Friday, September 28, 2007

Innocence of youth

My nephew has just started reading History at Manchester University. He called me yesterday saying, "I've had a disaster. Please call me back immediately!" It transpired that on his way back from his lectures yesterday, he was approached by some men who had a van load of speakers. My nephew's really into music so his attention was caught. They spun him a tale which boiled down to this business deal: if he bought one of their speakers for £350, he would be able to sell it on e-Bay for $3000. Robert says he asked them loads of questions and was convinced that they were genuine. (Then, why weren't they simply doing this deal themselves?) Anyway, he gave them £350, took the speaker back to his Hall of Residence where it could barely fit into his room, looked at the internet site about the speaker which appeared fine on the face of it but which on further inspection proved, surprise, surprise, to be a complete sham. He then discovered many comments from other people who'd been conned by this scam. He didn't take the registration number of the van. He went to the police who said there was nothing they could do about it. I'm still debating whether he's stupid or simply naive.

11 Comments:

Blogger Eurodog said...

Today's youth........!

10:29 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whilst it would be easy for us 'old farts' to be disparaging, we can all recall [just] what it was like to first leave home.

If we mistrusted everyone we met at college on the basis that they may be 'grifters' / rapists / murderers we wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

I do feel sorry for him, and he has learnt a bit of an expensive lesson, but I would urge him not to be so distrustful of people that he doesn't go travelling or whatever.

I am also amazed he is studying history - this is good news as it is falling in popularity, and goes a long way to explaining the many mistakes which politicians make.

10:41 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe he could at least try to cut his losses by doing some DJ'ing in the 'getting to know you' phase of college. Even if he doesn't make his money back he may meet a young lady or two who may be able to keep an eye on him for you..

10:44 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You may also want to give him a lesson in the use of English.

This is a bit of a financial crisis, but the word 'disaster' is best saved for a natural phenomenon which results in death and destruction.

Or suggest he gets a job in student journalism...

10:45 am  
Blogger kinglear said...

Should have used a stoppable cheque...
Anyway, on the student tack, I saw a rather good birthday card yesterday which showed an owl in mortarboard saying " I don't drink, smoke, take drugs, or have gratuitous sex" and the other birds saying " Do you think he actually WENT to university?"

4:24 pm  
Blogger Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Aah, naive I should think, WW.

9:01 pm  
Blogger Mopsa said...

Or too much spare cash?

4:44 pm  
Blogger marymaryquitecontrary said...

Not many students would have that amount of money in their pocket. Apart from the fact that he was scammed please advise hism not to carry that amount in future.

7:11 pm  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

Mopsa - he only has his grant

Mary - he wasn't carrying cash. He went to the bank to withdraw it.

KL - you are absolutely right and I have passed on your advice

12:13 pm  
Blogger Mopsa said...

Well, he's learned a very valuable lesson - probably cheap at half the price! Hope he can cover his food bills for the rest of term.

5:22 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

350GBP is cheap in todays market for learning one of life's most valuable lessons. Your nephew should be thanking his lucky stars...

9:38 pm  

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