Someone that works there already wants the better jobs."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXN5LBP_lk

Guess some scammers take their act to Vegas! I remember when Trump Plaza in AC was accused of filling their Bottled Water with tap water and waitresses removing the cap when you ordered it.

I always thought Ice Cream men were a big scam, buying frozen popsicles in bulk at 20-25 cents a bar and selling them from $2-$3 a pop. As a kid, I probably paid them $50 for $5 worth of ice cream over all.

Eh, what they're really selling are the tertiary elements, like bringing it to your house and the nostalgia of the parents who remember getting it when they were young (and probably the realization of how annoying they were when they were kids)... it's like the old lesson in marketing: "You're not an insurance salesman. You sell peace of mind."

Quote: Venthus

Eh, what they're really selling are the tertiary elements, like bringing it to your house and the nostalgia of the parents who remember getting it when they were young (and probably the realization of how annoying they were when they were kids)... it's like the old lesson in marketing: "You're not an insurance salesman. You sell peace of mind."

Yes and convenience, plus the thought of whether or not the guy is a pedo or chicken f*****.

Where is this ice cream and bottled water coming from? Is it a meme I am not onto?

Quote: BedWetterBetter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXN5LBP_lk

Guess some scammers take their act to Vegas! I remember when Trump Plaza in AC was accused of filling their Bottled Water with tap water and waitresses removing the cap when you ordered it.

I always thought Ice Cream men were a big scam, buying frozen popsicles in bulk at 20-25 cents a bar and selling them from $2-$3 a pop. As a kid, I probably paid them $50 for $5 worth of ice cream over all.

I don't consider the ice cream guy a scam. He is selling a product that you can either choose to buy or not. Yes he has a big markup but I don't think that is a scam.

I drove a Good Humour truck one summer, 1986 or 87. The markup wasn't that great. I'd sneak in some Good Humour I'd buy from the supermarket when it was on sale. At the time, most bars sold for75 cents and I'd pay 50% upfront to 70% if I paid after I sold them.
They also held back 10% of sales as a deposit on the truck. Rent was $200 a week rain or shine. It was fun but barely profitable. If I worked five days, I'd clear about $250 a week. I'd work a sixth day every couple of weeks but some guys worked seven days a week for the whole summer. If you finished your contract you'd get your 10% of sales back, which was a great going away bonus.