MetaChat - Some people need protecting from themselves.

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07 February 2007

Some people need protecting from themselves. →[More:]After the hell day I had yesteday dealing with Our Worst Nutter, I brought a new file home to look at.

Woman on holiday in Malaysia meets some locals. Much talk about England, relatives who live/want to live there, yadda, yadda, yadda.

"Come and meet our uncle, he'd love to talk to you about England"

Gets in taxi with these "friends" (i.e. strangers) and goes to some residential area miles from her hotel. Meets uncle.

Uncle says he is croupier in casino and can show her a way to play blackjack where she'll always win. Shows her. She wins!

They decide this needs to be properly tested, against an 'unsuspecting' player, so she can win lots of money. Fortunately, such a player just happens to be in the next room, a friend of the uncle's who's never played cards before in his life. The perfect victim.

They begin to play. Astonishingly, the unsuspecting first-time player has a run of luck, and ends up winning. Just fancy that!

So woman has to go to bank to withdraw up to the limit on her card to pay off her gambling debt. £8,000. ($16,000)

Because she is a psychologist, she knew that these people were trustworthy. They must have put something in her drink so her 'trust mechanisms' were impaired. Therefore the bank must give her back the money and wipe off her credit card.

OK, you can stop laughing now.

post by: essexjan at: 09:25 | 4 comments

That is WILD.

I thought stuff like this only happened in David Mamet movies!

posted by BoringPostcards 07 February | 09:49

Sadly, BP, it happens all too often. What's that saying? - "you can't con an innocent person". All the cases I deal with where people say they've been 'defrauded' inevitably involve them thinking they are going to get something for nothing.

The most common ones I deal with are where someone agrees to let a third party pay a cheque through their account, in return for a small commission. ("I haven't got a bank account, but I really need to buy this car, and I'm owed money by Blah Corp so if I ask them to write the cheque for the £10,500 in your name, you can keep the £500 and I'll just draw the £10,000 to pay for the car ...")

The cheque's paid in, the money drawn and, inevitably, the cheque is bounced because it's stolen or a forgery. So the 'victim' is left owing the full £10,500, all because they believed they would get £500 for nothing.

Truth: if it sounds too good to be true, it's a scam.

posted by essexjan 07 February | 10:06

Trust mechanisms, indeed. Hee.

posted by occhiblu 07 February | 11:57

... where people say they've been 'defrauded' inevitably involve them thinking they are going to get something for nothing.
Exactly - I hear people complaining that they got ripped off all the time and, almost exclusively, they have had the tables turned on them when they are trying to take advantage of someone else.

posted by dg 08 February | 17:35

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