There was recently a story on some investigative program (like 20/20 or 60 minutes) revealing some scams that are taking advantage of the current economy.
One was on cash for gold… basically you send your gold and they mail you a check. On investigation, it was shown that the cash you receive (if any) is extremely under value.
The other notable one was related to the mortgage crunch. A company will negotiate a lower mortgage rate (either interest or principal) on your behalf to reduce your mortgage payment by as much as half… all without having to refinance. The result was that the company advises you to stop making mortgage payments so that the bank is more likely to strike a deal… in practice many people when into foreclosure and lost their homes. Meanwhile the company that the consumer payed thousands to has made no contact with the bank and often are gone by the time the consumer has lost their home.
Anyway…
Last night I saw several commercials for both on TV, repeatedly.
We’ve been trained to know that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. We are aware of spoof e-mails and to be wary of websites… but for some reason we think if a commercial is on network TV or in a “real” newspaper it must be legit.
In this day of “every man for himself”… anyone who can afford to produce and air a commercial can give the impression of credibility. The only thing that is pre-screened for us today in regards to advertising is that the check for ad cleared. Not that the thing being advertised is a legitimate product or service, or that the company doing the advertising even exists.
I miss the days of being able to trust television… not just in advertising, but in everything. Even the news really has to be taken as more entertainment value as opposed to fact.
Blog Project 365-09 #184
