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Strike Leader
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,242
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A Rant From Ron
You know, I'm not an idiot. I could just leave off with that and go to bed, but I figure I should make a point about that statement.
Okay, I remember about a year or two ago there were advertisements on late night TV showing a babbling idiot in a suit of question marks jumping around announcing that there are government grants in the amount of 5,000 or more just waiting to be claimed, and that you can get a 5,000 government grant because you are entitled to it, blah, blah, blah. I told several people at the time that it was not to be believed, that it was a scam because the government did not simply hand out grants to people just because they state that they have use for it. It was a scam, I told everyone, and when the company started sending me emails advertising their access to grants for a small fee, I emailed them back condemming them for preying on the gullible and unknowing. They never emailed me again.
Two days ago I was rushing about at work, wrapping up for the day so I could go home, when my cell phone rang. I answered it and it was some fella from the Government Grant Center giving me a sales pitch about the government grant I am entitled to of at least 5,000. Being busy I wasn't fully listening and asked him to call me back later. He said he couldn't, and that by not talking to him I was throwing away at least a guaranteed $5,000, and wasn't it worth 5,000 to give him a few minutes of my time? Well, I didn't recall the nonesense described in the first paragraph just yet, but I knew it was a sales pitch of some type not to be believed. On the other hand I've passed up too many chances in the past by not looking further into them, so I gave him my attention, though I literally told him to make it quick because I was busy, which he did not like but I didn't care.
So anyway, here's the deal, as long as I'd paid taxes within the last 3 years and was over 18 and worked full time and had a valid credit card and the whole 9 yards, I was entitled to a minimum 5,000 to use for college or buying my first home, or opening a business, or yada yada yada. Yeah right, whatever. He swore up and down that it would not cost me anything but a $250 processing fee, and that I would get a guaranteed minimum of a 5,000 dollars in government grant money. So I said, pretending to be interested but still playing with him, "Guaranteed by whom?" So he said that the company guaranteed it, and he gave his word that the guarantee was valid. Yeeaaahhhh, as if! All for a one time processing fee of $250, and not a penny more, guaranteed; and the 5,000 minimum was guaranteed. Then I asked him why his office phone number hadn't shown up on my cell phone's caller ID and he replied that they don't give out the phone number. So I said, Okay, give me your full company name and the address. Of course, they didn't give out their address either. Like that was a surprise. So I said, how do I know the grant money is guaranteed? And he said, we guarantee it, and I give you my own guarantee. So I said, And I take that as the word of God from someone I don't know, over the phone? Haven't you seen the film Boiler Room? And he assured me that if the company was not legit that they would not have been in business as long as they had been. He then referred to the commercials of the man in the question mark suit dancing around, as proof of the company's validity (well duh, if it's advertised on late night TV, then it has to be legit, right Gomer?), and I said, LOL, "You mean that idiot in the clown suit dancing around like an imbecile? You're proud of that?"
Okay, so he guaranteed me again that it would only cost me a one time fee of $250, and that I would not be billed until the 12th of January (the conversation had been on the 8th or 9th.). Okay, so maybe I would see what those clowns had to say in printed letterheads that he said they would send me, no harm in at least that, right? Yeaaaaah, not! Okay, so where are we, guaranteed 5,000 dollars in government grant money, guaranteed over the phone by a salesman rallying behind a fool in a riddler suit, all for a one time payment of $250. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't falling for this feldercarb, but I was listening to him for kicks and giggles. So then he said, he was transferring me to the next level in the process in which I would give him my checking account number to hold so that they can direct debit me for my convenience on the 12th. I said, if I'm not being billed until the 12th, why do you need it now? I'll send you a check on the 12th. He said that they had to have the number in advance. So I told him it wasn't going to happen. They send me a bill with their company address and phone number, and I send them a check. I wasn't some ninny about to tell them my account number so they can clean me out. He guaranteed their validity again and I said "See ya!"
And that was the end of that. Damn scam artists. What is sad is that they sometimes get a hold of the elderly and the gullible who fall for their scams and lose everything in the process. It's a sad shame the depths that so many will slither to scam and steal from the unwary. They say a fool and his money are soon parted. Maybe so, but I pity the fools and despise the deceivers.
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