Snake Oil Comes in Different Packages
I've seen them today, ready to pounce on the unwary tourist. They were carrying sprigs of rosemary in their hands, wearing flouncy, long skirts, their shiny long black hair pulled back into buns, their swarthy skin even darker from the summer sun. They were Spanish gypsy women, ready to divest a tourist of fifty euros for "reading" their palms.
Yes, they exist. Or, rather, they propagate a myth from the past for their benefit. Most gypsies nowadays live from selling clothing and other things in the weekly markets, others from finding junk to sell to the junk dealer, a numbered few from drugs and even fewer from continuing the myth of being able to see the future. These women travel in small groups, waylaying people to see if one will fall. Generally, they do fall, but mostly foreigners. The gypsy will come up to you, holding out a sprig of rosemary, pressing you to accept it. They claim it will bring you luck because it has been blessed by a gypsy witch. If you accept it they will then try to convince you that they have the "sight" and can see your future in your hand. If you accede, they will look long and hard at your palm, brushing it with their fingers, and mention things about someone who is envious of you (in rural Spain it would be strange if nobody were), that you are going through troubles at the moment but they will soon pass (who doesn't have any problem at all?), and that good fortune will soon rain down on you. I assume that good fortune will arrive after they pluck maybe fifty euros out of your wallet for that nugget of unsuspected information. They are masters of the golden tongue; if they ever decided to work for a telemarketing operation they would be named employees of the year. After the first day.
There are other frauds out there, though. But most of the others go after the elderly or those who are simply too confiding in the human race. Generally they use a bait-and-switch tactic. One, who will appear to have few lights, will generally wave something like money in the air or appear to be confused with it. Maybe he'll be holding green hundred-euro bills and say something like, "I prefer blue," while an elderly man or woman passes by. That's the bait. Then a stranger walking by will come up to the elderly as-yet-unplucked chicken and mention something like, "It looks like he doesn't have all the marbles he was supposed to have been born with. If he prefers blue, why don't you go get some blue twenty-euro bills to exchange?" And there a seed is planted. There is a discussion, some sort of introduction. The poor guy holding the envelope with green bills says he has ten of them and he doesn't like them. The "stranger" convinces the soon-to-be-plucked chicken to go get ten blue twenty-euro bills to exchange. It's an eight hundred euro win! Without any work! So the man goes and gets the money, gives it to the simpleton and gets an envelope with a thousand euros in hundred-euro bills. When the hucksters are gone, he opens to look at his newfound wealth and the fully-plucked-chicken realizes he is looking at ten pieces of blank paper.
Other frauds focus on people who live in rural areas and use bottled gas. There are no gas mains in the villages; people use metal containers of gas that they replace whenever they finish them with another metal bottle, generally when they're in the middle of a shower and alone in the house. Houses are given permits to have one or two replacement bottles, according to how many are needed in the normal functioning of hot water and gas cookstoves. However, in the contract there is also an obligation for the homeowner to call the technicians to change the rubber hoses and have them review the system once every one or two years. Most people forget to call until they have a problem (me). Sometimes, to remind people, real technicians with company ID will go from house to house offering the revision if it's necessary. It's not free, but it's not very expensive, either. Well, in this fraud, the tricksters dress up in phony uniforms and go from house to house in remote villages where they will most likely find only elderly people at home in the middle of the morning. They will present themselves as being from the gas company and that the revision is obligatory and must be done that day. They'll come in, change a rubber hose or two and hand the bill at the end to the homeowner, whose eyebrows will go all the way up to the back of his head when they see bottom lines of anywhere from a hundred to three hundred euros. But, of course, they'll pay for services rendered. And when a younger person comes home from work a call will be put through to the police.
These are some of the oldest tricks in the huckster's manual. With internet now, the possibilities are endless. God help the gullible.
Yes, they exist. Or, rather, they propagate a myth from the past for their benefit. Most gypsies nowadays live from selling clothing and other things in the weekly markets, others from finding junk to sell to the junk dealer, a numbered few from drugs and even fewer from continuing the myth of being able to see the future. These women travel in small groups, waylaying people to see if one will fall. Generally, they do fall, but mostly foreigners. The gypsy will come up to you, holding out a sprig of rosemary, pressing you to accept it. They claim it will bring you luck because it has been blessed by a gypsy witch. If you accept it they will then try to convince you that they have the "sight" and can see your future in your hand. If you accede, they will look long and hard at your palm, brushing it with their fingers, and mention things about someone who is envious of you (in rural Spain it would be strange if nobody were), that you are going through troubles at the moment but they will soon pass (who doesn't have any problem at all?), and that good fortune will soon rain down on you. I assume that good fortune will arrive after they pluck maybe fifty euros out of your wallet for that nugget of unsuspected information. They are masters of the golden tongue; if they ever decided to work for a telemarketing operation they would be named employees of the year. After the first day.
There are other frauds out there, though. But most of the others go after the elderly or those who are simply too confiding in the human race. Generally they use a bait-and-switch tactic. One, who will appear to have few lights, will generally wave something like money in the air or appear to be confused with it. Maybe he'll be holding green hundred-euro bills and say something like, "I prefer blue," while an elderly man or woman passes by. That's the bait. Then a stranger walking by will come up to the elderly as-yet-unplucked chicken and mention something like, "It looks like he doesn't have all the marbles he was supposed to have been born with. If he prefers blue, why don't you go get some blue twenty-euro bills to exchange?" And there a seed is planted. There is a discussion, some sort of introduction. The poor guy holding the envelope with green bills says he has ten of them and he doesn't like them. The "stranger" convinces the soon-to-be-plucked chicken to go get ten blue twenty-euro bills to exchange. It's an eight hundred euro win! Without any work! So the man goes and gets the money, gives it to the simpleton and gets an envelope with a thousand euros in hundred-euro bills. When the hucksters are gone, he opens to look at his newfound wealth and the fully-plucked-chicken realizes he is looking at ten pieces of blank paper.
Other frauds focus on people who live in rural areas and use bottled gas. There are no gas mains in the villages; people use metal containers of gas that they replace whenever they finish them with another metal bottle, generally when they're in the middle of a shower and alone in the house. Houses are given permits to have one or two replacement bottles, according to how many are needed in the normal functioning of hot water and gas cookstoves. However, in the contract there is also an obligation for the homeowner to call the technicians to change the rubber hoses and have them review the system once every one or two years. Most people forget to call until they have a problem (me). Sometimes, to remind people, real technicians with company ID will go from house to house offering the revision if it's necessary. It's not free, but it's not very expensive, either. Well, in this fraud, the tricksters dress up in phony uniforms and go from house to house in remote villages where they will most likely find only elderly people at home in the middle of the morning. They will present themselves as being from the gas company and that the revision is obligatory and must be done that day. They'll come in, change a rubber hose or two and hand the bill at the end to the homeowner, whose eyebrows will go all the way up to the back of his head when they see bottom lines of anywhere from a hundred to three hundred euros. But, of course, they'll pay for services rendered. And when a younger person comes home from work a call will be put through to the police.
These are some of the oldest tricks in the huckster's manual. With internet now, the possibilities are endless. God help the gullible.
Comments
Post a Comment