If It Seems Too Good To Be True
You Should KNOW It Probably Is
An attempted Hoax Against Henry Ford Today,
and Possibly You Tomorrow!

IN THIS ISSUE


-
Winter Adventures

-
Deborah Edwards
(Semester at Sea)

-
Why Shortcuts
Seldom Work

-
Why It Pays To ALWAYS
Do Your Best

-
When God Gives
You Winter . . .

-
Oh, Mary Don't
You Weep

-
If It Seems Too Good
To Be True . . .

-

INSPIRATIONS
and VISIONS

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HOME PAGE


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Like many, and perhaps most other people, I would like to have great wealth
(somewhere after good health), and it would even be a nice bonus if I didn’t
have to work very hard for it.  Such hopes can sometimes blind us to the
reality that “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”  Yet schemes and
scams persist because we ignore what we are almost 100% certain of, for that
“one in a lifetime chance.”

Recently I received an e-mail from a, a, a . . . . (can’t call him a gentleman,
despite my good upbringing!).  Anyway, I received an e-mail from an individual
inquiring about purchasing 200 copies of my book, The Power of Association.  
I’ll let you read the copied-and-pasted e-mails for yourself.       

Initial (1st) E-mail
Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:24:52 -0800 (PST)

hello,

do you have 200 copies of The Power of Association ready instock now

bye
james

2nd E-mail (My Initial Response)
Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:55:55 -0800 (PST)

Mr. Allen,

I certainly do.

Henry

3rd E-Mail
Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:00:17 -0800 (PST)

hello,

do email me the total costs of 200 copies now with the shipping costs of 200
copies to my fiancee in lagos nigeria via fedex priority courier services now,

bye
james

4th E-Mail (Anxious Chap, he is!)
Thu, 2 Feb 2006 10:33:42 -0800 (PST)

hello,

pls do email me the total costs of 200 copies with the shipping costs of the
order via fedex priority courier services to my fiancee now,

bye
james

5th E-mail
Thu, 2 Feb 2006 12:34:26 -0800 (PST)

Mr. Allen,

The books would be $2,000 plus shipping, and FedEx needs complete
destination address information and phone number before quoting a delivery
cost. All costs must be prepaid through PayPal.

Thanks much.

Henry


6th E-mail
Fri, 3 Feb 2006 07:31:48 -0800 (PST)

hello,

pls be advise that i am ready and prepare to pay for the order only with my
credit card only i do not have paypal accounts and i do not wishes to have one
okay

all i can do is to email you my card while you runs it via your credit card
machine okay

bye
james

7th (and last) E-mail
Fri, 3 Feb 2006 09:16:53 -0800 (PST)

Mr. Allen,

Unfortunately, because of minimum volume requirements and cost, we are
not able to process credit cards or credit card information directly.  I sought
the advice of our Legal/Accounting assistant, and she gave us the following
information.

“Many payment services allow you to receive payment from buyers quickly
and easily in many different countries and currencies.  For example, PayPal
lets you accept credit cards from buyers in over 45 countries, often in their
own currency (if you wish).  If no mutual electronic payment method exists,
your buyer can use an international money order, available at most banks, to
pay you safely.”

In addition, we are still unable to even quote a total cost without complete
destination address information including phone number.

Thank you again for your interest.

Henry

CONCLUSION . . .

As you may have guessed, Mr. Allen has not returned my last e-mail.  He
suddenly lost interest in the books that he initially wanted 200 of delivered by
courier.  As much as I would like to stop tripping over the remaining books
from the most recent printing, I needed to ask the following questions.

  • Why would anyone want 200 copies of a book that they never claim to have
    read?
  • Why would they want them delivered by “priority courier services”?  Do you
    have a clue how much it would cost to have a courier deliver 200 books to
    Nigeria?
  • Why would a customer refuse to use PayPal, when PayPal uses and verifies
    credit cards just as a merchant would?  Probably because PayPal are
    experts at credit card verification and I’m not, and “Mr. Allen” was counting on
    that.
  • Why would “Mr. Allen” not purchase an  International Money Order from his
    bank with “his” credit card?

So anyway, if I had fallen for “Mr. Allen’s” scheme (HA!), only God and “Mr.
Allen” know what I might have become accomplice to.  We know the books
would be gone and the cost of courier service incurred, but in addition:

  • Would the credit card number “Mr. Allen” planned on sending me be simply a
    bogus number, or would it have been the number retrieved from a real
    person whose body ended up in an alley somewhere as a robbery and
    murder victim?
  • What would I (or you) be an accomplice to by using a card taken in such a
    manner?
  • What do I (or you) need badly enough to take such a chance?

To you the reader, these may be hypothetical, entertaining, and amusing
questions today, but keep this in mind.  Someone somewhere must be falling
for this crap, and since they didn’t get me, the pressure is that much greater
for them to get YOU!
VISIONS
"Seeing the world not as it is, but as it can be"
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18
Your Success Newsletter - Mar-Apr, 2006 - Published Bi-Monthly