I am guilty of being somewhat “non-self-disclosing” and have a strong urge to “confess” so as to emphasize that “scammers” are always “one up” on us, in spite of our caution.
Historically, I have been pretty skeptical of everything “which is too good to be true”. I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life because to hope against “all odds” pun intended, has not been my strong point. I have suffered because of my skepticism, “I have never won a jackpot”. At times, I do have regrets. Self-disclosure is painful, but I would admit, I have lost some money in the stock market though.
Few years back, visiting my parents in New Delhi India, I was “scammed”. The way it happened was that the domestic help which they couldn’t do without because of their advancing age took off – leaving them high and dry. I was pretty anxious to “put things in order” and earn parental respect of a “prodigal son”
Spoiled by my sojourn in the States, I thought I could “order domestic help online” having been heavily addicted to Amazon. Lo and behold I could find someone online, who was willing to send me a maid before the end of the day.
“It was too good to be true” and I jumped at the opportunity. They wanted me to wire advance payment of few thousand rupees- roughly $100. I promptly wired the money- was disappointed because the maid didn’t arrive by the evening and as a matter of fact never showed up. I tried calling my contact number for the maid service, someone would answer and assure me that they were having some difficulty but nothing to worry about and would happen soon. After few angry exchanges they very conveniently “disconnected the phone number”.
Looking back, I recall having been surprised that they could arrange for the maid that fast, but chose to brush any doubt aside as it was more convenient to trust them against my better judgment.
