One in Six Americans Victim of Fraud, FTC Says

[barbaraann]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in six U.S. adults was victimized by fraud over the course of a year, from long-distance phone service switched without their permission to magazine subscriptions that never arrive, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday.

Some 25 million Americans paid for loans that never came through, signed up for illegal "credit repair" services that didn't improve their credit scores, or otherwise lost money in fraudulent scams, the FTC reported.

Another 14 million had their long-distance phone service switched without their permission, a practice known as "slamming," the FTC said in its first-ever survey of consumer fraud.
...
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=5888484

This is just so, so sad--and it wasn't like that WHEN LIBERALS RAN THE COUNTRY!!!!!!!

[DenverDem]

1. More like six of six with busholini in the White House.

The whole country has been SCREWED. (Except the 2% at the top.)

[barbaraann]

2. Oh, good point!

That really puts it in perspective.

[msmcghee]

3. I agree it's sad, but . . .

. . it was always like that - no matter who ran the country.

People believe whatever feels good - then they use their brains to justify it.

For example, it feels good to liberals to believe some guy in France has come up with an air compressor automobile engine that will generate zero pollution.

Why? Because we believe that the big oil companies (like Halliburton) are our enemies and want to screw us - and this engine would screw them. It makes us feel good to believe this claim is true. There are also political overtones involving the French here, and how much the RW hates them. Some con artist knows his stuff.

The thread is at
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php
...az=view_all&address=104x2159409

If you don't believe this is true there was a thread here today that illustrated the whole sorry truth of how gullible people are when you give them something to believe in that makes them feel good.

The whole neo-con takeover of our government is based on this simple principle of human nature. And I don't think we liberals will ever get it.

[mbperrin]

6. Not human nature. Learned behavior.

Small children love to help. They are concerned when another is hurting. They are eager to get into school and learn. By the time they're pumped full of Ayn Rand - man is the center of the universe - Greco-Western thought - with a nice dash of Puritan God only rewards the good, and if you're poor you're evil crap, then they become screwed up.

So who does it pay to teach this stuff? Yep, you guessed it - those who are selling the old work hard and get stuff and go to heaven and control the earth over lesser beings pricks who are at the top and determined not to have company up there.

[msmcghee]

8. By the title of your post . .

. . I see you disagree with (part of) my premise.

But I can't tell exactly what you are saying in the body. So I'm not sure if this will be a coherent reply.

But . . . if you are saying that greed is learned . . and that greed causes people to rip others off, then I'd agree with (part of) that.

I'd say that greed (or acquisitiveness) is a natural quality in all animals - who must have resources to survive. We have to have the motivation to search, hunt, earn, whatever . . in order to survive at least long enough to reproduce.

We learn through socialization to share labor and resources - because that strategy actually creates more abundance and security than each person working alone for their own ends. Everybody benefits when we share equitably. But that is not intuitively obvious, especially to children, and must be learned and handed down to our offspring.

My point was that people will always lower their defenses when someone tells them something that feels good. That's human nature, not learned. And as long as that is true - there will be dishonest people who will take advantage of that and profit from it.

[xxqqqzme]

4. I had an identity theft

last fall. Someone ordered a Dell computer and I got the payment notices. I just happened 2 open one thinking it was junk mail only 2 find out my 'payments' were 2 months late. I've never owned a Dell anything.

[TahitiNut]

5. After 4 years, that's 51.77% of Americans defrauded at least once.

That's about right. :shrug:

[Demonaut]

7. yeah, that penis enlargement crystal didnt do nuthin

oops!