I went to see a new vet this week in the city of Geulph, which is about 1 hour outside of Toronto. Wait! Let me clarify that. I did not see the vet, my rabbit did. And since he is not skilled in the art of operating a motor vehicle, I was commissioned to transport him there for his examination.
While we waited, I browsed through the local paper and came upon a story that caught my attention.
There was a gentleman who got caught in a scam involving bogus money orders, and consequently he was suing his bank (where he cashed his money order).
Why was he suing? Well here’s the back story.
Joe (not his real name and hopefully not yours either) owns several homes and rents out rooms to students, many of them international. One such international student emailed saying she had been accepted into one of the programs at the University of Geulph and was interested in renting a room.
A room was available, so she promptly sent a money order with the necessary funds.
It was then that a series of unfortunate events happened. First, she had mistakenly sent too much money (I hate when I do that). Second, her father had a heart attack and so she needed the additional $2000 that she mistakenly sent to be returned pronto so she could pay for some of her father’s treatments and to book her flight to Canada.
Joe had already deposited the money order and so promptly returned the additional funds.
Then things got a little weird. She emailed back and said her father had taken a turn for the worse and she was going to need all remaining funds returned because she could no longer come to Canada.
At this point Joe got suspicious and notified the authorities. Shortly thereafter, the bank notified him that the money order he deposited was in fact a forgery and thus had not been cleared.
Translation. Joe had just donated $2000 of his own cash to some overseas con artist who managed to successfully wrestle significant coin from yet another unsuspecting victim.
In retaliation, Joe is now suing the bank. It is his contention that it should have done a better job educating him on such scams.
My initial reaction to this story was, “Come on Joe! They accidentally sent too much money! You can accidentally forget your wallet. You can accidentally call the wrong number. You might even accidentally forget to remove that mud pack on your face before you head out to the grocery store, but NO ONE accidentally sends too much money.”
But as I drove home I got to thinking about Joe’s story a little more and realized that we all have moments in our life where we fail to connect the dots.
Why?
For a variety of reasons. Lack of knowledge (not to be confused with stupidity), fear (which interrupts rational thought), an overabundance of misplaced trust, or preoccupation with some other task which prevents us from focusing 100% on the issue at hand to name a few.
I also realized that unlike Joe, I have seen this type of scam before . It resembles those Nigerian emails that I have received on occassion. You may know the ones I am talking about.
Dear valued friend,
My father, the Grand Pubbah of Nigeria, fears for his life. Angry elves and goblins (native to Nigeria in case you thought they were fictional-I can assure you they are very real and quite feisty) are threatening to overthrow him unless he improves working conditions at the travelling circuses upon which they are currently employed.
My father is a strong proud man and won’t give in to these outlandish demands–they get two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch, not to mention free wi-fi.
But he is worried his vast fortune will be confiscated and he is willing to die before this happens–well not him per say. At the very least, he is willing to sacrifice a few servants-probably the tea wench who is constantly late for work, and a few farm animals who have outlived their usefulness and do nothing now but poop everywhere.
He would like to transfer the funds to me, his eldest son, and heir to the throne and majority owner of those retched travelling circuses, but I am in hiding. Actually, that’s not true. I am lost and worse, I have forgotten the pin number on my ATM card and have since been locked out of my account.
I know you are thinking, “Why don’t you just call your bank.” Again, rest assured my valued friend, I have, but have been on hold for the past 33 days. I am still number 132 in the queue and worse, they have been playing the same song over and over again. If that isn’t bad enough, the same annoying voice cuts in every minute to tell me, “Your patience is appreciated. Someone will be with you shortly.”
I will tell you this, when I take my rightful place on the throne, I will have that person who makes that message executed.
So why am I approaching you? Because I know you are a good and honest person who my father and I can trust. How do I know this? The guy who sold me this email list told me so.
So I want to send you the $750,000 naira that is in my father’s account. I don’t know what that translates to in Canadian dollars because I have also since lost my cell phone, so I am unable to Google the exchange rate for you.
In exchange for your generosity, my father has agreed to let you keep $100,000. As an added bonus, when I am Grand Pubbah, I will also name a street after you-Valued Friend Drive or Avenue perhaps.
All you need to do to access these funds now is send your banking info so I can immediately initiate the transfer. Of course to save time, include your PIN numbers and pass codes so we can get this done today.
Thanks for your help. Nigeria salutes you.
Prince Habeeb
Because of my familiarity with the Nigerian email scam, I was quickly able to connect the dots and see Joe’s scam for what it was (well that and the article had already told me it was a scam). Joe however had never heard of it before and consequently wasn’t able to connect the dots with his situation until it was too late.
But you know what, we all have moments (and will have others in the future) where we haven’t or won’t be able to connect the dots until it is too late. It might be in relation to a doomed relationship, an investment that is too good to be true or an economy that is on the verge of collapse.
So quit thinking the dots will always connect because sometimes they won’t. Well at least not right away. Lets just hope you don’t do anything really stupid before they do hook up.
To an idea worth quitting,
Dean
ps…If this made you laugh, ponder a greater meaning, or helped generate a new idea, consider forwarding it to a friend. It just might do the same for them. Thank you valued friend. Prince Habeeb and I salute you.
