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Austrailian Investment Online Hoax Fools 233
John Larson wrote
in to tell us about This ZD Story
about the Australian SEC setting up a Y2k scam web site
(selling insurance I guess) that apparently fooled over
200 people, and would have netted $4M had it been real.
There are a lot of gullible people out there. Kinda
scary. But definitely an interesting form of entertainment.
From the article: "The internet is a perfectly valid media."
;-)
Well, if that's the quality of Australian education, no wonder...
Even though they might pronounce it Eistrailian, its actually spelt Australian.
In the Australian Newspaper on Tuesday, there was an article about this. Apparently ASIC pull one of these stunts every year to show how easy it is for people to be ripped off. This year was their first Internet scam, last year it was a newspaper ad asking for people to invest in breeding "geep", a cross between a goat and a sheer :-) 700 people replied to that ad...
Yeah,
A U S T R A L I A N
Just goes to show the lack of education in the U.S. Most Americans wouldn't be able to draw a f*cking map of Australia, let alone spell it. Americans just think they are the center of the universe.
Not everyone deserves "what they get" in many instances. Sure there are stupid gullible people out there. But guys that operate scams like these (& similar phone based scams) are professionals that target older people in many instances. They intentionally (sp?) build fear into their vicitms and then capitalize on it. The criminal is the one you should be jumping on here, not the victims.
DaveT
Hmm... that doesn't work either.
Silly zdnet and their changing URLs.. Lets try this link.
Posted by !ErrorBookmarkNotDefined:
People are using the internet for scams?
This is unheard of!
Without a filter for this kinda article, I have
to ask:
Is it news?
Does it matter?
-----------------------------
Computers are useless. They can only give answers.
You'd think that older people would be wise enough to check something out pretty well before investing their money in it. If you don't know what you're doing with your money, then you're likely to lose it. I agree that the criminals who set up online scams should be prosecuted for it. I also think that it is quite preventable if people would just look before they leap.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Hey, there's a bad URL up there, and there are people already posting comments about the article? Geez... are you guys telepathic or something?
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Here: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2252 308,00.html (Took me 15 minutes to get the damn href tag right!)
No sig. Go away.
Is it really that bad without Hemos? ;-)
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
While over a thousand people requested more information, 233 people didn't. The site had nothing to back any of it's claims. These 233 people were going to dump $10,000 to $50,000 a piece with minimal information about it??? Essentially giving money away? I know a lot of people are gullible, but hot damn...
If they're just going to give money away, my address is _________________.
Somehow, people seem to implicitly trust anything they see on a computer. You have to smack them a couple of times before they seem to get the point - Think before you hit that [Send] button!!!
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Just 'view page source', seek and ye shall find.
Chuck
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
..or any other movie or show that has the slick
talking con artist dupe a town full of people?
(Such as a traveling medicine show?)
The ability of people to be fooled is legendary,
not just the young or the old -- almost everybody
can be targeted by a good scam. Some of the more
skeptical by nature may be immune...
The classic form of con is to discover what the
people of the area want or fear, and pitch a
solution to that. Modern scams go a step further,
attempting to create a want or fear that, lo and
behold, they alone have the answer to.
Some people will fall for it. Many won't. Want
proof? Look at the number of people that forward
the net legends and hoaxes to you all of the time
-- hoaxes that can be disproven with just one or
two mouse clicks.
Is there a solution? I don't know. Nowadays,
the psychology of selling is well known to the
marketers -- it tips the balance heavily in favor
of those selling to the unprepared. And there
will always be people who are unprepared.
When I get forwarded a hoax or scam, not only do
I reply back to the sender (and often, the entire
distribution list) the proofs that it is a scam,
but I also try to give a link or two to sites that
teach them how to spot scams for themselves.
Educating the net, one gullible person at a time.
Hey, there's a sucker born every minute. I'm not sure what is so scary about that though. Anyone who falls for a scam like this (even if its not real), or some of the other ones you see on the net deserve what they get.
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Mate, How can you dare question them?
Ammerika is land of the free, freedom of speech, freedom of spelling, and et.all..
It's not like Oz is backwards, But I remember in the 80's when all out computers where just light bulbs, a switch and a battery.. those were the days...
P.S. This is sarcasm. You do know that, right?
The actual link is: Here at ZD Net
and stuff. hey, I think they did a good job for once . . . plenty of publicity, tho, really, there is a strong argument that says "PEOPLE ARE STUPID". I suppose you could ask anyone who has ever worked in tech support.
1,212 emailed for more information, I don't see how that makes them suckers.
The 233 who instantly said they would send money ofcourse were complete morons but the article makes it out as if everybody was going to pay.
It's turtles all the way down.
Shouldn't it be spelled "Australian" ?