No Matter How They Spin It, Cashgifting Is Still A Con

by Bonnie Boots

If you have an email account, you're a target for con artists.

You already know this. You probably look at most of your email with a very cynical eye, yelling things like, "Nigerian Royalty, my foot!" as you hit the delete button at lightening speed.

But your skeptic's radar is lowered for people you know and trust. And that's what makes a con called Cashgifting so dangerous.

An email arrives from a friend. "This looks like a great opportunity!" it says. And in the time it takes to read that greeting, you're already half pulled in to a scheme that has the potential to ruin lives.

Cashgifting is only the newest name of a con game that's been around for most of my life. In fact, it was probably running when the pyramids still had that new house smell.

In 1972, when a friend first tried to get me involved, it was called the Cash Train. In the late 1980's it was called the Cash Airplane. Today it's called Cashgifting.

In a nutshell, Cashgifting is exactly the same as the chain letter that says, "Put one dollar in each of ten envelopes and mail them to ten people. In one month, you'll get three hundred and twenty eight BILLION dollars in the mail!"

You'd certainly smell out the con in this game if it came from a complete stranger. But part of the setup for Cashgifting (and the Money Train, and the Cash Airplane, et, etc to infinity.) is that the offer comes to you from a trusted friend.

Promoters of this kind of con stay in the background as much as possible. They seek out gullible people they can convince to be Judas Goats and lead their friends to the shearing.

The promoters know, from long experience, that learning about Cashgifting from a friend is what makes it seem acceptable, make it seem not only likely but absolutely assured that you will make massive amounts of money for nothing!

I know how seductive it can be when a friend solicits you to join in on one of these cons. In 1972, a woman I worked with and trusted solicited me to buy into a Cash Train.

She believed with all her heart that she was about to become rich without working-if she could just get enough people to buy a seat on her "Train." She was flying high on enthusiasm, and because enthusiasm is contagious, I caught the bug. I instantly called my parents and told them about this great opportunity.

I still remember the look on my father's face when he shook his head and said, "For Pete's sake, don't you have any sense at all? That's a pyramid scheme."

He explained the long history of pyramid and Ponzi, and told me I was being suckered.

I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to make money for nothing! But luckily, I was a student working part time. I didn't have any money, so the Cash Train took of without me while I stood at the station, crying because I missed the flight.

My work schedule changed shortly after. I didn't see that co-worker for quite a while, but I heard about her. The Cash Train she'd sold seats on crashed and almost all aboard were injured.

The injured were the mother, the sisters and the friends of my co-worker. Some lost many thousands of dollars. The anger against my co-worker ran so deep that almost everyone she knew shunned her. She lost her family, her friends, her self-respect and certainly her sense of confidence in herself.

The people she'd solicited also lost their trust in themselves. None of them were stupid people. For the most part, they were medical professionals, highly trained people that one might say "should have known better."

And they would have known better if the offer to join the Cash Train had come from a man wearing a black cape and slouch hat, twirling a handlebar moustache and laughing, "Bwahahahha!" in a deep baritone.

But con artists are smarter than to send in someone that looks like a crook. They put on a sincere face and solicit a very few people, flatter them and ply them with cash and gifts, then get those people to pull in their friends, who pull in their friends, ad infinitum.

That's why this con is so seductive. That's why even smart, well-educated business people fall for it.

If you get solicited for Cashgifting-and sooner or later, you surely will-here are some resources that will help you protect yourself from being infected:

• Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alert on participating in cash gifting clubs.

• Report from a woman whose community was damaged by cash gifting.

• Reader's Digest article "Money For Nothing: gifting circles are the fastest-growing-and cruelest-scam around."

• AARP Bulletin: Scam Alert: Little Bernie Madoffs Touting Cash-Gifting Clubs
  
   

You can also make good use of the many forums devote to reporting on scams and cons. A few I've used are:

www.scam.com
www.419legal.org
www.allscamsforum.com

 Often, just Goggling the name of the Cashgifting program you've been invited to join will take you to posting about it in one of the fraud forums. People in these forums are very active in seeking out and then stamping out new frauds as soon as they arise on the

About the Author

To stay in touch with her, type your name and email into the subscriber box in the left sidebar of this page. You'll be glad you did!

To republish this article in your newsletter, you must agree to reprint the article in its entirety and include the author's information box. If you have questions or comments, contact the author here.