How dumb do they think people are?

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Paul Victory
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How dumb do they think people are?

Post by Paul Victory »

Boy, is today my lucky day! I just got the following email. It's amazing how I got choosen from so many people and I'm so fortunate to win not just 2 million pounds, but 2million Great British Pounds. Off to work now to hand in my notice. :mrgreen:

Congratulation for winning 2million Great British Pounds.Your email address was amongst those choosen this quarter and Your Winning Code is 1062.

You are to provide the following information so that we can immediate start the processing of your winnings.

1. Full Names: 2. Address: 3. Age: 4. Sex: 5. Phone numbers: 6. Fax number: 7.
Country

You are to contact us for claims.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Rose Grover
PROMOTION MANAGER
(FREE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL PROMO AWARD 2012)
10 Lowden Road,
Edmonton, Enfield,
London N9 8RN
UNITED KINGDOM
M 68 6'1" 124kg (May05), 92kg (Feb06), 122kg (Aug10), 95kg (Sep11), 117kg (Jun13), now 98kg
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plummy
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by plummy »

Unfortunately, some people ARE that dumb and will happily hand over bank details etc. It only takes one in a thousand to fall for it and they earn their ill gotten gains.

So, where are you taking us all?
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Wolfmiester
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by Wolfmiester »

I have just google earthed the address in London.
Amazing how the person in that suberban terraced house can give away 2 Mill!

You are both right though of course.
Very annoying that these things are received, and thankfully deleted by most.
However, there's always the odd one ...
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webberg
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by webberg »

Working in a financial world, we get bombarded with such nonsense all the time.

Recently we've had promises of "instant" returns on vintage wine that is a) not vintage, b) not yet in the UK, c) not actually made yet. Today we had a chance to make 20% a year on building social housing... in Brazil.

Thankfully our firewalls keep out most of the Nigerian lottery winners rubbish but the odd one creeps through.

I suspect that many of the general public are relatively ignorant of the machinations of finance (and grateful for the fact) and so will get caught out by these flyers that essentially appeal to the greed that most of us have.

Trying to spam or phish those of use who have a financial background though probably says more about the stupidity of the sender than the recipient.
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Mike Channin
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by Mike Channin »

At risk of being slightly inflamatory, I believe public opinion might now be along the lines that all the best scams have originated _within_ the financial industry for some time, and that the rest of society is now paying the consequences of high risk dealing in disguised toxic products on a 'too big to let it fail' scale... Over to you to explain where I've got it all wrong, Graham ;-)
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Paul Victory
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by Paul Victory »

Have to agree with you on that one, Mike. The main differences are that the scammers were more sophisticated and there doesn't seem to be any willingness to prosecute them, even though they've been caught red-handed.

And while on the subject, why are hedge funds still permitted to operate? They cause nothing but chaos and grief.
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Re: How dumb do they think people are?

Post by webberg »

I'm tempted, very tempted to launch into a wide ranging essay on the banking and finance industry but I'll not as it would take too long, come across as trying to justify the impossible and be as incomprehensible as the original problem.

Suffice to say that banking was allowed by its senior leaders to essentially lend the same dollar up to 30 times via a series of complex instruments that only a few understood.

Complicit in this was the Bank of England and the FSA but most of all the politicians of all colours. The Government wanted the tax revenues (the finance sector was contributing up to 30% of the total tax stake) but as soon as the manure hit the ventilation, the MP's jumped on the bandwagon to bash the bankers in order to deflect from their own massive failings.

And then MP's wonder why we don't resepct them!

Hedge funds operate in a different space. The original idea was that they take equal and opposite positions in whatever they choose. Unfortunately because people tend to look at only one side of the deal, the effect of that side is magnified and it is the sentiment that drives the market. We are in fact seeing trading straetgies now that rely upon this sentiment!

For example, hedge funds and banks speculate on food prices. Forward wheat is now around £200/tonne. If you think that the price will rise you buy a forward contract now at £200 (you are long wheat). A sensible hedge fund trader will now enter into a forward contract to sell that wheat at no less than say £195/tonne. This limits his losses to £5/tonne. If the price goes up, he completes his contract and sells the wheat for say £210/tonne.

His position therefore is that he might make £10/tonne or lose £5/tonne.

Unfortunately the market sees the fund pile in at £200/tonne and thinks "Hey, he knows something we don't" and like sheep they all come in behind him. This demand for the financial product pushes up the commodity price. The original trader doesn't mind because he can make more money. Consequently the wheat price moves up even though nothign has happened except a financial trasnaction.

The speculation on food is now enormous. No reliable figures exist but in the wheat market, the world harvest is around 600m tonnes a year. At £200 a tonne, the harvest is worth £120bn. The two major commodity exchanges for wheat, Chicago and London, wrote forward contracts worth £1.4 trillion last year or more than 10 times the harvest value!

Unless the regulators and Governments get a grip, this bubble will go the same way as banking. Unfortunately that £1.4 trillion generates about £100bn in tax revenues across the globe. Have a guess what's going to happen?

End of lecture - sorry.
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