Scam 101: Know The Terms (Part 4)
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 16th, 2009
Good morning!
Ready to be scammed again? If you’re saying, “Hell No!”, read on ’cause your BFF might be the one scamming you. Of course not on purpose, but when moolah is involved, things can get pretty sensitive. This scam is called ‘Affinity Scam’. Don’t ya just love that title? Gives the word ‘affinity’ a whole other meaning when followed by the word ‘scam’. “So what is an affinity scam?”, you may ask. Well…here’s your answer:
Affinity scams. “Affinity” means a close resemblance or connection. When someone you know well — at your church, for instance — recommends a way of making money or buying a bargain, which turns out to be bogus (often they may do this innocently), that’s an affinity scam.
Hmm…we blogged the last time about Ponzi schemes. I would say that many of those people that got scammed by Madoff probably told all of their friends, who then also go scammed. I think the term ‘affinity scam’ would apply here, don’t you?
Want to know more and how to avoid being party to an ‘affinity scam’? The info is in this article.
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Zaranja: I’m sorry to say that although Madaline is on a mission and she is close, she is not near this planet. I wish you well.
Ruth: Loved your ‘educational snippets’. Loved the West Wing too. How I used to watch that show wishing that our president was more like the West Wing’s president Jed Bartlet. Now we have a president who truly cares, who truly wants the best for the American people…and the racists and the republicans want only to ruin everything so they can ‘take their country back’, whatever that means. Looking forward to more.
Anonymous #13: Right on. Love an optimistic attitude. Keep it coming.
Anonymous #14 & 15: You have both made some really good points. It follows suit with Al’s ‘educational snippets’ that he has been posting, specifically “Inequality Destroys Democracy”. Think there is any chance your thoughts will come to life?
Evelyn: That video is unbelievable. And yes I can’t stress enough, “very scary.” These people are so misinformed and ignorant. They can’t even tell you why they don’t like something. I just have to repost it for my readers. Thank you for including the link to this DC ‘tea party’. I had heard about it but did not see any footage until now.
Readers: You must watch this insanity if you haven’t already.
TX: I believe that Obama needs to tread a tad lightly in his first term in order to keep his supporters and his approval rate high and more importantly to solidify a second term. He needs to get re-elected for a second term in order to really make some progress. And when he does…watch out. We are going to see a totally different president. Have a little patience and faith. I think our president knows what he is doing.
Zen Lill: Love that your program is kicking some ass (cheeks:). The girls are loving it, and you’ve got quite a following. So cool. Looking forward to speaking today. Oh… and would love to see those dance moves sometime :-P
George? George? Are you out there?
Readers: We may not hear from him again. I guess I hit a sore spot with George. Was I ‘too cruel’? I think it is interesting that he thinks it is okay to down talk women…he thinks it is okay to call Jews ‘kikes’, he thinks it is okay to call black people ‘Mud people’, but he thinks I am ‘too cruel’ by pointing out his small dick.
Some things have been on my mind. Let me make it clear in case some of you may still think I am knocking him for his ‘size’. George can’t help that he was not blessed with a big dick. I am not knocking him for his size. I am knocking him because he compensates for his size. So why should he knock people for being Jewish or for being black or for being gay? They too are born as they are. Not that there is anything wrong with them as they are, there isn’t. But they too, like George, don’t have a choice.
For all of the racist remarks that jews, black people, and all otw’s experience, I would have no doubt that they at times may wish that they were white, just so they could be treated fairly, just so they could have the same opportunities as the whites. But do you see jewish people or black people, or any other otw, or gay people compensating for what god gave them? No. So I don’t think I’m being ‘too cruel’. I doubt George will ever understand my logic though. His racism is too deep rooted.
George: We hope to hear from you again. As my readers have pointed out, you are a great representation of the racists out there and you ‘keep us on our toes’.
Now I need to get off my ass and onto my toes and skip out of here.
Peace out.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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September 16th, 2009 at 9:13 am
is it George, Lil George…?
September 16th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Hi Mischa, on the run myself this am…just wanted to add to the week 2 day 9 ZL program agenda : ) you and I will talk later this aft.
So here’s your additional exercise, do this after the others and just before you head out that door : ) stand with your whole back on a wall, arms by your side but not touching the wall, suck in that gut, belly button up against your spine, but breathing : ) now slide down that wall till your almost in a sitting position, hold it for a 10 count, come back up slowly, repeat 5x’s…we’ll begin to hold that for longer and longer – hee hee – but for now I want you to concentrate on gut sucked in, shoulders back, and fire up those inner thighs (pretend that damg ball is in there again just begging to be squeezed) – now when you take your walk, try to notice the beauty and I don’t care where you live, see something, a snippet of something striking (in color, shape, texture…etc…) and try to think how you would go about describing what it looks like to a blind person, you could do this with a smell also, whatever sense yoy’d like to trigger – you make the call, speaking of senses, how are the Kegel exercises coming along (pun intended) we’ll be chatting more about all that in upcoming posts : ) it’s all part of being human, why would your sexuality/sensuality be left out of the ZL program? But – we’re doing babysteps…
Here’s your new recipe: and bear with the loose form of measures, I’m a taste tester if there ever was one : )
This can be made with any kind of tomato, beefsteak to cherry, (this all goes into one bowl) chop your (3-4, depends on size, let’s say about a 1 cup measure when chopped) tomatoes into smallish pieces (1/4″ aprox), chop one clove of garlic, add two tablespoons cold water, 2 tablespooons olive oil, 1 teaspoon Braggs amino acids or soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of either basil leaves or cilantro (or both – experiment!) and here’s where it gets carazzzy…add diced avacado or if your avacado is overripe already, smash all the wet ingredients above with half the avacado (or all of it if you like)- this is 2 different versions already, bc that smashed avacado makes a different ‘sauce’ – I mix it up all the time by adding 1-all of the following…diced cucumber, onion, red or green pepper…add crunch, add softer stuff like artichoke bottoms, hearts of palm, the variety is endless, I use whatever is in the fridge usually : ) have fun dicing, it’s very therapeutic all that slicing and dicing…
That’s it for now, I’m off to take Elke my doggie on a mega-cliff walk in Palos Verdes, and I’m going to be thinking about all of you walking (somewhere on this globe) and how I would describe the beauty of that cliffwalk to someone sight impaired and well, it’s where I always send out a little positive thought to Anonz’s safety bc that’s just how I roll ; )
Luv, Zen Lill
September 16th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Michelle, I agree with you. Why is it that OTW’s do not find it necessary to compensate by belittling penis size or any other shortcomings of White Men to feel superior?
I suppose that White Men had the Power to control non-whites. They kept slaves for free labor and feeling superior. They had Wealth, Political Power and were able to keep other Human as an inferior animal to do their back-breaking labor.
I suppose if I had slaves for free labor and kept them as lower life forms, I would feel superior too.
The question is who decided that your can kidnap people from Nations with less technology and have kidnap them to do backbreaking work for you? I know the ancient Civilizations such as the Greeks and Romans took as slaves, the nations they fought wars against and won. They took all their wealth, raped their Women, and killed their children. Then they took the strong, healthy ones as slaves to work for their empire and entertain their citizens in the Arena with their grusome deaths.
This was a Barbaric practice from the beginning and the Americans decided it would be a great idea if they sailed to Africa and took entire villages to the New World as Slaves — They would do all the work no white man would want to do. An entire economy was based on the blood, sweat and tears of OTW’s.
There was much cotton to pick and make millionaires out of the Southerners who used Slaves to keep up their plantations.
They were their Laborers, Cooks, Domestics, and Women were their concubines.
The Confederates had a good thing going — but it was against the basic laws of Civilization and most religions — “Treat thy neighbor as thyself.”
I had enough of George and his kind and would like to move on, but they are so stubborn and really desire to go back two hundred years and repeat the past without learning from it.
There are more people like George than you might think. They are everywhere. They learned to hate from their Mothers and Fathers and have become psychopaths in the interim. These are sick, dangerous and well-positioned people in our Society.
We just lived through 30 years of republican domination and must work hard to become civilized Humans once again.
Hatred is difficult to fight. Many Militias are storing weapons and ammunition for the day they believe America will have a second Civil War. They are prepared for fighting in the streets until they regain their Nation.
What they do not realize is that the only real natives of most Nations are the Native Indians who were taught to be converted to Christianity and become civilized by the Catholic Church and their Missionaries.
There is no Race that belongs to this Country except American Indians. You knows we killed them off and the Buffalo the used to survive by.
If Racists learned true History they would be ashamed of themselves. All in God’s Name.
HOWIE
September 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Hello Michelle,
You know that I think that George is the biggest asshole and bigot to ever comment on your blog, he really takes the cake, and I have a terrible dislike for him. But I have to ask you something, have you slept with him?
I mean, how else could you know the size of his dick otherwise?
Or does a man that you don’t like (George) automatically have a five inch dick, and men that you do like (Doug) are automatically well endowed. Is the TAO telling you these dimensions or are you checking first hand. This is the one thing about your posts that make all your other comments hard to take seriously. I’d bet that I am measuring one inch on the Michelle ‘Dickometer’ right now. And I could care less. This has been one thing about you that makes you seem very immature like a schoolgirl. I have nothing to be ashamed of, whatever size I am and have never been envious of anyone.
Back to George, doesn’t he reveal enough about himself to make him a sick laughing stock? But I cannot believe that reveals his dimensions.
Michelle I know you are not 12 years old, why do you continually try to act it? I am telling you this as a friend. Take it for what it is worth. I like you, but your prejudicial treatment of the entire white race is getting a bit old. Is it your intention to cause more racial strife than what already exists?
Michelle you are my good friend and I would be doing you an injustice by not bringing this to your attention. You know better.
Al
September 17th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
BUYER BEWARE OF AT-HOME GENETIC TESTING
The science of unraveling the human genome has been on fast-forward during the last few years… leading to the premature development — and marketing — of a slew of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests. These may seem harmless… after all, what’s the risk in swabbing your cheek, sending the sample to a lab and learning how likely you are to develop heart disease? But this is very much a scenario of buyer beware.
BUYER BEWARE
The home test market is a relatively new and not so terrific twist on the evolving science of genetics. There are currently more than 1,000 genetic tests available and many more in development, but the science available right now is actually useful to only about 2% of the population, according to a report from a recent government panel called the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society. Of course that number will grow, but in the meantime, according to the report, much of what’s available is of dubious value and can, in fact, lead people to make unwise, perhaps even dangerous decisions based on data that is highly questionable.
The pitch to consumers sets you up to believe it’s almost as easy to learn your risk of developing cancer, heart disease or diabetes, among other things, as to subscribe to a new magazine — send in your credit card information and some sort of physiological sample to get information you can use to make important decisions about your future. The marketing is way ahead of the science, however. I called Gail Javitt, JD, MPH, who leads a genetic testing quality initiative at the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University to see what I could find out about direct-to-consumer genetic tests.
WHICH GENETIC TESTS CAN YOU TRUST?
The government report called the industry that has grown around the science of human genetics “questionable.” Many tests are marketed with false, misleading or ambiguous claims. Often the people who analyze the results don’t have the qualifications to do so reliably. Plus, these tests, which can cost thousands of dollars, are also marketed with expensive and sometimes phony personalized supplement regimens to prevent the disease they ostensibly predict. Javitt told me that tests vary widely in quality, and at present there is a serious lack of adequate regulation and oversight. There are currently more than 1,000 genetic tests available, with new discoveries pointing the way to the potential for new ones popping up almost daily. There have been important and valuable innovations in the field of genetic testing, affirms Javitt, noting for instance that genetic tests for Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis can provide accurate and informative results when delivered with appropriate context and counseling. Similarly, when properly interpreted in light of family history and other relevant information, the BRCA test that detects a mutation that increases risk for breast cancer can inform a woman whether she is at increased risk. In contrast, some tests offered for home use purport to inform consumers about their risk of developing complex diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, in the absence of adequate validation. (For more on what genetic testing can and cannot tell you, see Daily Health News, September 25, 2007. As we reported last year, a host of other factors affects whether a certain person will develop those diseases or cancer or whatever condition is being tested for, making it vital to work with a skilled genetic counselor trained to interpret what the results do and do not mean.
MAYBE YES, MAYBE NO
As for the do-it-yourself tests currently marketed to American consumers, some of them do not provide definitive information — they are selling probability calculations, and often there’s no way to know if the formulas on which they are based are reliable. For one thing, most diseases have multi-factorial and complex causes, with environment and lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise — as well as genetics — entering into the equation. As yet there’s no way to accurately predict the interplay of these to calculate a reliable probability. Another flaw: Genetic tests pinpoint an isolated gene or part of the genome that has been identified as contributing to an illness, such as a particular kind of cancer, when in fact many genes are actually involved, some as yet undiscovered.
FINDING RELIABLE INFORMATION
Clearly, further investigation and regulation is required. In the meantime, the American College of Medical Genetics (www.acmg.net) has issued five minimum requirements that you should look for before agreeing to take any genetic test…
• A knowledgeable health care professional should be involved in ordering and interpreting the test.
• Consumers should be clearly informed what results can and cannot tell them about their health.
• There should be clearly stated scientific evidence supporting the validity of the test.
• The testing laboratory must be accredited by a responsible body (such as the state or an applicable crediting agency).
• Privacy concerns need to be addressed.
There are a wide range of tests marketed DTC — some are diagnostic, others are predictive, and the amount of evidence for both is highly variable. Therefore it is not possible to draw conclusions that most are or are not valuable and useful. “In my perspective, the key issue is that because of a lack of oversight, it is not possible for consumers to tell the difference between valid and not valid,” says Javitt, noting that the only way to separate the wheat from the chaff is by close evaluation of the scientific literature on each test, something consumers may lack the knowledge of how to do. In our opinion, that’s what experts are for.
Source(s): ?
Gail Javitt, JD, MPH, law and policy director at the Genetics and Public Policy Center and research scientist in the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law Center, Washington, DC.
American College of Medical Genetics (www.acmg.net).
US System of Oversight of Genetic Testing: A Response to the Charge of the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
My husband is a regular victim of the Affinity Scam Michelle. One friend or relative of his always “knows” of a sure fire way to make money.
He is so easily fooled by them. Anybody else he is too spectacle to even see a good offer. He trust no one but people who he knows. So he gets fleeced by People he knows.