Unpopular Topic: Scams

Read Time: 4 minutes

I still remember the day I got my first email from a Nigerian prince.

I was in the computer lab at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. A tiny school of about 1,700 undergraduate students.

And yes, here I was, getting an email from the prince of Nigeria, who needed MY help!

All he needed me to do was send him a couple thousand dollars, and he would reward me with $10,000 once he was able to enter the U.S.

Of course, these days this is a widely known hoax.

But when I first got this email almost 20 years ago it was brand new.

In fact, when I brought it up to my friends in the cafeteria that night, only one other person had received something like that before. To everyone else, it was brand new.

I’ll end the suspense here- I didn’t send that person any money. Even though I had never seen or heard about anything like this before, my Common Sense alarm was blaring at full volume-

SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT HERE.

So I did what most of us do these days when we get a scam email. I ignored the message and went on living my life.

A few years later, however, I wasn’t so lucky.

I was preparing for graduate school in Los Angeles. I rented an apartment and needed a roommate to split the rent with me.

I posted an ad online and had a very interested person who promised they were going to send a check from Asia the very next day. All they asked me to do was not rent the room out to someone else.

I obliged, and took the ad down.

About a week later I got a check for almost double the amount of the rent I had requested. I shrugged it off, assuming the person was just paying for their first 2 months.

The lady at the bank where I tried to cash it, however, knew better.

She took one look at the check and said, “Let me guess, this is for a roommate.”

Yes.

“And it’s more than you asked for, isn’t it?”

Um, yes.

“OK, here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna get a very angry message in the next couple days. They’re going to accuse you of taking advantage of them and demand that you wire them the ‘extra’ amount above your rent back to them. Don’t do that. This check is going to bounce, and you’re going to be out of the money that you wired them.”

Sure enough, next day I got an angry email.

A couple days after that, the official notice from the bank that the check had bounced.

Now, while I didn’t send the scammer any money (thankfully), I still was crushed financially.

Because during all this time, school had started. Everyone had their living situation figured out. And I still had this expensive LA apartment with an empty bedroom.

I spent the entire school year accepting basically any roommate I could get, usually on a month-to-month basis, for half-to-a-third of the rate I originally wanted.

So why am I talking about scammers?

It’s certainly not because these were fun memories to relive.

But because, unfortunately, scammers haven’t gone away, which leads to posts like this":

The major thing to remember about scammers is that they apply aggressive, time-urgent pressure. They don’t want you thinking about what they’re asking, and they want the money NOW.

If you think you might be talking to a scammer, consider the following:

1. Is this someone you actually know?

   Talking to someone online a couple times is NOT the same as actually knowing them.

2. Is there any way you can confirm the information that they’re saying? Note that scammers sometimes have incomplete information, so just because they know your name and number does not mean they are legitimate.

3. Is there a way for you to contact them?

   Legitimate companies will have a way for you to contact them- either by phone, their company website, etc. A scammer will insist that you give them your credit card information right away, or alternatively they’ll give you complex instructions about buying a gift card and mailing it to a specific address. Which, as you can tell now just reading this, is not a normal thing for a company to request.

If you are able to figure out that you’re talking to a scammer, DO NOT engage with them, you don’t even have to stay on the call or reply to their email.

Hang up.

Don’t reply to the email.

Just ignore them.

You can also choose to file a report to help prevent it from happening to someone else.

Finally, if you’re unsure if you’re getting scammed, reach out to someone you trust.

A friend or family member.

The Desigated School Official (DSO) at your college or university.

You can even ask me- just explain the situation and I’d be more than happy to give you some insight.

Because the time where you’re studying in the U.S. should be a wonderful experience.

This isn’t a time to get scammed.

This is a time to Live Your American Dream.

Josh

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