Avoid Money Scams

Okay, I think I’ve touched on this in the past, but having become recently unemployed, and seeing unemployment numbers rising daily, I do want to remind job seekers to be a bit careful about how they go about it.  There are plenty of people out there looking to take advantage of a bad situation.

One big tempation is to get involved in work at home scams.  Often these just take away your limited resources and keep you from finding a stable and constant income.

Other scammers take advantage of this time to collect your personal information through nefarious posts on sites like craigslist.  They will suggest that they have a job or a job lead but in reality are just trying to get your information so that they can sell you something.  In other words, be careful and good luck finding a job.

Snap decisions are the bane of clear thinking.  Sometimes we are forced into a situation where we have to make a decision with long-lasting results in mere moments.  Sometimes even a few days is not enough to come to a clear understanding of our options or the implications of them.

What is the best way to deal with snap decisions?  Perhaps the best way is to avoid them altogether.

Very often the circumstances that lead up to making a snap decision are entirely within our control.  Making a major puchase is one such circumstance.  Going into debt for a major puchase can happen rather quickly.  Saving up for the same puchase, however, takes time.  Putting the time into putting away the cash can also give you the time to really think through the decision and come to understand what the best choice is.

What happened today most likely also happened yesterday, or last year, or last month.  What happened today will very likely happen again tomorrow, or next year, or in twenty years.

By paying attention to the lessons learned from just a year or two ago a person can often avoid or minimize the impact of some problems of tomorrow.  One great example of this are the fluctuations of the stock markets.  Stocks have dropped in the past.  Stocks have dropped to “historic lows” in the past.  That is why the lows are historic.  This means that we have some indication of the forces that affect the markets.

This same kind of study can be applied to nearly every aspect of life.  If you have questions about what is going to happen tomorrow, then a good place to start is to look at what happened yesterday.  If the conditions that made people act in a certain way occur again, it is a good bet that they will act that way again.

A person cannot function without doing some form of business with others.  We interact with each other all the time.  Whether we are face to face or over the internet, telephone, or just on the television, we are deciding who we will allow into our lives and how.

At some point we all come across money.  We’ll spend that money on the things we want or need.  Who we give that money to depends a great deal on our perception of the integrity of the many vendors selling the products and services we want and need.

Remember that any person using any form of media can easily represent any falsehood.  Be patient.  Do your research.  Choose to do business with the best businesses that you can find.  This will not only protect yourself, but will help to maintain the integrity of the overall economy.

The magician’s force is the art of giving someone a choice without really giving them any choices at all.  In essence it is a way of controlling the outcome of an apparently random situation.  A simple example would be to present two relatively similar choices.  “Pick a card,” for example, from two face down cards.  The magician in this case knows which is which by their location, but they appear to be random.  When the person chooses a card the magician will either say “excellent choice” and reveal the chosen card or say “excellent choice, that one will be spared” and then use the other card.

In either case the card that the magician wishes to use is chosen and used.  The person feels like they made the choice.  They feel like they have the power when in reality they do not.

This same type of mental force can be used by con artists.  If you feel like no matter what decision you make the outcome is the same then you may have already been caught.

I mentioned a few posts back about being a bit careful about the news.  I think I failed to mention just how important watching the news really is.  Or reading it online or in a newspaper.

Knowing and understanding the important issues of the day not only helps keep your mind sharp and bright, but also can help protect you.  The news is quick to issue a report on a bad guy.  They may get their facts mixed or miss a few details, but knowing what to look for can make the difference between being caught unawares and making the right choice at the right time.

As always, look with a critical eye at what is being reported, but by all means don’t ignore the world around you.  All too often the difference between trouble and smooth sailing is information.

Particularly in the United States, we are accustomed to living a certain way of life.  We tend to expect that laws and rules will function in a particular way.  If we get scammed or robbed then we expect the police to be there to help us and serve us and find and punish the criminals.

Unfortunately this does not always happen.  With many of the modern scams, there are often many difficulties associated with recovering funds or finding the con artists.  In particular, if the scam is handled in another country, the number of legal difficulties increases proportionately.  Often the lost money is untraceable.  Often treaties do not exist, or they specifically prohibit certain kinds of legal activities.

In truth, if you or someone you know has become the victim of a foreign scam the odds are not good that any money will be recovered.