Yet now it seems to me not so easy to fool a Russian citizen. Often everyone understands that this is a "scam", but they hope to snatch in the forefront and not suffer. This is a little different. Previously, everyone honestly believed that it was happiness that smiled at them.
Here are the options …
Millionaire from Limpopo
"Nigerian Letters" or "Deception 419" (named after the corresponding article number of the Nigerian Criminal Code) appeared in the late 80s in the United States. “Nigerian letters” broke into Russia in the early 90s. At first, messages came to people in ordinary paper envelopes or by fax. Then via the Internet by e-mail.
These letters necessarily told some pitiful story of a Nigerian princess, a wealthy heir, a millionaire from Limpopo, etc. In fact, ordinary scammers wrote. This letter ended with a request for a money transfer.
At the same time, the recipient was promised a huge percentage of the amount of this transfer. And God forbid people fell for the bait: more and more money was gradually lured out of him for various, but "vital" goals.
Here is one of the most striking examples of "Nigerian writing":
Promotional video:
“My name is Bakare Tunde, I am the brother of the first Nigerian cosmonaut, Major of the Nigerian Air Force, Abaka Tunde. My brother became the first African cosmonaut to go on a secret mission to the Soviet Salyut-6 station back in 1979.
He later took part in the flight of the Soviet Union T-16Z to the secret Soviet space station Salyut-8T. In 1990, when the USSR fell, he was just at the station. All the Russian team members managed to return to the ground, but my brother did not have enough space in the ship.
From then until today, it has been forced to be in orbit, and only rare Progress cargo ships supply it with the necessary. Despite everything, my brother does not lose his presence of mind, but he longs to return home, to his native Nigeria. During the long years that he spent in space, his gradually accumulating salary amounted to 15 million US dollars.
This amount is currently held in a bank in Lagos. If we can get access to the money, we can pay Roscosmos the required amount and arrange a flight to Earth for my brother. The amount requested by Roscosmos is $ 3,000,000.
However, we need your help to receive the amount, since we, Nigerian civil servants, are prohibited from all transactions with foreign accounts. Ever yours, Dr. Bakare Tunde, leading astronaut."
Well, just an action-packed thriller! But the saddest thing is that people were led and sent money. Some because of their own greed, others to raise money for an expensive operation for a loved one.
Here they are - the "rich" from Africa, "in trouble."
Resourceful "Canadians"
"Canadian Wholesale Company" - so called themselves those who snatch people absolutely unnecessary cheap rubbish for a lot of money. Sellers caught a passer-by at the entrance to the subway or in other crowded places and, with a wide smile, handed him something (a pot, a pen, a kettle, a razor, whatever). And, starting with the phrase "You are very lucky today," without giving them time to come to their senses, they talked about the "useful and necessary" product. The expressions “today is the only sale”, “have time to buy several times cheaper than in the store”, “this thing performs 1001 functions”, and so on, served as magic tricks.
And they did. Only when they came home, they found out that the miraculous frying pan or super-mop had a defect or did not "fury" at all.
Representatives of the "Canadian Wholesale Company" (and others like them) followed four golden rules:
Exceptionally pleasant appearance: clean shoes, white shirt, tie.
The conversation with a potential buyer should be such that he only answers "yes". For example: “Do you want guests to admire what a wonderful hostess you are?”, “Do you want smooth skin without irritation?”, “What price would you like? 600 rubles - is it expensive?"
The main thing is to put the goods in the hands of a person. Then he will most likely buy the thing - after all, subconsciously taking the goods will feel the goods as their own and will not want to give them away.
To instill in a person that he is the chosen one, and not one of the crowd. This is done with phrases like: "I've been waiting for you here all day!"
If you want to lose weight - ask me how
This inscription adorned the badges of thousands of people with shopping bags who were selling miraculous supplements for big money. We are talking about "Herbalife" - a product supposedly capable of destroying your excess weight, cleanse the body, rejuvenate and cure the most dangerous diseases.
Working at Herbalife promised to bring large earnings. And so it actually was for someone. The principle is simple: you had to pay an entry fee of $ 150 for an initial set of products. Then with this product it was necessary to attract other buyers.
If buyers became distributors of Herbalife, then the person received a percentage from someone else's sales volume. It turned out to be a kind of pyramid - a system familiar to everyone who worked at Oriflame, Mary Kay, Faberlic or similar organizations. Only these three companies sell cosmetics, and Herbalife snorted useless slimming cocktails.
In Russia, Herbalife went on sale in 1995. The first consignments of goods that entered the CIS from Israel were actually smuggled, mostly overdue. After some time, the media began to print devastating articles about the product and even that it was harmful to health. Weight loss sales declined. They also said that the meetings of the distributors of "Herbalife" were more like sectarian ones.
But the most interesting thing is that up to 2010 there were still those who sincerely believed in the power of Herbalife and defended it. In principle, it is understandable why - such means, with long-term use, cause addiction in people.
Herbalife products are still on sale.
Fact: The founder of "Herbalife" (translated from English as "grass of life") Mark Reynolds Hughes died in 2000 at the age of 44 - the miracle drug did not help him …
Not a casual passer-by
In the early 90s, there were so-called lottery machines on the streets - machines that throw out balls with winning numbers. Journalists of Moskovsky Komsomolets in their article about fraud called this case a "scam". This is how this word appeared, further denoting any "wiring".
Now about the most street "scam". Fraudsters handed out tickets to passers-by "free" lottery tickets (although in the original version it was necessary to pay, but literally a penny). As a rule, they played some kind of household appliance. Nearby stood a bright box from under this unit, but what was inside it was not visible.
Then the person got a winning ticket. However, it immediately turned out that literally the same went to some "accidental passer-by".
The organizers of the lottery began to apologize to the man (there was only one prize) and offered to hold a sort of auction between him and the "random passers-by" - whoever gives the most takes both the prize and the loser's money.
And here is what a coincidence: the "casual passer-by" looked poor, as if by chance he could let slip that he had only a thousand rubles or opened his wallet, where there was very little money. Naturally, the one who got involved in the lottery voluntarily, noticing this, agreed to the auction.
The further development of events suggested several options. In the first, “true” and “casual” passers-by put their money in envelopes and give it to the organizers of the “scam”.
The victim's money was discreetly added to the sum of the “bystander”. Therefore, when opening the envelopes, it always turned out that the “random” money had more, and he won.
In the second variant, the auction is held with a bid increase every time. But both participants give the money to the organizers at once.
According to another scenario, there were indeed household appliances in the box, but defective and very cheap. People were stupidly bred for excitement. As a result, he overpayed for the thing at times.
You cut my car
Very common in the 90s were auto-fittings, which looked more like extortion. Imagine, you suspect nothing and are driving along your lane, when you suddenly notice a car behind. She is actively trying to drive your car to the next lane: flashing headlights, "beeping".
As a result, you give way. At this moment, unexpectedly in front of you or behind you from the "blind" zone, a second car appears, into which you naturally crash.
The first car quickly drives away, and a rocking criminal comes out of the second car you hit. He arrogantly explains how much it costs to repair his cool car. As a rule, cars for such a scam were used by really expensive brands - "Mercy", "Audi", "Behi", etc. Only inside such cars were wrecked.
Thus, you have no choice but to pay money for car repair. Otherwise, the scammers called in front traffic cops.
The scammers targeted middle-class people or inexperienced drivers as their victims. Especially often such things happened then on the Moscow Ring Road.
After the advent of compulsory motor third party liability insurance (OSAGO), there are much fewer such cases on the road.
And in conclusion, let's recall another type of fraud from the distant 90s.
Thimbles
Despite the fact that thimbles appeared on the street in the USSR only in the 1980s, this game was known in England back in the 1790s. But then they did not gamble with people in an attempt to guess "where the ball is", but simply were entertained by magicians. Meanwhile, the thieves were cleaning the pockets of onlookers.
In the 1990s, the popularity of the game of thimbles only increased. Now everyone who had the courage and permission from the bandits tried to make money on suckers. As a result, the qualifications of the crooks dropped sharply, while the professionals of the ball and thimble could work miracles. For example, a dilettante bluntly clamped the ball between his fingers and the wall of the glass, which could be seen at close glance. And a professional spun the ball so that when the glass was raised, it spun inside along its walls. However, amateurs did not care, because when the client made a bet, passing the bill, it did not return to him in any case.
Even if a miracle happened and the sucker won, they wouldn't let him leave just like that: "Either play again, or return all the money." The only case when a client was able to return not only his money, but also to take away the fund of scammers, is shown in the famous perestroika action movie Fan. True, cinema is cinema.
It is interesting that the income received was not evenly distributed among the members of the group. A quarter of the "earned" was received by the thimblegiver himself - the "grassroots". 10 percent each was unfastened to the “upper reaches” - the fake lucky ones who easily win large sums. Another 5 percent relied on "beacons" - those who monitored the environment and dealt with lost citizens. Well, half of the entire jackpot went to the gang, which covered this territory, and often threw themselves.
Over the years, citizens began to understand that thimbles are a scam, there is no chance of winning in it. As a result, the number of those willing to take risks has decreased many times over. But the burglars did not stand still, improving the technology of "honest" money taking. For example, a dummy beat a thimbler several times in a row, and the last time he decided to hit a big jackpot by betting everything. But he lacked 50 rubles before the thimble's bet. Some of the passers-by, seeing how he won, added fifty dollars in the hope of doubling it - and voila, the dummy lost. The fifty kopeck goes to the bank.
There was also another variant of "divorce", called by the crooks "for the smart". A person who was sure that thimblers were crooks and that it was impossible to win against them was offered a special scheme. Like, get up in the crowd and win from me what the suckers will lose to me. But the dummies played the role of suckers, and for some reason they immediately began to win, and the "smart" had to bet his money and lose. When it dawned on him that he had been thrown up, the Lighthouses asked him to quietly leave.
Interestingly, the famous liberal and deputy Sergei Kovalev was also on the list of VIP victims of thimblers of the 1990s. In 1998, he saw working cheats on the market and, instead of calling the police, as befits a decent democrat, he decided to "cut the dough." As a result, the deputy lost 2.2 thousand US dollars, which was an impressive amount by the standards of the 1990s. However, it is possible that he suffered from stellar, suffered from thimblers, much more, but not everyone will dare to admit that they are a sucker.
On the other hand, the virtuosos of the thimble are more fond of another proverb: "Without a sucker, life is bad!"
Telechotron
Any of the Russian TV viewers at least once saw on TV a game in which erudite and very quick-thinking participants earn money by answering various questions. We turn on the TV after midnight and, flicking the remote control, we find a program in which a pretty TV presenter offers a pretty decent amount to someone who guesses a word from 10-15 letters displayed on the screen, or finds five differences in two pictures, or correctly names the name of a famous artist on portrait.
We look at the task - and in a few seconds we realize that we know the correct answer! The very answer that no one can guess, despite all the calls and prompts of the presenter. All that remains is to dial the phone number displayed on the screen - and you can enjoy such an easy replenishment of the family budget.
Of course, everything here is so “stupid” that it's even surprising how people take it seriously. However, after reading such stories, you understand that there are a lot of such people. Well, these are probably exactly those who constantly carry Mavrodi's money. Although the last time I noticed from my acquaintances that Mavrode was deliberately carried money by those who knew that they had to use the first moment to make money, but that's another story. Let's go back to the scam.
BEZBORODOVA KRISTINA
