We try to teach our students all
the skills they will need to be successful in the business world, yet, the one
skill they will need the most is often neglected and barely taught. We must not
only teach our students the skills necessary to make money but we must also
teach them how to hold on to their money and not lose it to the many skilled
con artists and other dangerous traps lurking out there. Enclosed is a
collection of essays that will give you some very important basics that you may
need in order to protect themselves from the many charlatans, swindlers and con
artists that walk the streets in search of the unwary and unsuspecting.
It’s not easy to make an honest living nowadays, yet it’s
very easy for a clever con artist to quickly relieve us of all our hard earned
money no matter how well we did on our math test and no matter how clever we
may think we are. I’ve seen even the very clever well-seasoned businessman
suckered in by their many fraudulent, deceitful, and deceptive tricks of a good
and polished con artist. Every few years there is another well executed Ponzi
scheme that makes its way through our community with devastating fury, leaving
people impoverished and destitute. It’s extremely important that we learn the
“Street smarts” so that we are able to survive in this jungle of dishonesty in
which we live. Unless we learn to recognize the signs of a scam, there is a
very good chance that we will be taken by one of them. Each year there are
thousands of people taken for a ride and fleeced of their lifesavings by those
clever sweet talkers and rip-off artists that are out to sell us the Brooklyn
Bridge or perhaps even the Twin Towers.
The most dangerous weapon and tool these scam artists possess
are their well-sharpened guile and cunning tongue. Someone with a good
mouthpiece can easily convince you that there is a treasure chest of glittering
diamonds at the end of a rainbow or get you to invest in stocks of cheese made
on the moon. They have the amazing power of persuasion and can easily convince
you to invest your money in their numerous clever schemes that they seem to
dream up on a perpetual basis. The greater the deal sounds, the more slippery
the slope and the deeper the pit into which you may fall.
Over the years, I’ve attended some of their meetings and
was entranced by their fascinating sales pitches and have seen first-hand how
easily they can lure the unwary into their net. When I saw the horrid damage
they caused, I tried my best to expose these charlatans so that people learn to
avoid them like the plague. In the process, I’ve had to fight with the
publishers of some of the newspapers that unfortunately accepted their
fraudulent advertisements. Yet, in the end, their schemes collapsed as their
companies all declared bankruptcy or were closed by the Federal Trade
Commission for fraud. It was only then that they stood exposed for all to see,
but that was only after many people lost lots of money. Unless we learn to
recognize the signs of a Ponzi scheme, a fraudulent MLM deal or a Bait and
Switch salesman, or the many other clever fraudulent business deals trying to
entice us with their promises of a great buy or quick riches, we too can easily
get caught in their net.
One is not permitted to watch his brother drown without
coming to his aid. We must do everything possible to stop these thieves from
operating in our midst. They come disguised in a variety of uniforms. Some will
masquerade as charity collectors, or as holy kabbalists, lawyers, doctors, and
even policeman. They’ll don any hat that will offer them legitimacy. We must
keep a constant watchful eye out for them and be on the alert at all times.
There are many good books that have been written on this
subject and I would highly recommend that we read them.
Putting
the Scam Artists Out Of Business
While these scams will never end, if this book can stop even
one of them, it’ll be well worth it. I've put some of my articles together so
that others can learn from these experiences. Past experience has proven that
lots of people are unfamiliar in these matters and have therefore given
incorrect advise to others. I do hope these articles will help enlighten the
subject and prevent people from falling into the hands of the many charlatans
waiting to pounce upon the gullible and uninformed.
No comments:
Post a Comment