The View 38002 April 2017 | Page 4

theview Page 4 RIBBON CUTTING Sassafras Designs Ribbon Cutting – Family, friends, staff, Town officials, and Chamber members, joined owner Donna Birdsong for the Ribbon Cutting on March 21 celebrating her new larger location at 6280 Chester, Suite 103 (next door to her previous shop), Arlington. Scam-Proof Your Life By David B. Peel It is rare for someone to try to scam a law- yer. After all, as a group, we tend to be pretty cynical and ana- lytical. That doesn't make for good scam victims. However, love or greed can often blind an otherwise cir- cumspect person. For the last several years, I have heard about a scam preying on law firms specif- ically that's been going around. Here's the basic scenario: a man calls in, clearly not very well educated, and claiming to have suffered some terrible injury at the hands of a large company like Federal Express or UPS. He claims to be paraplegic and that his landlord is pres- suring him to take what settlement is be- ing offered one million dollars in order to prevent being evicted. And he says if he could just get $450 wired to him through a Walgreens gift card or something then you could have the case. The fact that this game has been going on for about three years in multiple differ- ent states indicates that it must be suc- cessful at least some of the time. But if you want to make yourself scam proof, just follow the simple three-step formula to scam proofing your life: 1. 2. 3. 4. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Hang up. You can never get some- thing for nothing. If you must make a decision in a hurry, hang up. Your worst decisions in your life are always made in haste. If you must send money to someone or provide your private information, hang up. If people follow these three simple rules, they will never fall for the Nigerian prince scam and they will not get in- volved in a shady deal. .com April 2017