scam magnet

this evening i came home to a small collection of mail strewn across our living room floor from the daily mailcarrier mail-slot shot put. i secretly imagine that everyday when the mail deliverer comes to toss the mail through the slot in the front door, he/she peeks in the window to see just how far she/he can launch it across the room. if i were a mailcarrier, i know i would.

anyway, there was an unusual item of mail that was screaming scam, differing from plain olde unsolicited solicitations that pock-marked the floor (incidentally, the mail toss was further than yesterday--still not as far as i have seen it though).

there was a plastic credit card from some lame bank name that no one has ever heard of, and it was blaring with print and stickers that you need to call the activation code before using it. "what the f***," exclaimed i while picking up the phone to contact this company to tell them to fill in the asterisks and take me off their mailing list. as the phone was ringing on the other end, i flipped the page over and began to read the small print.

this immense motherload scam issues you a credit card with a 1x activation fee of $199.99, and an annual fee of $198--wait, wait, here's the kicker-- it is only applicable for charges made to their product catalog! the catalog will be sent out to you after activating the charge, and there is no website, no description, and no way to talk to an operator--as i quickly found out and allowed their automated phone system hang up on me.

friends, we have seen many scams come to light in recent years. let us hope that none of us falls to the predation of a heartless-spineless-unethical weasel unknowingly. and it is always a good measure to take advantage of your allotted free credit report issuance. You can get one per year from each of the three companies the FTC has agreements with. The irony is, even in acquiring these free credit reports, the individual companies try to entice you to purchase other services from them. will this madness never end?