Sometimes I Wonder About People!

I can't help but be a little bit alarmed by the sheer number and variety of scams making their way around the world.

Whereas I can appreciate the fact that "times are tough" these days, the level of dishonesty in our world blows my mind.

Hardly a day goes by in which we don't get some kind of phone solicitation from some "financial institution," letting us know that some account of ours "has been compromised."

I guess there are people who fall for it, and — admittedly — my bank does call me when there is suspicious activity.

But these people are just not creative.

Parking Tickets?

The latest plague to hit our area is the fake parking ticket scam.

You come back to your car, and there's what looks like a parking ticket stuck under the wiper. It looks legit. Part of the text states that "we now offer easy online payment," and there's a QR code you can scan with your phone and pay, right there.

Except, of course, the parking ticket is not real and any payments made actually end up in the bank account of a group of scammers!

Bam! You're out $50! And there's no way to get it back.

A variation of this is just a small ticket saying that you were in a "for pay" parking spot without paying, but that's OK, as long as you pay $3 now. Since most people don't question $3, they get a lot of these...

Now, you'd think with all the security cameras in the world that someone would have been photographed, but so far these perpetrators — at least locally — seem to know exactly which cars are parked in "blind spots."

It all makes me pause and wonder about the whole mindset of these people. I mean, who sits around and thinks "I'm going to scam people for money when I grow up!" as their primary career dream?

Alas, the world seems to be practically swimming in scams and sketchy practices... and it seems to be getting worse, as time passes.

It's a little scary, really...

Interestingly enough, this wasn't at all what I had intended writing about today, but this thing with the parking tickets came up as a notification on the neighborhood bulletin board service I subscribe to.

I'm hopeful that these scammers will be busted in short order, since they are doing this in physical space, rather than on the Internet.

Of course, the person placing the tickets likely is just some "paid runner" who isn't an actual part of the operation.

It does cause me to wonder what CAN we trust?

It all makes me just want to stay at home... but what sort of life would that be?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Have you encountered — or fallen victim to — any strange scams or sketchy practices? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.09.14 01:55PDT
x844/2078