HELPFUL HINTS
DEAR HELOISE: I don’t understand how scammers can evade the law like they always seem to. Why can’t more of them be thrown in jail where they belong?
My wife and I were approached to make an investment in a land deal. The guy had brochures with beautiful pictures of green forested land in Montana and spoke of
fresh air, clean water, etc. When he told us the price of the lots available, I was stunned at how cheap they were. But, as tempting as it sounded, when he said there were only four lots left, I got a strange feeling he was nothing but a con artist. He showed me a picture of a beautiful log cabin among the trees that was poorly photoshopped, and that’s when I told my wife we were leaving.
Two days later, I drove past the office where the scammers were, and it was completely empty. They had skipped town without paying the landlord or the phone bill. I guess the old saying “buyer beware” is true. — Dennis and June S.,
Omaha, Neb.
DEAR DENNIS & JUNE:
Believe me, the police would love to get their hands on scammers. So many scams are either international — making it nearly impossible to pursue — or local authorities might not consider it as important as other crimes such as home invasion, murder, arson, etc.
Watch out for someone who wants you to pay with gift cards or wants you to wire money to a foreign account. If someone calls out of the blue and tells you you’ve won anything and that all you have to do is pay the tax or shipping, or both, don’t send them a dime.
Take the time to investigate any charity you plan to support financially. And above all, never give out personal or financial information to random callers or strangers who contact you through email. Never hand out your passwords or pin numbers, and don’t discuss what you have or where you live with someone you don’t know.
DEAR HELOISE:
My sister works as a professional model, so one day, I asked her how I could get rid of cellulite. She said that she and a few other women she knows take warm coffee grounds that contain caffeine, and they massage them into their skin in a circular motion, using either a loofah pad, vegetable brush or some other coarse brush. They let it sit for 5 to 15 minutes, then rinse it off. My sister does this about four or five times a week, and she has no cellulite.