Designer Dogs

People get ripped off all the time by ads like this, for non-existent bulldogs from Mineral Wells, Texas.  People wire money, which goes to the Russian Mafia, and never get a dog.   But the overarching question is, why would some people pay more for a dog than they would for a car?  It makes no sense.

I recently was exposed to the seamy underworld of the Puppy Scam when my debit card data was stolen.  It was a fascinating trip down the rabbit hole of international scam artistry, an Alice-in-Wonderland journey, which took me from Ontario Canada, to Mineral Wells, Texas, all the way to Moscow, Russia, the home of many of these scams.

And the scam lives on.  In today's mail, this missive:

The credit card vs debit card fraud and came a cross a puppy add that looks familiar?  The company that we were going to purchase a pup from is now advertising under ****bulldogs.com.  I was researching the company and your blog popped up on google.  This ad was posted June 2 and it's selling the same exact puppies?  We are looking into to this place now, but just thought you maybe interested or what to look into who may have taken your $.

Note that it had the notation Sent from my iPad at the end, which didn't have a question mark? after it, thankfully.   Apple users.  Go Figure.  Apparently it changes the way you think - and not for the better.

Of course, I didn't lose any money in a Puppy Scam - I just had to hassle with my bank when my debit card data was swiped and they used it to pay for the advertisements for these non-existent puppies.  The people who wire-transfer money for these non-existent dogs, they lose money - and a lot of it.

But should we feel sorry for such people?   Not only are they dumb enough to fall for the wire-transfer scam (which is as old as the hills, in Internet time) but they are putting their desires for a material thing ahead of common sense - the hallmark of such scams.   And worse yet, the material thing they want is a living creature.

(In case you woke up late today, Wire Transfer Scams work like this:  A seller, overseas, advertises a desirable consumer good online, for a fraction of its market value.  People who are desperate to own things bite on this hook.  The seller has a long-winded story as to why the item is so cheap.  But, the victim is told, they need to wire transfer the money right away to seal the deal.   Once a wire transfer is sent, it is gone for good, period.   Anyone can pick it up, anywhere.   And no, there are no secret release codes needed to get the money.   Just walk away from anything having to do with Western Union!).

I wrote before about pets - and how expensive they can be.   A basic dog - not a purebred, either -  can cost you upwards of $1,000 a year to feed and take care of, if you give it the heartworm and flea medications, have regular shots, and at least one veterinarian visit a year.

And while I love my dog, realizing that a dog costs $1000 a year was a revelation to me - and made me wonder how so many poor people, struggling to get by on $20,000 a year can really afford pets.  Over the life of the pet, the owner will spend enough to buy a brand-new car.  Seriously.

But some folks take this even further - they want a particular breed of pet, and will pay hundreds of dollars - often thousands - to buy a pet of a particular breed.  And I hate to say this - as some of my best friends have "breed" pets - but there is something unseemly about it.

It is one thing to want a companion, a friend, a pal, to keep you company.   It is another thing to desire a particular look in your pet, to impress others.   And worse yet, to encourage breeding and designing of animal life, to achieve these certain types of looks.

It is not that just paying $2500 for a dog is a waste of money.   No, there is something sick about it as well.

Now granted, some breeds of pets were bred for specific purposes.   Retrievers were bred to retrieve water fowl.  Pointers to point, and hounds to hunt.   Terriers were bred to hunt down rats and other vermin, just as cats were domesticated to get at mice.   And greyhounds were bred to catch rabbits, and later to race.  Back in the day, dogs were working animals, and bred for specific working purposes.

But today, few people buy such animals for their intended purpose, but rather for their looks.   And indeed, if these breeds had a purpose, their breeding has long since veered off into other directions - mostly for "show dog" looks.   Most retrievers today would not make good hunting dogs.

And the entire "show dog" industry, to me, is just sick.   Creating life and grooming it to win prizes, and nothing else, is just wrong.   And the people who own such dogs behave as though winning a blue ribbon was some sort of personal accomplishment of their own - and not the animal's.   It is creepy and weird, period.  And the people who drive around in vans with "Caution: Show Dogs" on the back are just strange.

So, to some extent, I have no sympathy for people who get caught up in the Puppy Scam.   They put themselves in peril by deciding that they desperately needed something that was a want, not a need.   Once you decide that you "have to have" a $2500 designer puppy, well, even if you get that dog, you are getting ripped off, as you paid a lot of your hard-earned cash for a freaking dog, for chrissakes! 

And why do they do this?  Status.   I have met more than one person with a "designer dog" who walks around with their nose in the air at the local dog park.   Their dog is better that yours, they think, and by extension, they are better than you.   It is childish and sick, and moreover stupid.  And an utter waste or money - to try to impress people you don't even know.  And it doesn't work.  No one is impressed!

Again, the easiest way to avoid being ripped off is to decide you don't desperately need something.   The moment you start salivating for a Harley or a Camaro, the local dealer has you wrapped around his finger, and you are screwed, even in a "legitimate" deal.   And when you become that desperate, ads on Craigslist advertising one for half-price sound like a dream come true.  But dreams like that can quickly turn into nightmares.

And the weird thing about pets is, while some people will pay thousands of dollars for one, they basically are throwing away thousands of them, every day, in every city across the country - even purebred designer pets.   To me, it makes no sense.

When we got our first dog, I went to the local shelter in Alexandria, Virginia.   At that shelter, they had a number of purebred dogs, including a beautiful red Doberman, several Spaniels, and of course those obnoxious "Frazier" dogs, who people bought in a frenzy when the show came out, and then discovered that they were basically insane.

Our dog today is a retired racing greyhound.   In terms of bloodline, she is a well-bred dog, with a champion genealogy going back 10 generations.   Total cost?  A $250 adoption and neutering fee.   They basically throw them away when they are done racing them.  They may have been worth thousands of dollars apiece to the kennels that raced them.  But once they no longer race, the kennels give them away to adoption agencies, for free.

Will I have another dog in the future?  Maybe.  Maybe not.   But one thing I can tell you is this:  I would never, ever, pay thousands of dollars for a dog, just so I can show off.   Status is the worst reason in the world, to spend money.

And Status is one of the biggest reasons most people in this country are broke.

Scam Scamming a Scam. The Howard Johnson Motor Scam Scam.

Perpetual motion is a scam on the laws of thermodynamics.   Fake review sites that purport to impartially review this are scams to the second power.

Back in 1979, a fellow named Howard Johnson convinced himself he invented perpetual motion, and got a Patent for his permanent magnet "motor" which he claimed would generate more power than it consumed.

Of course, it didn't.   In case you missed it, you can't get something-for-nothing.

And no, scientists at the Patent Office don't test and approve inventions at the Patent Office Laboratories.  A Patent doesn't mean something works.  Yes, I worked there.   We just shuffle papers about, and if you fill out the forms right, you get a Patent, in most cases.

(The Patent Office, at one time, tried to reject claims to perpetual motion machines, but the inventors just used those rejections as "further evidence of the conspiracy of the oil companies!" so they just gave up on that).

What tipped me off to this recently, was an internet advertisement (and we know that almost all of these are for bad-bargains, outright ripoffs, or whatever, and you should never click on them) mentioned this now 30-year-old hoax perpetual motion machine.

Curious, I opened a new tab and typed in "Howard Johnson Motor Scam" and several "review" sites came up on Google purporting to review the scam.   Foolishly, I clicked on one.

Immediately, a window pops up "Are you sure you want to leave this page?" with the Firefox boxes to "Stay on Page" or "Cancel".  I click "cancel" and immediately another page loads, and then a voice comes on the computer telling me about great bargains.

CNTRL-ALT-DEL and I dump Firefox in a hurry.  This is how you get trojans on your computer.  The so-called drive-by computer virus from rogue pages.

I Google the terms again, and note that the "review" pages all have odd names that don't belong to real review sites, and of course, they all have gushing reviews about how great this motor is.   And of course, they all want to sell you a book.

In case  you were late for class, here's the deal.   If no one could make "free electricity" from this motor in 30 years, no one ever will.   And no, no one is "suppressing the technology" or any such other shit.   Come on, I mean, please!

But what is interesting to me is not that scam, but the scam based on the scam - fake review sites about the device, which, when you load them, present fake cancel pages and then load alternate pages without your permission.   It is using a scam as bait for more scam.

It also illustrates how easy it is to set up a fake "review" web page on the Internet, and have many people "like it" on Google, so that it moves up in the rankings.   You can make it look like word-of-mouth is at work, when in fact, it is just the word of one mouth.

Increasingly, getting good data from the Internet is problematic.  Review sites have all sorts of bad data on them.  For example, someone decided to make an "Atlas Shrugged, Part I" movie, just before the last election.  Who is John Galt?  A horrible movie-maker.  Tellingly, no one has financed Parts II and III of this abomination.

Ayn Rand books don't lend themselves well to movies, anyway.  But this one was a particular stinker.   But to look at the rating on Netflix (4 stars!) you'd think it was a blockbuster.   Sadly, no.   Instead, a lot of Ayn Rand fans (and tea partiers, who somehow think her views represent their interests) got on there, and sight unseen, gave the movie five stars.

Parsing this is difficult.  But when you see a review where there are lots of five-star reviews and then a number of 1-star "this sucks" type, you know there is trouble.   If no one has an opinion in-between, then someone is lying, basically.

And that is a "legitimate" review site on Netflix, too!   But other sites can be similarly shilled or shouted down.   People vote their politics, or their wallets, online.   And you see this all the time on things like Trip Advisor, where a mediocre restaurant has stellar, yet vague reviews  ("Awesome!") that don't tell you much.  That review was likely put up by the restauranteur themselves.

In other words, you have to take much of what you read on the Internet with a grain of salt.  So much of the Internet can be shilled these days - Wikipedia in particular.

What is the harm in all of this?   Well, to begin with, when truth dies, we all suffer in the end.   This whole idea of "subjective truth" is just a smokescreen for bullshit.   You can jump off the Empire State Building and tell yourself that you are just saving time by not using the elevator.   But the hard reality of the sidewalk will come up to meet you, soon enough.  Bullshit cannot sustain itself, for long, whether it is the market for gold or condos in Vegas.   Reality eventually intervenes, and at that point, all the dreamers shout "unfair!"

So, all I can say is, spot the utterly fake review sites and avoid them.   And when you see a "legitimate" review site, consider the data with trepidation and parse it carefully.

The best reviews are real word-of-mouth from people you really know, and whose opinions you respect.  Anything else is basically suspect.

National Prescription Savings Network?

You may receive an unsolicited "prescription savings card" in the mail from National Prescription Savings Network, or a similarly named company.   Toss it in the trash.

In the mail today,  a window envelope with "Cards XXX enclosed" (in that computerized font that VISA and MASTERCARD uses) and the hefty feel of a credit card enclosure.   My first reaction is "If these are real credit cards, this is not a very safe way to mail them!"

But I open it up and there is this letter from the "National Prescription Savings Network" promising me "up to 75% off" on my prescriptions if I just "present this card" when I get a prescription filled.

This is not insurance, the letter says.  It is not part of a government plan, either.   I don't have to pay a fee, or join or anything.

So what gives?  Why would someone give out a card for free that would give you a discount?

Well, they aren't giving out free money samples today at the bank.  And in fact, no one gives away things for free.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch - TANSTAAFL!

So what are these people after?  Your money?  Maybe.  Personal information?  Maybe as well.   They are certainly after something, because no one - no one - just gives stuff away for free.

And of course, once again, we have a letter that is faked up to look like something from your insurance company, your credit card company, or the government, although if you read it carefully, it clearly is none of the above.

If you Google "national prescription savings network" you come up with some interesting hits.  In some instances, it seems they actually charge you more than the "cash price" for a prescription.   And if you have existing insurance, it is a far worse price.

See:

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/12-On-Your-Side-Are-prescription-drug-cards-in-the-mail-a-trick-or-treat-230117731.html

"We showed the prescription cards to Tracie Mims at Family Pharmacy in Aiken. She says the cards offer little to no savings and only work for the uninsured.  We asked her if it was more of a trick than a treat when comparing the savings with the card to their own cash prices on various drugs.. "A trick," says Mims. While she is dressed for Halloween she also wants to dispel some myths about using some discount drug cards.  "If we submit a claim for that discount card it comes back close very close to our cash price. Sometimes more expensive than our cash price," says Mims."

"For example, Hydrochlorothiazide is $5.34 at Family Pharmacy and using the U.S. Prescription Discounts card it totaled 30 cents more. Even a more expensive drug like Nexium is $245 at Family Pharmacy and with the U.S. Prescription Discounts card the savings was only about $1.  "All your personal information that you give to the pharmacy is subject to go to these insurance companies," says Mims. Including what kind of medications you take. We investigated the company and discovered the Washington, D.C. address is just post office box inside a UPS store."

"The New York Better Business Bureau says the company name is Script Relief LLC which gets a C rating. The BBB says the company has these five alternate business names:

U..S. Prescription Discounts
Help Rx
National Prescription Savings Network
RxRelief
The Healthcare Alliance

"It submits to that discount card and they can know all the information about you," says Mims. Knowing this information now, Thelma Thornton says she knows what she will do with her cards. "I guess I will just throw them away," says Thornton."

The bottom line is that if you already have insurance you likely get a better deal with your co-pay than you do with this card, which might give a slight discount off the cash price of a drug.   By the way, it pays to ask what the cash price is, of any prescription, as it could be lower than your co-pay, and not all pharmacies automatically give you the lower price.

For example, I was a member of the Walgreens pharmacy plan (which had an annual fee) and my prescription under that plan was $9.99.   I wend to the pharmacy and they charged me the $15 co-pay that my insurance provided.   When I pointed out that I was part of the $9.99 plan, the pharmacist got all huffy and said, "well, you can't use both plans!"

To which I replied, "I'm not trying to.  I just want to use the one that costs less!"

I no longer shop at Walgreens or CVS.   Grocery store pharmacies are more convenient, easier to use, and cheaper.   I can now get that same prescription for $9.99 for a three month supply at Winn Dixie, and no annual fee is involved.

Many drugs are, in fact, cheap.   I went to the doctor for an antibiotic the other day, and she mentioned three pharmacies that would fill the prescription  for free -  without any insurance or co-pay.

So you have to watch pharmacies carefully and ask pointed questions, because they might not charge you the lowest possible price, unless you force the issue.   And if you present this "card" to a pharmacist, he may or may not point out to you that the cost is higher than your co-pay or the even the cash price.

Only an idiot would pay the "retail cash price" for a prescription at any pharmacy.  With prescription clubs offered by the pharmacies, you can get huge discounts automatically.  And if you already have insurance (which everyone should, now that Obamacare is here, right?) then you would likely get a better deal, using your insurance, than one of these cards.

So, the bottom line is this:  These people send you a card in a mailing that at first glance, looks like something from the government, your credit card company, or your insurance company.  This is deceptive and misleading.   Do you need to know any more?  They have telegraphed, up front, what sort of folks they are.  The relationship will not go uphill from there.

Second of all, they don't explain, in their letter, how their system works, or how, for no fee on your part that you are going to get something at a discount.    If someone can't explain, in ten words or less, what they do, they are likely trying to deceive you.

And if someone is operating under at least five different business names, you should think long and hard as to why they are doing this.

And I think the idea is this:  To get people to think this is their new insurance card, and to use this card in place of insurance and actually pay more for prescriptions.  The company gets a cut of this, and the pharmacy gets to charge more for the prescription.   They win, you lose.   No wonder it's free!

So, just toss it in the trash with the rest of the junk mail.  And walk away from free lunches.

Basically, anything that arrives in the mail, unsolicited, should be treated as junk mail and tossed.   You are never, ever, ever going to get a great deal from some unsolicited mailing, particularly one that is faked up to look "official".

UPDATE  May 2014:   A set of "prescription savings cards" arrives today in the junk mail - not even addressed to a named individual.  This time, they are in the name of "Healthcare Alliance".   Toss in the trash.

See:

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/healthcare-alliance-cards-scam-54467/

"How does the company make any money? They get a small amount, like a processing fee, from pharmaceutical companies when the cards are used; they’re aligned with this company to provide the discount the user receives."

In other words, they may or may not give you a "discount" from retail prices, but they get a small fee if you use the card.  If you mistakenly think this is your new insurance card and use it instead, you end up paying close to retail prices for prescriptions (instead of your co-pay) and get ripped off, and they get paid.

THAT is the gag...  They want confused people to think that this is their new Obamacare prescription card, when it ain't.