Tag: scam

Posted in fraud

Almost scammed

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Since we scaled back our home-based cookie business, I’ve been trying to sell our Eddie edible ink printer. It’s an investment, but it prints amazing images on royal iced sugar cookies.

I listed it on a dedicated message board as well as a local online marketplace. I’ve sold lots of items there, just nothing this expensive.

Over the next few weeks, I got lowball offers which I rejected. I was offering a great price, so I wasn’t coming down much.

Then we got a phone call from a woman in Boise, Idaho. She asked if we had recently sold an edible ink printer. She saw our business information in a picture the equipment and tracked us down. A person in Eau Claire, Wisconsin had copied my photos and created a fake listing on Craigslist. If she had sent the money, it would be gone and she’d have no printer. She was wise to check it out.

Everything I sell is for local pickup. And it’s been working well. I list items, someone stops by with cash or sends money via Venmo and takes it home. But I hadn’t tried to sell any high priced items. Ten to twenty bucks at the most.

I wouldn’t try and box up the printer for shipping. I hadn’t kept any of the original packaging. Plus, it would be expensive.

I found the listing on Craigslist and reported the fraud. It was creepy. I felt violated. Craigslist is like the wild west of online shopping, rife with scams and lies. I wasn’t surprised that it showed up here. I was just surprised to find my item here.

No one is going to mess with a ten dollar bin of baby toys or Mr. Potato Head parts. But you get into the thousands of dollars and you better watch your back.

Posted in Life

The Lenten Devotion scam

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In 2018, I began writing Lent devotions to accompany my midweek sermons in the six weeks leading up to Easter. I’ve sent them out as daily emails, I’ve posted them on my blog, and this year I sent out the whole collection on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the traditional church season of Lent.

In response to my email, received a phone message: “This doesn’t sound like you. I think you may have been hacked.” And an email, wondering, “Did you send out devotions? I think you may have been hacked.”

The only thing I did differently this year was to open the door to Venmo donations for my devotions. I spent about one hour one each devotion. After editing and publishing, I figured I spent about sixty hours on this most recent project, “One of those days.” When I sent out the collection of devotions, I simply added, “You can support future devotions with a donation” and a Venmo address. No pressure. No paywall. No obligation. Not even an ask.

Danger, Will Robinson! Scam alert! Red flag! I commend all who wondered if this was legit. Yes, be on guard against any and all kinds of scams. But I also want to remind you of what looks like a scam and what doesn’t.

First, the scam won’t come from someone you know. Look at the email, not just the name. Look familiar? Then it’s legit. A long string of letters and numbers? No bueno.

Next, a scam will ask you for money and give you nothing in return. My email gave you devotions for free and asked for nothing in return. Obviously not a scam.

Finally, think for a moment. Who sends out Lent devotions to get into your personal information? Is that even a thing? Have you fallen for that scam in the past? Who else out there is giving you something for free?

You can all relax. If you want the devotions, email me: padrebill57@gmail.com. I’ll send it to you for free. Want to donate? Venmo something to @padrebill57.

Wow, just think of how much money I could have walked off with if I had thought of the Lent Devotion scam years ago!