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bls31
April 28th, 2014, 11:13 AM
I AM ALSO A VICTIM OF SCAMS



It is late afternoon when the ding -dong of the door bell breaks in to my light slumber of the post lunch siesta.

At the door is the man, come for a free service of the potted Dieffenbachia plant that he had sold to me some time back.

I lead him to the balcony, where seeing my small collection of potted plants, his eyes light up like a hundred watt bulb.

‘ They all need manure and weeding’ so saying he pulls out a hand full of plastic sachets, each containing a teaspoon full of black substance: manure or fertiliser as the case may be.

‘How much is each?’ I ask

‘Rs 20.’ He replies.

Soon the offer of free service becomes paid and the too, with other pots there, upped many fold. He starts tearing the sachets and pouring the contents in the pots , one after another, with a total of twelve, it comes to Rs 240. He suggests a repeat after a fortnight or so.

It was rip-off and that is when I realised that I have been victim of a Scam
He, while selling me the plant had hooked me for an unending supply of manure sachets to follow.

This set me thinking as to how many times have I been, wittingly or unwittingly, a victim of Scams.

Some time back I had acquired an inkjet printer, sold at a very reasonable price: with a new toy to play with I went on a spree of printing text and pictures in black and white and colour, soon to run out of the Ink, the cartage to be replaced at an astronomical cost. The scam was in the high cost of the ink cartage without which the printer was of no use.

On a visit to New York I acquired a Wilson fountain pen that came with an ink –cartage, precluding the need carrying an ink pot in my baggage, convenient till the ink lasted, once again the pen was an excuse to sell the ink.

Earlier I had a Kodak film camera, once again the same story the scam was in not in the purchase price of the camera but the never ending expenses towards the film and that of its developing /printing /enlarging.

Then came the Transistor Radio and Walkman with their ending appetite for dry cells. What about the cheap ball pen and its expensive refills or the VCR devovering Video tapes at an alarming rate. It was also the petrol for the car, the water for cooler or the power for the AC. It was always some thing that one had not bargained for that one are caught with.

It is scams and scams across the board from bottom to top, unfortunately one has to live with them or forgo the convinces and small luxuries of life.