Stop the press, incredible news just got in this week and deserve a follow up. Dr. Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a Japanese scientist from Tokyo, developed a technique to transform “sewage mud” a.k.a. human excrements in steaks. So get ready to soon see it on sale in your favorite supermarket. Perhaps will be on the same aisle where you find “smelly Tofu” and the stinky Durian fruit. This will appeal to the most demanding scatological gourmet. What is next? Pee Cola? Turd nuggets?
Since we are into the realm of scatology, I was visiting these days the “scammers prison” a superb idea of the CLM/ALM team, to expose the crooks that tried to prey on our community. As I expected, most girls have actually pictures of famous actresses (when they were younger), showbiz people, models or Facebook cuties. The guys, none looks like is on the “10 most wanted” list of the FBI (I wonder who will replace Bin Laden). Most look like normal, decent, honest to a fault guys. I bet a dollar that 99% of the people in those pictures have no idea that these crooks are using their pictures.
I received a letter from a Chinese lady from CLM telling me her two very disappointing experiences with guys she met in dating sites. She is a highly intellectual woman, a University professor, a fantastic artist and a sensible and highly sensitive person. I could feel the extent that these 2 people hurt her. The first used a classical trick, looking frantic, desperate, saying that he was in an airport and “lost his wallet” and asked her to wire some money to him via Western Union. This is heavy-duty emotional black mail, using a very successful time proven technique, the addition of the “urgency” factor.
Many sales people that work on commission to close a sale use this. They usually say that “this is the last one” or “the sale ends today”. 99,99% of the time is a lie, is just not to let you think clearly. Buyer beware, some “sales” are “final sales” and somewhere in small print they have a disclaimer stating that “no refunds or exchanges apply”. This technique is so old, that probably has been used since when the Dead Sea was still alive and well.
Use a simple rule, do not buy anything under pressure, do not buy on impulse, think logically and put your heart aside when pressured to act fast and say NO. Chances are that you will avoid being part of the statistics and kissing goodbye to your cash. Go out buy an ice cream and feel good about yourself. Move on.
In principle, I take everybody at face value and apply the “benefit of the doubt” to anyone. We cannot get paranoid and believe that the world is infested with crooks lurking in the dark alleys just sharpening their knives to back stab us. But if it comes down to asking money; ladies and gentlemen use the Homeopathic Medicine approach treat poison with poison. Reply and say that your bank account is blocked and you have no access to funds. Just type this handy expression of the English language, “sorry, something came up and I have to go”. It is as simple as that.
Quite frankly, after all is said and done “blacklist” this person and communicate the incident to the CLM/ALM people ASAP and they will take the necessary steps to deal with the situation. You are lucky to belong to a site where people really do care for both, your emotional and financial health. Move on, just around the corner you might find a real person, a real human being.
We have now two new categories in "Crooks Land", the "web gigolos" and the "web GROs". It is easy to understand and even sometimes forgive a girl scammer acting in despair, because she is hungry. You have to be in some poor countries to understand them. In some places the reality is brutal, but a man extorting money from a woman is inconceivable under any circumstances. No decent man in the face of the Earth would ask money to a girl or a lady. A real man would deal with the situation, call the Consulate of his country, do something, even wash dishes; a real gentleman does not act like this, just scumbags would steal money from a woman.
The “web gigolos” try to trick innocent people. Some are even married, trying to gain the trust of decent people. They lie, pretend, make unworthy promises, some can be very sophisticated, "sweet talkers" and convincing, specially for young and inexperienced girls or sensitive and kind ladies, debilitated by traumatizing relationships, crippling experiences, feeling the bluntness of solitude or lacking attention and love. They are the most vulnerable and easier to fall prey in the hands of people without scruples. These web vultures have no respect for other people's feelings. Tell them, hey buddy, get a job, bye.
The second story the “lady from CLM”, this mysterious and whimsical personage told me, was about a guy she fell in love with and went all the way to his country to meet him, was also a big time deception. Upon her arrival, the person she was in love with was at least 10 years older then he looked in his pictures, shorter than her and a big tummy.
What happened to web cams? Please remember, the image you see is as good as the camera the other person owns. If he/she is using a first generation 1,3 mega pixels camera bought in a pawnshop or Dollar store and in a poor illuminated environment, it will not do you any good to see his/her face.
At night, all cats are brown, as they say in my country. I use a state of the art high definition 8 Mp real time web cam, so the ladies can see that I am just an ordinary guy, not handsome, certainly not a movie star. This has nothing to do with people being too much into the “looks” of the other person; it has to do with being honest.
In the age of Photoshop, don’t rely on pictures. What you see is not necessarily what you will get. Professional top of the line lenses and filters, special lighting, a dedicated makeup artist and a good photographer can make a mummy look like a Miss Universe or a normal guy look like Mr. Handsome. Pictures taken on RAW format and later Photoshoped and saved in Jpeg, will improve dramatically the looks of anyone.
I have seen a few top models at arm’s length and they looked awful in person. This was still in the age of airbrushing. I remember a famous German model that I saw in the streets of Ipanema shopping in Rio (lots of people recognized her and were asking for an autograph); she was the top model at that time. I felt that she should be in intensive care, she looked terminally dehydrated to me and her face had more craters than the Moon’s surface and all kinds of imperfections, spots, redness etc (like all the other mortals do).
Her hair was very short (obviously her hair on the glamour shots was fake like a 3 dollars bill) and dry like straw due to probably over use of chemicals. She looked like a walking corpse to me, a zombie. In those days women were taking even diuretics to lose weight (sheer ignorance, because they were depleting their bodies of essential salts, crucial for the normal functioning of the heart, some paid a high price for their vanity) and starving themselves to death. This was a very tall woman with less than 100 pounds!!!! A sad skeleton, but her pictures were on the cover page of all the top magazines; from Vogue to you name it. She was the highest paid model of the day.
Keep always in mind, that it takes two to dance the Tango. There is no corruption, if we do not pay a dishonest person. There is no extortion if we don’t pay a blackmailer. There is no scammer, if we do not open our wallets and give voluntarily away our hard earned money to an opportunist or professional scam artist. I would rather give the money to the Red Cross, the Red Crescent or any other credible charity organization or a Hospital dedicated to treat children with cancer, for example.
You have a great sense of humor….
Tango—very graceful dance….
Thanks for showing us to avoid scams and tricks on the dating webside, it’s really some scammers act actively here, they live by scam and cheat, so everyone should have bright eyes and hold tight of their pockets. Some ladies show their art pictures , they just want to show their best sides and attract some more attention. I believe that most of the people are hoping to find a soul mate.