My Hummingbird Cafe

Waiting there ready to pounce the minute they get the chance!

Let me tell you what I just learned about honesty from my friend today, who has just been scammed on the Internet.  I have to tell this story because it happens so often.  Her name is JuLynne and I will let her tell this story in her own words.

“I wanted to find information on the Internet about obtaining a grant so that, at age 60 years old, I can go for a college degree. I went to a reputable site I thought, at http://www.nationalgrantsconference.com.  I found a link on that site to click on for more information. That link too me off the site, so I should have been suspicious right there, and turned out to be a false link.  I went ahead and filled out my email information and street address and then waited for information to come in the mail.

I normally do not do that, but I did because I thought I was in a reputable and trustworthy site. A few days later, I learned my account had a $78 withdrawal. When I called the phone number the bank provided, I learned it was a number used by numerous Internet companies.

When the company found my name and then cancelled my subscription, I was confused. I did not order a subscription and I know I did not provide my banking information. I asked them how they were able to take $78 from my account  but the agent never gave me an answer on that point. She said that I had filled out an online application and ordered a subscription, which she had just cancelled. Again, I said I did not supply that information and all I would have given them was my email or street address for FREE information.

Can you believe this story?  She then informed me that I had requested a FREE subscription but, according to the contract, my probation was over. Of course, I never saw anything so what’s this about probation period? She said I had ONE DAY FREE subscription.  ONE DAY???  WHAT??? I laughed, I couldn’t believe she said that with a straight face! I said, “You’re kidding me; ONE day? You know that’s a scam don’t you? Give me my money back!”

Very sternly, the agent informed me that she cancelled my subscription but their policy is that the sale is not refundable. I told her she knew this was a scam and to return my money right now or I would report the company. She didn’t care what I said, she wasn’t giving me my money back! When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she said she had the authority to handle this call and that it didn’t warrant a supervisor.

Every time I demanded that she return my money and reiterated that she knows this is a scam, she just repeated that she had cancelled the subscription.  I asked her what I got for my $78 … nothing, not even information on grants. The company had literally stolen my money. She didn’t care and finally said she had done all she could for me and that she was hanging up now…and then she did hang up.

I’m sure that, even though I filled out a form with the bank to dispute the charge, they will end up keeping my money anyway. On top of that, there was a $2.00 International wire transfer fee!! That means this scam was done outside of the country…that’s just unbelievable to me!  I couldn’t believe I was that stupid.

I hope you don’t get scammed this way. Be smarter than me. I didn’t think I would ever be scammed.  I thought I was too smart for it, but guess I was wrong.

This incident is just one story out of millions where honesty and integrity in business dealings go out the window for the “almighty buck”.  In fact, the ”almighty buck” over-rides friendships as well.

What a sad state this is for business and individuals, but it is truly a “sign of the times”.  The scriptures speak of these times, where people will be taken advantage of, money will slip through our fingers, and hearts will wax cold. We see more and more of this situation in every aspect of our lives now.

Internet Friendships

For instance, another friend of mine just discovered that a friend of his on an Internet Social site was using fake photos in her profile.  He was shocked.  She had tons of pictures of herself but they were taken off the Internet.

When he challenged his friend about the fake pictures, explaining he was upset about being deceived, all she said is that he was focusing on her looks and not on who she is inside.  That wasn’t it at all he told her. Looks don’t matter, it was the fact that she had deceived him and that she had no problem with doing it.  In fact, she felt he was silly for being concerned about honesty with pictures and felt that he should just let people be.

It became apparent that she did not grasp the concept of trusting people to be who they represent themselves to be. She made it clear that she wanted to continue in her ways so he deleted her.

After the incident with his friend, he decided to post a bulletin that said, “Anyone else using fake pictures need to get real or delete themselves.”  Some people did come clean and apologize for their deception, but others deleted themselves as he requested  if they would not come clean.

He was upset about all the people he loved as friends who were fake.  As it turned out, there was a lot about his friends he didn’t know because they hid behind a fake facade. He decided to draw the line on integrity and being honest with who they represent themselves to be. He wants to trust people, but how can he trust someone that isn’t even honest with a picture?  Who knows what else these people don’t have a problem with lying about?

In contrast, he received a far greater number of emails from people praising him for drawing the line and no longer accepting people who are fake.  They said they felt the same way, that the Internet caters to false identity to hide behind. Because these people cannot be trusted to be real in their friendships, how can they be trusted with things of the heart, like real friendships.  We develop friendships in our social groups, and many of us trust these friendships when we shouldn’t because we take them for who we think they are when we should not.

I hope these two stories have impressed you enough to help you be more aware of what you say and do online, and to be real with people you interact with in friendship. In other words, set the standards you expect from your friends and then don’t allow them to cross the line. If you don’t mind profanity and sexual innuendos then you won’t mind getting friends who are like that.  However, if you don’t like that type of friendship then don’t accept them as a friend – otherwise, learn to use the delete button better.

I welcome your thoughts on this subject.