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It is hilarious how much effort some poeple will go to to make money through scams when they could spend the effort doing something sustainable. Or at least onc

It is hilarious how much effort some poeple will go to to make money through scams when they could spend the effort doing something sustainable. Or at least once you get away with one scam, use it for actual business, don't blow it on testing your luck again and again!

taneq 2y ago
Cue that Key and Peele sketch about robbing a bank by posing as tellers and stealing only a couple of hundred dollars a day to avoid suspicion…
- smugma 2y ago
  https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM?si=rxaTsdV3kGpQM-SR https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM?si=rxaTsdV3kGpQM-SR Hadn’t seen it, it’s well-executed.
- zuminator 2y ago
  My interpretation of that gag isn't that they're stealing anything, but that when you actually parse the wannabe mastermind's scheme, they're actually just working for the bank and getting paid as regular employees.
  - taneq 2y ago
    Me too but it's not really clear during the setup and I didn't want to spoil it too hard. :)
quacked 2y ago
Scamming is fun, you don't have to be predictable or reliable or follow social norms, and your ceiling is limited by your own desire rather than a time schedule or a pay structure. (Of course, these days some scammers run firms with office space, schedules, and incentive structures!) Also, a score yields some satisfying resentment; you're getting one over on those bastards. I think a lot of people don't really have a good theory of mind of career criminals. The vast majority aren't regretfully finding themselves driven into crime; they like it and it's fun.
- daniel_reetz 2y ago
  Exactly. It's cousins with the hacker mindset. And it is fun & comes with a thrill. If your mindset is "crime bad, criminals stupid, why?", you might try getting away with something sometime. It's a special pleasure.
  - sniggers 2y ago
    Hacking doesn't hurt people, theft/scamming does
    - fragmede 2y ago
      depends on if you're a black or white hat hacker. black hat hackers absolutely go around hurting people
- LargeWu 2y ago
  It's a hard way to make an easy living.
  - quacked 2y ago
    It's funny because it's just as grinding, repetitive, and nit-picky as normal work is. But I think the big draws are the excitement and the fact that you can do it on whatever schedule works for you, meaning you only work when you feel like you need cash. You're not in the rat race.
- BizarroLand 2y ago
  I mean, who among us wouldn't watch 6 months of television with all of our spare time and take a bus from Ohio to LA for $331,381.55 in cash and prizes? (Roughly adjusted for inflation) After all, it made for gripping television that is still being talked about today, they didn't lose on the exchange.
  - throwaway173738 2y ago
    If you think about it you’re basically describing engineer number one at a startup.
sandworm101 2y ago
>> could spend the effort doing something sustainable. There are large groups of people in the US who are very limited in what they can do. Convicted criminals cannot get certain jobs. Sex offenders are basically barred from most all employment. Illegal immigrants have problems with finance. I wouldn't say that all scammers come from such backgrounds, but it is incorrect to say that anyone and everyone is free to do anything.
- helboi4 2y ago
  my guy, i never said that. im just shocked that a guy like this would bother to keep scamming over and over again and losing money when he managed to get enough money to lift himself out of any sort of poverty the first time and could have used it more wisely.
immibis 2y ago
Whatever ways you're thinking of, I bet they aren't as sustainable as you think. Both entrepreneurs and scammers are trying all sorts of different ways to make money until they find something that happens to actually work.
renewiltord 2y ago
It's all about finding a repeatable game and because he found one exploit he thought he could find others.
bluedino 2y ago
What about people that steal metal from buildings? Pull retail scams?
mvdwoord 2y ago
Money won is twice as sweet as money earned. ~ Fast Eddie Felson
- TimTheTinker 2y ago
  It's also lost 100 times as fast.
  - peteradio 2y ago
    Money won by definition is not lost so therefore I'm rich!
JKCalhoun 2y ago
> It is hilarious how much effort some poeple will go to to make money through scams Ego, in a word. The type of personality that does this thinks they're smarter than everyone else and seek to prove it. Working is for chumps like us.
- burnished 2y ago
  Scamming aint easy, just sleazy
araes 2y ago
Had that thought too, twice as much work just to steal the money. Yet, if you look, America often rewards (or at least encourages) thieves, rogues, scoundrels, ect... Santos? Mostly encouragement if anything. Probably run for Governor. Bernie Madoff? He had to turn himself in. 'treated in prison like a "Mafia don".' From WP: > They call me either Uncle Bernie or Mr. Madoff. I can't walk anywhere without someone shouting their greetings and encouragement, to keep my spirit up. It's really quite sweet, how concerned everyone was about my well being, including the staff ... It's much safer here than walking the streets of New York. Catch Me if You Can? Everybody wants to be the Wolf of Wall St. Michael? Girlfriend, interviews, writeups, social fascination.
- open592 2y ago
  Not quite sure I would blindly trust this account from Madoff, as it was made within a letter to his daughter-in-law who disliked him due to how hard this situation was on her husband (who later committed suicide). She wrote him purely to boast about the life he was missing out on, and to chastise him about what he had done to his family. There are also accounts of him being injured (some accounts saying severely) during his early years within prison. Obviously as he spent more years in the system he became more comfortable and may have had a more or less "easy" life. But I would guess that his life wasn't like something out of Goodfellas.

taneq 2y ago

Cue that Key and Peele sketch about robbing a bank by posing as tellers and stealing only a couple of hundred dollars a day to avoid suspicion…

smugma 2y ago
https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM?si=rxaTsdV3kGpQM-SR https://youtu.be/jgYYOUC10aM?si=rxaTsdV3kGpQM-SR Hadn’t seen it, it’s well-executed.
zuminator 2y ago
My interpretation of that gag isn't that they're stealing anything, but that when you actually parse the wannabe mastermind's scheme, they're actually just working for the bank and getting paid as regular employees.
- taneq 2y ago
  Me too but it's not really clear during the setup and I didn't want to spoil it too hard. :)

quacked 2y ago

Scamming is fun, you don't have to be predictable or reliable or follow social norms, and your ceiling is limited by your own desire rather than a time schedule or a pay structure. (Of course, these days some scammers run firms with office space, schedules, and incentive structures!) Also, a score yields some satisfying resentment; you're getting one over on those bastards. I think a lot of people don't really have a good theory of mind of career criminals. The vast majority aren't regretfully finding themselves driven into crime; they like it and it's fun.

daniel_reetz 2y ago
Exactly. It's cousins with the hacker mindset. And it is fun & comes with a thrill. If your mindset is "crime bad, criminals stupid, why?", you might try getting away with something sometime. It's a special pleasure.
- sniggers 2y ago
  Hacking doesn't hurt people, theft/scamming does
  - fragmede 2y ago
    depends on if you're a black or white hat hacker. black hat hackers absolutely go around hurting people
LargeWu 2y ago
It's a hard way to make an easy living.
- quacked 2y ago
  It's funny because it's just as grinding, repetitive, and nit-picky as normal work is. But I think the big draws are the excitement and the fact that you can do it on whatever schedule works for you, meaning you only work when you feel like you need cash. You're not in the rat race.
BizarroLand 2y ago
I mean, who among us wouldn't watch 6 months of television with all of our spare time and take a bus from Ohio to LA for $331,381.55 in cash and prizes? (Roughly adjusted for inflation) After all, it made for gripping television that is still being talked about today, they didn't lose on the exchange.
- throwaway173738 2y ago
  If you think about it you’re basically describing engineer number one at a startup.

sandworm101 2y ago

>> could spend the effort doing something sustainable. There are large groups of people in the US who are very limited in what they can do. Convicted criminals cannot get certain jobs. Sex offenders are basically barred from most all employment. Illegal immigrants have problems with finance. I wouldn't say that all scammers come from such backgrounds, but it is incorrect to say that anyone and everyone is free to do anything.

helboi4 2y ago
my guy, i never said that. im just shocked that a guy like this would bother to keep scamming over and over again and losing money when he managed to get enough money to lift himself out of any sort of poverty the first time and could have used it more wisely.

immibis 2y ago

Whatever ways you're thinking of, I bet they aren't as sustainable as you think. Both entrepreneurs and scammers are trying all sorts of different ways to make money until they find something that happens to actually work.

renewiltord 2y ago

It's all about finding a repeatable game and because he found one exploit he thought he could find others.

bluedino 2y ago

What about people that steal metal from buildings? Pull retail scams?

mvdwoord 2y ago

Money won is twice as sweet as money earned. ~ Fast Eddie Felson

TimTheTinker 2y ago
It's also lost 100 times as fast.
- peteradio 2y ago
  Money won by definition is not lost so therefore I'm rich!

JKCalhoun 2y ago

> It is hilarious how much effort some poeple will go to to make money through scams Ego, in a word. The type of personality that does this thinks they're smarter than everyone else and seek to prove it. Working is for chumps like us.

burnished 2y ago
Scamming aint easy, just sleazy

araes 2y ago

Had that thought too, twice as much work just to steal the money. Yet, if you look, America often rewards (or at least encourages) thieves, rogues, scoundrels, ect... Santos? Mostly encouragement if anything. Probably run for Governor. Bernie Madoff? He had to turn himself in. 'treated in prison like a "Mafia don".' From WP: > They call me either Uncle Bernie or Mr. Madoff. I can't walk anywhere without someone shouting their greetings and encouragement, to keep my spirit up. It's really quite sweet, how concerned everyone was about my well being, including the staff ... It's much safer here than walking the streets of New York. Catch Me if You Can? Everybody wants to be the Wolf of Wall St. Michael? Girlfriend, interviews, writeups, social fascination.

open592 2y ago
Not quite sure I would blindly trust this account from Madoff, as it was made within a letter to his daughter-in-law who disliked him due to how hard this situation was on her husband (who later committed suicide). She wrote him purely to boast about the life he was missing out on, and to chastise him about what he had done to his family. There are also accounts of him being injured (some accounts saying severely) during his early years within prison. Obviously as he spent more years in the system he became more comfortable and may have had a more or less "easy" life. But I would guess that his life wasn't like something out of Goodfellas.