you buy anything on the street, open up the box before you pay for it.
And never sign things on the street. You know those collapsible card tables you see set up on the street or outside a store, advertising a sweepstakes or a lottery of some sort? The ones with the smiling girl who says, "All you have to do is fill out this form, fill out all the information, and sign at the bottom. You'll win a car or a vacation."
Stop. Don't get sucked in. Carefully read any document before you sign it, and always read the fine print first. That's where the trouble usually lies. Then consider: Are they asking you to give too much information, your Social Security number, even your address or phone number? You could actually be signing up to switch your phone service or purchase something you really don't want.
THERE'S NOTHING LIKE A MAN IN UNIFORM
There are a whole host of scams that get carried out with little impersonations. A guy in a postal uniform shows up at the door and says, "I have a COD package for a Mr. Clark."
The woman who answers says, "Mr. Clark? That's my husband. He died two days ago."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," the delivery guy says. "Well, it's a COD package for a hundred dollars."
"Well, what is it?"
"I really don't know. All I know is I have to collect a hundred dollars."
"Well, since my husband ordered it, I'll get the money."
Mrs. Clark won't find anything in that box. She's just been the victim of the COD scam. It's a common one, and criminals target widows in particular. They read the obituaries in the newspaper to locate their marks. Never trust the uniform that someone is wearing. Anyone can get one.
You come to the bank after-hours deposit box to drop in a deposit. There's a handwritten sign beneath the box: "Box is out of order. Please leave deposits with security guard." Standing next to it is a man in a bank security uniform with a four-wheel dolly. He tells you, "I'm sorry, the box is out of order. Just drop your deposits here. I'm with the bank."
There's no way I'm going to fall for that. I've done it. Thirty-five years ago as a teenager, I pulled the scam myself. I dressed up in a guard's uniform, put a sign up on a night box at an airport, and said it was out of order. People came by and put their money right in my bag. I made thirty-five thousand dollars in about an hour. Sometimes it's a night box that criminals use, and sometimes they even use mailboxes.
It's a fairly easy rip-off, because the only props that are required are an "out-of-order" sign, a receptacle of some sort, and a standard issue security guard uniform. And even though it's a pretty low-tech scam compared with so many of the financial swindles that go on today, it's an "evergreen." A few years ago, a financial institution in Livingston, New Jersey, told me that someone had dredged up the caper out of the archives and walked away with thousands of dollars on Christmas Eve.
The tip here is quite simple. A box cannot be out of order.
Home repair schemes of one sort or another are a small industry in their own right. You're outside watering the lawn with your wife. A guy in a workman's coveralls comes up to you carrying a clipboard. He introduces himself, "I'm Tom Lindsay, from Quality Driveways. I've just noticed that your driveway is about due for resurfacing."
"I guess that's right."
"Well, let me tell you what I can do. I just did a house two streets over, and I bought too much asphalt. I'm stuck with this extra load and I want to do something with it, I don't want to waste it. I'd be glad to do your driveway just for the cost of the materials. No trucking, no labor, just the cost of the asphalt on my truck right now. What do you think?"
"It sounds good," you say, and you turn to your wife and ask, "What do you think?"
"Let's do it," she replies.
The workman has you sign a contract and asks for a 20 percent deposit.
It may sound like a good deal, but it probably isn't. Before you agree to anything, check out his company and assure yourself that it's reputable.
GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS
Phony prizes, phony awards, phony grants - con artists try them all, and people nibble and bite. There never is