Have You Ever Been Duped By An Irresistible Internet Scam?
Posted: Friday, June 04, 2010
by Gerry Charbonneau
http://nibblednews.typepad.com
The phrase , "there is a sucker born every minute", is often attributed to P. T. Barnum a late nineteenth century American showman and is generally understood to mean that there are and always will be a lot of gullible people in the world.
The implication of the phrase is especially relevant these days thanks to increased computer use and ease of Internet access. The number of people visiting different internet sites is growing and these same folks are constantly having money making schemes, dreams and opportunities thrust shamelessly in their faces.
Admittedly, people should be more disconcerting when they are invited to take part in an online offer that is described as a " once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". Unfortunately many online visitors tend to abandon their usually cautious natures and become opportunity seekers eager to make easy money with minimal effort. Con men tend to ferret out and dupe these easy marks.
The fear of being duped on the internet prevents many people from purchasing any service or item even if the site is verified as being legitimate. A modicum of caution is laudable but an unusually high fear of being taken advantage of tends to sour personal online experiences.
The number of internet scams are indeed on the increase and anyone can be tricked by the wording of a slick yet devious web site offer. Seniors are especially vulnerable to all the flimflam offers being presented in cyberspace.
The number of seniors going online these days has increased due to the greater availability of computers and the ease of navigating one's way on the electronic highway.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) reported that seniors have become the fastest growing segment of the internet community. Many geographically isolated seniors and boomers with a limited social support network flock to the social net sites.The increasing number of Baby Boomers add to this number on a daily basis. This fact only adds to the trove of potential victims.
Many seniors keep in daily touch with family , friends and relations via the many email services and this same email system brings daily email notices to their online mail boxes. The ads are both appealing and irresistible and seniors with their intellectual guards down are often easily duped.
Would anyone readily admit that they had been seduced and easily conned by an internet offer that was too good to be true? Of course they would not admit such a thing to their friends and family. After all, they do have their reputations and credibility to protect. Ego does play a major role in suppressing the hurtful truth.
Occasionally though the truth does leak out. One person admitted that she did lose money on an online vacation club she and her husband joined. She thought their promotional methods were outright deceptive and dishonest.
She posted her experience on a Yahoo site and received three thousand hits from other folks who had gotten equally scammed. She admitted that she did not do her homework and research the club thoroughly enough. The offer was too good to be true and unfortunately she got scammed.
It pays to spend time online and research any opportunity that does seem too good to be true. Losing money due to personal laziness and being swindled because you did not do your homework will cause you to view the internet in a negative way.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)are you really saying that you have mnay friends and family who have been conned by interent scams?
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