Have you ever been swindled?

[In_The_Wind]

Did you go to sleep feeling safe and secure (the SIPC is watching over me ~ not) only wake up to find your money all gone?


How is your life going after unexpected financial changes for the worse?

[Tobin S.]

1. Never that badly

I think the worst I ever got swindled was when a guy sold me a bogus bag of dope. We met at a bar and I was already drunk. He and his girlfriend and I went back to my place to smoke some weed after he told me he had some. We smoked something that clean knocked me on my drunken ass and he told me he'd sell me a quarter bag for fifty dollars. I gave him the money, he gave me a bag, and we parted ways.

The next day I went to smoke some more and I don't know what was in that bag, but it wasn't the same stuff I had smoked the night before. It looked like weed but it was not potent at all.

[In_The_Wind]

2. Sounds like a swindle to me.

Even $50 seems like a fortune at times.

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[Iggo]

3. Bad dope deals in the old days.

Didn't lose anything but the money on the table.

[In_The_Wind]

4. You were lucky.

An honest drug dealer is difficult to find.

[IMG][/IMG]

[HopeHoops]

5. Yes, but someone was hired to get revenge on me. That was the first and last time.

[In_The_Wind]

7. Holy crap.

You musta pissed someone off big time.
Sorry to hear that.

[HopeHoops]

11. No. He pissed me off and I almost killed him in an arcade. He paid to have me targeted.

All I lost in the exchange was a little time and a little money, but it involved a total psychopath - and yes, I feared for my life. He laced a joint and the world got weird. I'm pretty sure he was packing heat. The only way out was to pay him for something I knew I'd never get. I'm still pissed about it, but the asshole who hired him got arrested a few days later on drug charges, so I'm not as pissed as I was. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[In_The_Wind]

14. I'm glad you're not as pissed as you were.

I can relate to being involved with a total psychopath. I was held at gunpoint for 5 hours when I was 18. That changed the way I looked at life. However, I never ask to be this strong.

[OriginalGeek]

6. If you count shitty contractors

don't even get me started.


But I'm looking at about $10k to fix the dumb shit this asshole did.


of course we didn't discover it until about 6 years later - he's in the wind.


Investigate your contractors, folks.


The thing is, we had previously done business with a GREAT contractor and when we needed new work done we looked for him again but he had retired and moved. The asshole had done a small roof job for my other-in-law so we thought he'd be good but he ended up lying to us about most everything - he lied about pulling permits (we paid for them though), he lied about having competent subs, he lied about the material he used (Charged for the right thing but used cheaper substitutes)

[In_The_Wind]

10. The contractor our oil company recommended did such a bad job that

we couldn't afford to heat our home. We had no choice but to move after we were ponzied as we no longer have money to correct the problems our contractor created.
For the last few winters we were paying way too much for heating oil alone. Add to that the cost of the electricity to push the heat around.

[TwilightGardener]

8. Not so much swindled as screwed over, to the tune of

many thousands of dollars, in separate events. And it costs $$ to sue. And insurance doesn't cover lots of shit. And life is unfair. But I'm not bitter...

[In_The_Wind]

12. Being bitter only adds to the cost of being screwed over.

Life is unfair.
Who the hell is watching the insurance companies as they turn down valid claims.

I'm sorry for your $$$ losses.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. I've been hornswoggled. Does that count?

[In_The_Wind]

13. Hornswoggled counts.

No matter what you call it ~ money taken under false pretenses is wrong.

I hope it wasn't too $$$ painful for you .

[Doc_Technical]

15. I was watching the movie "The Grifters"

There is a scene in there where low level con man puts a
$20 bill on the bar and orders a drink.
The bartender brings the drink and change for the $20 bill.
The con man tries to slip a smaller note to the bartender
but the barkeep has seen this before and proceeds to beat
the ca-ca out of the con man.
I found myself shocked at the violence but at the same time
cheering that a con artist was getting what's coming to him.
It was one of those memorable scenes where I had mixed emotions
about what was happening.

[In_The_Wind]

16. Con men deserve whatever unpleasantnesses befall them.

The miseries they leave in their wake can never be undone.

"The Grifters" scene was a small con but it's the principal that matters.

I deplore violence. However, sometimes ya just gotta get someone's attention to make your point clear.