By Patricia Griffin Mangan
Special to Inside
Most everyone has been scammed at some point in a lifetime except perhaps the con artist and scammer, as this type of person knows better.
Several friends have relayed their tales of woe to me and vice versa. Many highly educated and good people have been conned and scammed, as they merely were too trusting. The elderly and the disabled are good prospects for the scammers as are women alone. Single moms are good targets for mechanics and handymen who know they have little money. They will rip them off even more in an emergency situation such as a lock out or a flat tire.
Why do people take advantage? Money and greed. A real con watches people very closely and knows whom to target. The real con watches for people who seem stressed out and tired, who are not paying attention to the world's trickery.
"Jane Doe" was overcharged by four mechanics, big time. In one instance, a mechanic actually ruined her car by putting in inappropriate, used parts when the car needed a head gasket. The mechanic put in a used radiator and other used parts, causing her car to stall repeatedly with steam and breakdowns on the road. She sued him in small claims court—and lost, as he was smart enough to hire an attorney to defend his bad behavior. He had a history of scamming women.
"Angela Doe" took her car to a North Side dealership for repairs. The service manager told her that it would be fixed that same day. He also told her she should call before coming to get her car, which she needed for getting to and from her job. She took cabs for four days as every time she telephoned them, she was told they had to order parts and were short of mechanics.
On the fourth day, she left work a little early and took a taxi to the dealership. She did not see her car inside or outside of the dealership and thought it had been stolen. She got no answers from anyone and was about to call the police when a mechanic drove up with her car. They had been using her car to drive people back and forth from the train station while she had to pay high taxi bills! To boot, they charged her more than their estimate.
"Betty Doe" thought she had a good mechanic, as he was a member of the Better Business Bureau. She found out later that the BBB had received numerous complaints about his lack of ethics. He told her she needed a new radiator but sold her a used radiator. She believed him when he persuaded her to have a tune-up and other work, which was all shoddy work. Her car broke down days after she paid him for the work. Another mechanic advised her that the mechanic she had trusted had taken her to the cleaners. Thus she had to purchase a new radiator three days after paying the first mechanic.
"Carol Doe" got scammed early one morning in a gas station. She went to the gas station to purchase milk for her family and parked on the side where space was allocated. Little did she know that a cabbie parked right behind her and not where he should have parked.
Carol has a convertible and there is a bit of a blind spot with convertibles. She put the milk in her car and backed up right into the cab. The cabbie came out screaming at her though it did not appear that there was much damage to his cab. However, he persuaded her not to call the police or report it to her insurance but to cut him a check for $l50 on the spot. She gave him the check which was cashed at her bank the same day.
"Debbie Doe" really got gouged by a man named Tommy. She was coming out of Trader Joe's store on Lincoln Ave. a few months ago. This man who called himself Tommy was blocking her car so she could not back up. He got out of his car and told her he noticed some paint was off on one side of her car. She already knew that as she had been sideswiped and was going to take her car to the dealership the next day.
Tommy told her that the dealer would rip her off and he could fix it then and there for $l20. She told him "No" and kindly asked him to move his car so she could leave. He then said he could take off the scratches for $25—and she paid him. It took him exactly five minutes to do the job as he had some chemicals in the trunk of his car. He made a quick buck! Men do look for women alone and especially in grocery store parking lots.
Companies scam customers and investors all the time as the newspapers report on a daily basis. Some get caught and some get away with crime. What goes around comes around even if the con believes he or she will never be caught.
If you, as readers, have con stories to relate, please e-mail your unfortunate story to pmtm1@netscape.com as future scam stories will be appearing. No one's real name will be used, as the articles are to alert the public and protect the innocent. |
