I was talking to my sister-in-law Nancy a few weeks ago and I was kind of making fun of a girlfriend of mine who entered all these dumb contests online. She really thinks she going to win a laptop or a car or whatever the prize is for some of those contests that are blinking almost every place you go online that I wouldn’t click with a ten foot pole. Anyway, she so kindly reminded me of my blunder-headed contest I got involved in 25 years ago!! Dontcha just love sister in-laws who remind you of all your screw ups?????
These were “trivia” contests and you would call a phone number and answer the questions of your choice. I always picked the soap opera questions and I won ALL THE TIME. Only I didn’t really know what I was winning until my prizes started arriving in the mail. Then I knew I’d been taken. My prizes were things like a pen with a digital clock on the side or a plastic picture frame. I won “dollar store” prizes. I was so disappointed. I’d become addicted to calling these numbers and answering the questions.
BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED??? I got my phone bill. One month my phone bill was $300. This was a LONG time ago and that was an unheard of amount of money for that. I knew Paul was going to kill me. He wouldn’t care if I spent that money calling someone. He wouldn’t care if I went out and bought something and spent that money but I knew his point was going to be that I spent that on NOTHING! Phone calls and junk prizes. Well DUH! I didn’t know what the prizes were going to be until they started coming. I knew I had to tell him because I knew the phone bill had to be paid. I ended up crying while trying to tell him what dumb thing I’d done and it ended up working for me in a way I didn’t intend. He must have thought it was going to be something MUCH WORSE because he never really got mad.
The point is people get taken by scams and other people all the time. Has any scam come close to anyone in your life? Or you?? Come on, you can admit it.
Us Girls..Our Views 
Hmm, a contest scam . . . I honestly can’t remember getting suckered into a sham contest. I am very skeptical of even clicking on “too good to be true” ads, let alone handing over any of my hard-earned money.
When I was a young kid, I used my own money on a couple of dumb things and learned the hard way. Obviously it was not a lot of money, but it was all I had, so to me it was a lot. One was a Bazooka Joe offer. For X00 Bazooka Joe comics, you can get a free set of exotic shells from the seven seas. Or for only X0 comics and $_. Well, who is going to wait around until they save up all those comics – I did the $ + comics option and waited excitedly for my exotic shells to arrive. Turns out they were tiny, crappy shells, some of which were broken. No way were they worth what I paid for them, forget the comics. Lesson learned. Another time some Jehova’s Witnesses came to the door and chatted me up (my parents weren’t home) and gave me a very nice pamphlet for free, but the Lord would be so thankful if I could give them a donation to make the Guidepost available to more people. I gave them 45 cents, which was most of my weekly allowance. I told my mom about it later, and she let me in on a few secrets (she was raised as a Jehova’s Witness). So I learned another valuable lesson. A few chances to screw up in childhood made me a skeptic for life.
One dumb thing I did fall for was a credit card life insurance offer, pitched to me when I was activating the card. “Try it free for 3 months, then cancel if you aren’t satisfied.” Um, how do you “try out” life insurance? They know a lot of people are not going to get around to canceling before the charges start hitting the account. I was one of those people. But again, only once.
I cant say I have fallen for a scam.Oh wait,I did.I met a certain Guy!
LOL Pam. Good one.
About 5 yrs. ago I got a letter in the mail and it was a chain letter money making scheme. I can’t beleive I actually fell for something so dumb but I did. I can’t really explain how it worked but I spent about $40 to get names and addresses of people “that have interest” in money making, then all the money it cost to mail the letters and it didn’t work at all. The only people making money where the people selling you the names and addresses and those are probably the people that sent the letter to begin with.
I remember when those were going around Shane. I think too if you’re in on the ground floor, you may get some of your money back but if you late to get in, you won’t see a dime. At least it was only 40 bucks and not $400 or something.
Hey I have sister in law that reminds me of the stupid $hit I’ve done too! 🙂 They’re great! lol
We’ve fallen for scams in the past…never did it come to spending money though. No I take that back I have spent money on those. Not a lot though. I did the same thing Shane did!! Never got anything out of it! If it’s too good to be true then it is! I spent money on some jewelry stuff I had to assemble but the turn around was pointless. Hey I tried! It was when Bailey was little and I wanted something to do at home and make money. NOW I know all those are just scams! I guess I have wised up over the years, I don’t even waste time looking into that crap anymore. All of those contests blinking online are dangerous aren’t they??? I’d think they’d make your computer vulnerable to a virus. I could be wrong but I don’t take the chance.
I’ve been a sucker but I’m not anymore! Thank goodness nothing I have done has cost me too much money! Enough to never do it again though!
Are you talking about me?!
hahahahaha nooooo!!!!! 😉 I have had some serious blunders!
not including contests though!
Cant say Ive ever fallen for a scam.Im way to sceptical.I know someone who is always into the next big “deal”that will make him his millions…maybe Ive learnt from him to stay away from that all.
I haven’t been taken by any scams YET anyway. Who knows what the future holds though.
My grandfather however was taken pretty good a while back. He used to donate money every year to some Native American Childrens fund of some kind. The money was supposed to help Native American children living in reservations with clothes and books and things. He gave to this fund every year for like 20 years or longer and gave very generously. He found out a few years back that almost ALL of the money that was donated to this fund over the years had been pocketed by the founders. What a shame!
That really is a shame Gary. It makes you feel you can’t trust anyone and that’s really sad.
That is really sad Gary! 😦
Using children like that is one of the lowest things someone can do. That and the elderly. You try to help someone in need and end up filling someone else’s pockets. It’s terrible!
I haven’t fallen for a scam, but my grandma did get one of those letters in the mail from the Nigerians about a relative dying so send x amount to pay the “fees” and then you’ll get thousands of dollars. She didn’t fall for it of course, but I think she turned it over to the Sheriff’s Dept to see what they could do.
You mean besides the Tim Share vacation thing?
However I am going to win 53 million dollars on the lottery.
I’ve never fallen for anything. But its probably b/c I just dont care enough to ever try ot enter anything. I’ve got the mindset that nothing is ever easy or free
This sounds like Meg buying that satin dress she didn’t need with John’s hard-earned money in Little Women!
Scams can be so scary – today, in the Internet age, it’s even worse because there are websites that are built to look exactly like banking websites and make you put in all your information without realizing you’re on the wrong site!