Top Ten Scams Of The Decade #10
Over the next ten days, I’m counting down the top ten scams of the past ten years.
These are the ten swindles that I think sum up the first decade of the new millennium.
Number 10: Poodles as Pets and other scams that weren’t
Back in 2007, the ‘odd spot’ sections of newspapers around the world reported on Japanese women buying dogs off of the internet that turned out to be sheep, shaved to look like French poodles.
Since sheep are so rare in Japan, the victims had no idea that their prize pooch was actually a sheep.
Even Japanese movie star Maiko Kawakami was a victim, bringing her ‘dog’ onto a Japanese talk show.
Of course, it was later reported that the story was a hoax. Japanese people know exactly what a sheep looks like and even have a saying “Youtou-kuniku” which means “Sheep’s head, dog’s meat.” The phrase is used to described the sale of inferior products as high quality.
The new millenium was rife with hoax scam warnings. Emails shot around the globe warning of eggs being thrown at cars to drive them off the road, fake eggs from china and Facebook applications that steal your identity.
There were so many fake scams out there that urban legend experts Snopes, even created a catergory for all of the fake swindles.
The winning combination of mass email, fear mongering and mischief making puts these counterfeit cons at Number Ten.
Tomorrow: Number 9: Charity Muggers