Over the past two weeks, I've been listing items on CraigsList. I'm trying to thin out my video game collection simply because it is huge and I don't have the time to play all my games. Yes, I'll keep the rarities, but games I know I'll never play or enjoy that much have to go. Anyway, I listed some things on CR, and much to my surprise, I get a few replies. I shoot the interested recipients some emails, then the warning bells go off. I get replies that ask me to do negligent things: Cash money order checks from out of state, wait for the money to clear, then send the items.
ding ding ding
First off, I am not that stupid. Secondly, CraigsList emails all new signers-on about how to avoid scams and scammers; and in that email they specifically state "Don't cash money order checks!" CR also says to only deal locally as to avoid scams.
This real email I got from someone who was interested in my Nintendo DS was a near carbon copy of the real examples CR has on the site:
| Hello Thanks for the quick response.I am Laura,located in Lovington,New Mexico USA,[Yeah, right]and I am highly interested in buying this item and will be offering you $230. [So, you are going to offer me twenty extra dollars than what I asked for for a used hand-held video game system?]I want to buy this item from you cos its a bit cheaper over there.[Even with twenty extra dollars added to my price? Sure...] pls i am okay with the price and the present condition of the item,and i will like you to make me be the only buyer for this item. my payment for this item will be through an Alertpay Money Order. i would have prefered to come down and discuss this transaction eye for eye,but i am not chanced for now and as for the shipment of the item[OK, so you are saying that would have driven from New Mexico all the way to Illinois just to buy a used Nintendo DS. OK.....],that would be done after the payment has been made and approved.pls you can let me have your the following information.[What is "your the following information"?]. The full name to be on the Alertpay Money Order and your full address your zip code and your contact number.[I don't fucking think so. I don't feel like having my identity stolen. Fuck you.].So that my secretary can issue out the payment to the address you have provided as soon as possible.. Till i read from you..Have a great day. Regards.. |
Go fuck yourself and die, Scammer!
Right after this travesty, I got another reply by someone who was interested in buying my copies of Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 for the PlayStation 1. Now, I am the wiser after dealing with Fake DS Bitch, so in my first email to this person, I specifically state that I only deal with cash and I only deal locally. There was no reply after that. I wonder why...?
These recent experiences are just a small iota of the bigger picture of what is wrong with the internet. From what I know about "the Internet," the actual network is a declassified military communication network that quickly became the way that communication, entertainment, and information are disseminated throughout the masses. There was a time when the Internet was young -- and dare I say, innocent? People could just go on line and putz around, look up information, play MUDDs, whatever. Then money entered the picture, and that was when things began to go to shit. Beginning in the early 2000's, viruses, which always existed since the dawn of the Internet, changed their modus operandi: They weren't just instruments of mischief, they became legitimate money-makers for illegitimate companies. The nebulous word "malware" was born. Now people have to spend their own hard-earned cash to fend off hundreds of attacks a day from Trojans, viruses, and other examples of "malware."
URGH! Is this was D/ARPANET was declassified for? Is the only reason the Internet exists is to try to steal my money, my identity, my PIN number? Does everything have to boil down to money, and the acquisition of it, even above morality?
But anyway...getting back to my original rant...where was I? I lost my train of thought. Maybe. I guess I am just incredibly frustrated at the fact the Internet is the only, and best, way to disseminate information, dissent, and entertainment, but it has never lived up to its potential. It never will, I would guess. The Internet cannot live up to its potential because it is overrun by scammers who are trying to get me to cash forged money orders...and Trojans...and identity thieves.
People wonder if the Internet will "die." Of course it will. It will die because opportunistic politicians, and telecommunications companies, will use the guise of "protection" to curtail dissent and free speech. This will happen because of all the scammers.
It will be a sad day indeed when that happens.
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