Yesterday while planning a secret get away for my best
friend, my wife of 41 years; someone on Facebook tried to scam me. I understand
that the up and coming generation has a belief that relationships don’t last or
work. My wife had a conversation with a teen while we were roller-skating where
he was thoroughly convinced that he could never get married because he would
end up loving someone else. Thus his fear of commitment made it difficult for
him to rise above the failed relationships around him to consider that he might
be someone of better quality and character that could choose to grow a
relationship.
I too often am found guilty of using social media and
texting as a substitute for building relationships, which ultimately could
become genuine friendships. I had the strangest experience yesterday as I was
getting ready to kidnap my wife for a 3-day trip to enjoy the beach before
‘jumping’ back into our activities. I had been messaged by an older friend who
I do respect that wanted me to be a friend on Facebook. I didn’t see any harm
in this and she could better see what we were doing with our non-profit work with
at risk youth.
It wasn’t too long before I receive this glowing message
about how she had received a grant to help people for $90K. She was rather
persuasive in wanting me to apply for this grant. I attempted to ask her what
would be considered normal questions like how in the world does the government,
which is broke, give out grants without much background info for $90K? She
quickly hooked me up with the government agent who would soon approve me and
have my check on the way.
I was rather suspicious at first but my elderly friend keep
reassuring me that this was all above board and that I could trust her. Clearly
she was someone of noble character that attended church. I messaged the agent
that would help me and he was rather interesting in asking how I had found him
and then proceeded to explain how all of this worked. It wasn’t too long before
the obvious came out; the grant was totally dependent upon my willingness to
pay a $2,000 clearance fee to receive the gift.
I quickly asked my elderly friend to give real proof about
all of this. I shared with her that my mom had always told me that anything
that seemed to good to be true most likely wasn’t true. I decided to ask her to
call me so we could talk via the phone and not over FB. She came up with a
rather lame excuse that she has tossed her cell on the ground and broke it and
had no means to talk for a few days. So she instead sent me an e-mail with a
copy of a certificate of her award. She again went to great lengths to assure
me that because we were friends I could trust her and should quickly allow her
agent friend to send me the info about where to send my clearance fee so I
could receive my check the following day.
The obvious life lesson in all of this is that a true friend
wouldn’t lead you on a rabbit trail that would end up with you loosing and them
gaining because of you being rather gullible. I knew this was a total scam but
this individual continued to press upon me the fact that because we were real
friends that this was guaranteed to be 100% true and that I shouldn’t turn it
down. It was while I read this last message that the real person had just sent
out a mass FB message saying that her account had been hacked and that someone
was trying to falsely use her account to get her friends to go along with this
too good to be true offer.
What shocked and appalled me was that the scammer had the
nerve to text me with a real number and ask if I could help her or him. I
responded with a quick message of why don’t you stop what you are doing and
return the money you have stolen from seniors and stop pretending to be
someone’s friend. This individual
messaged me back with a story about being desperate to provide for his family.
The apparent need for real family and friendship hadn’t
crossed this individual’s mind but he seemed to think that using someone else’s
identity would gain him great wealth. Clearly the scam wasn’t working. The real
message is regardless of age or status in life everyone needs true friends that
will walk with them through life’s ups and downs. I fear that the present
generation will substitute social media, texting or skyping/face timing for
taking a walk and engaging in good conversation with a friend.
I’m about to go for a walk with my best friend and turn off
my electronic devices to enjoy some real interactive communication!
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