#417: Scams
Two scam artists and the schemes they concocted
Welcome, new subscribers, and welcome back, loyal readers! I’m happy you’re here.
Today’s issue is about scams. Nobody likes being scammed. That’s for sure. But reading about a good scam? That’s different. What is about scams that allures and captivates us? For me, it’s knowing that unless I keep my wits about me, I’m a gullible target. (Ask me about the time I almost agreed to pay for a “free” Steinway grand piano offered by a recent widower in Oklahoma.)
I think you’ll enjoy this week’s articles. There are just two this time, so I challenge you to try both. They include:
a warning not to use Zelle to pay for your $31,500 new swimming pool
a man who thinks you can live forever (hint: don’t eat solid food)
Do you have a good scam story to share? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
1️⃣ The Great Zelle Pool Scam
The moral of this story is never get a pool, and if you do, it’s best not to pay by Zelle. Even the idea of having a pool “made me feel a little bit like an asshole to be honest,” David Friedman writes in this hilarious article. “But what is life if not a long march toward losing all your morals?”
After getting over the shame of it all, Mr. Friedman and his wife hire a man named Gary Kruglitz, owner of Royal Palace Pools and Spas. From the beginning, something is off about Gary. Like many contractors, he’s often not responsive. His communication is laconic and intermittent. Mr. Friedman writes:
I wouldn't say Gary is perplexed by this modern world we find ourselves living in as much as he might not be aware it exists. Sometimes when you talk to him, he’ll look up from his papers, turn in your direction, and blink, like a bird that has heard something in the underbrush.
Most distressing, there are long delays. Months pass. So when Gary finally replies and says he’s ready to dig the pool, Mr. Friedman and his wife are eager. So eager, in fact, that they don’t question Gary when he says that he wants the $31,500 paid via Zelle, sent in several daily installments. The rest of this caper, I’ll let you read!
By Devin Friedman • Business Insider • 20 min
2️⃣ The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever
Bryan Johnson is a 46-year-old millionaire who lives in Venice, California, and believes he is going to live forever. He has a system he says is working for him. It includes swallowing 111 pills a day, not eating solid food, always sleeping alone, shooting red light into his scalp, and analyzing his erections and samples of his stool. So far, Mr. Johnson is happy with his results: His doctor says he has the bones of a 30-year-old and the heart of a 37-year-old. But more can be done, of course. He’s seeking the “next evolution of being human.” Other medical experts, on the other hand, call him “pale” and find his claims of everlasting life delusional. “I don’t really care what people in our time and place think of me,” Mr. Johnson says. “I really care about what the 25th century thinks.”
By Charlotte Alter • Time • 21 mins
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I had previously read the Zelle pool scam and enjoyed it very much, wondering the whole while how naïve this couple was. But then, I’ve almost been caught a couple of times, myself. I keep getting texts, allegedly from the post office, that say a pkg can’t be delivered because of an incomplete address. The first time, I clicked on the link and read my pkg could be delivered as soon as USPS received my $.31 additional postage--I was just about to enter my credit card info when I caught myself up. I wasn’t expecting a pkg from USPS. Now I get these texts regularly, even though I hit “delete and report junk” every time, which means they’re using rotating phone numbers. GAAAH
As for the guy who wants to live forever--how can he think he’s LIVING, at all? I’d get so bored I’d want to die sooner rather than later! He looks like a vampire--and not the glittery, Thomas Pattinson/Team Edward type, either. At 46 with a 37-year old heart, if he can maintain (without ever having an actual life), he MIGHT live 8-9 years longer than average. But my guess is, his regimen will end him long beforehand. Poor, deluded man. Isn’t it sad, how people will glarm onto rich, celebrity guys as though wealth signifies great intelligence, that might somehow also rub off onto their devotees? (Elon Musk is beginning his human brain implant experiments now, in hopes people will be able to use computers by thought alone--wonder how many will sign up for THAT--sounds to me like it’ll be about exploiting the physically disabled.)
Mark, please DO share the story about how you almost got a Steinway for free from the Oklahoma widower! It sounds so good.
Here's a quick scam story: a few years ago, a brand new teacher (who was probably 23 years old) at my school worriedly pulled me aside to ask if I had any experience with IRS audits. They then recounted that they'd just received a phone call stating that the IRS was auditing them and that they needed to submit all sorts of personal information immediately to avoid paying huge fines. I assured the new teacher that it was the scammiest of scams -- but if this otherwise super smart, bright, young person can fall for this crap, it made me rethink how easily people could be duped with less fluency or familiarity with authority and governmental systems.