As I talked about with Hack on yesterday’s podcast, we got some good news from BlogTalkRadio earlier in the week.  The management at BlogTalkRadio have made Johnny Archive a Featured Host!  Woot!  What that means is every Johnny Archive Fantasy Baseball Show will now be a featured event and BTR will help promote the show.

Pretty cool!

Basically, it’s another reminder that, because of the listeners out there, the show is getting some attention from people who are in the business of spotting up and coming shows.  Hack and I really enjoy doing the show — and we are still in the process of making the show better every day — and it feels good to be recognized for the time and effort we put forth.

On tap for this weekend’s podcast is our first FSWA Roundtable Show featuring FSWA writers Chris Morgan, Perry Missner, Robert Burghardt and Jonathan Gangi.  It should be some interesting dialogue between these serious baseball personalities.  Join us live 5-7pm ET at BlogTalkRadio.com or catch the archived edition or download the show at iTunes.

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So, I’m selling my Dodge Ram truck and I think, hey I’ll toss it up on Craigslist.  I mean, what could go wrong?  Well, it’s been a awhile since I used CL for anything, and apparently the scammers have claimed CL as their “turf”.  I must have missed that google alert.  Anyway, to save you the boredom of listening to another “I almost got scammed” story, I’ll just say that anyone contacting you with very bad use of sentence structure and does not name your item specifically is probably not on the level.

Acutally, I changed my mind.  After sifting through a few sites that are aimed at detouring these scammers and reading a lot of posts that don’t seem to understand how this scam works, let me explain it as I understand it.

• You list something for sale on CL, probably using the feature to keep your identity hidden, because after all, you’re not an idiot.
• You get a short email asking if item is still for sale - something like “hello i will like to know if this posted ad is still available, and in good condition?????????” Any email that does NOT mention your item specifically and has 9 straight question marks should be a red flag.
• You respond, usually with your normal email account with your real name and info (and some of you out there give way too much info in your signatures), which throws out the efforts of CL to keep your information private.
• The scammer returns your email and say he wants the item saying something like,”
  Thank for the prompt response my secretary will  process  and mail a
  certified draft to cover the cost  as am completely satisfied with
  it.I will need the details of whom & where to mail the payment
  1.Name to be on the check
  2.Home address
  3.Mobile #
  Please note ‘United Parcel Service’ do not deliver to P.O.Box
  addresses and i will not be  mailing a draft to one.My mover will be
  coming over for the pick up right only after the payment as been
  delivered.Kindly delete the posting as am totally committed to buying
  from you to save cost,..Here is my relay phone # is  (210) 209-8524 am
  deaf and will receive your phone messages via email ,regards”
• So, you send your info because you still feel safe, afterall you are not going to send this yahoo anything until you have payment in hand.
• The scammer sends you a cashiers check from some bogus company or a stolen company check.
• But there’s been a mistake, he actually sent you too much.  Instead of sending you a check for $2000, the check is made for $3700.
• The scammer assures you it is his assistant’s fault and he apologizes…and suggests the easiest way to take care of this is for you to simply cash that $3700 check and keep the $2000 he meant to send you plus $50-$100 for your trouble and send him the difference — usually Western Union or Money Gram.
• Of course, he’ll say that he is trusting YOU to do the right thing and not keep the extra money.  By turning the tables he’s counting on you, as a honorable person, to make sure you do everything you’re supposed to do so you don’t appear as a bad person.
• You cash the check at your bank — and if you have a good relationship with your bank they’ll want to take care of you, their customer, by not putting a hold on the check.
• All is good, right?  You got your $2000, plus a little extra for the hassle, the other person got the item you were selling, plus $1500 or so.
• Then a week or so later, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, you get a message from the bank that your account is overdrawn.  The bank has discovered that the original check was either bogus or stolen.
• The bank reminds you that it is not their fault and you must get your account in good standing or face additional fees and negative hits to your credit report.
• There’s no replies from scammer’s email account, of course.
• And it hits you, there’s no doubt, you have officially been scammed.
• What’s sad is that most people are so embarrassed that they don’t tell anyone.  I mean, who wants to be known as that idiot who fell for that Internet scam.

So, there you go.  That’s a basic outline of how it works.  Some people think they are being smarter than the scammer and will play along just to mess with them or create costs for these people by having them mail stuff, usualy overnight.  My advice is to not do that.  For one, the more you communicate with these people the more information you are giving them.  Depending on the type of item or service you are buying/selling you may be giving them enough information that they can steal your identity and cause all kinds of problems/hassles for you.

These people are “bad guys” and you don’t know exactly how far they will go to prove just how bad they are.  Some reports have them contacting victims repeatedly at home and work constantly harrassing them.  If you saw someone robbing a bank would you want to go “mess with them”?  Probably not.  So, if suspect a scammer, go ahead report the email account to CL or in some situations to the local authorities, but don’t make it worse by wasting any additional time with these low-lifes.

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I might as well mention a few baseball players since this is a baseball blog, aye?  Okie-dokie, here’s a few names that are catchign my eye these days.  Oh wait, one last commentary on life.  Have you seen those new KFC ads promoting their new grilled chicken?  You know the commercials with the people dancing around?  Well, why are all the people normal except the asian-americans?  I mean, c’mon, seriously.  Is it really neccessary to have them dancing around in some lame kung-fu ninja outfits while chomping down on this supposedly tasty new chicken?!  None of the other people are dressed in some stereo-type garb acting foolish…well, they all look foolish, but they’re at least dressed in regular clothes.

I’m just saying, somewhere out there, Bruce Lee is rolling in his grave.

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Okay, now let’s talk some baseball!  Here’s some names of players who I think you should snatch up if they are still hanging out on the free agent list.

• Carlos Gonzalez OF COL – Was mashing in the minors and with the Rocks about to waive the white flag on ’09, they should take a long looksy at what they got back as part of the Matt Holliday trade.
• Ian Stewart IF/OF COL – With this latest spurt of power, he’s has entrenched himself as a regular starter for several weeks, at least.  Garret Atkins will lose some ABs in the process.
• Alberto Callaspo 2B KC – Has been pretty consistent all year and has even shown some pop lately with a grand slam on Wednesday.  Owned in 35% of CBS leagues, he can help a lot of fantasy teams out there.
• Colby Rasmus OF STL - The injuries to other redbird outfielders gave him enough ABs to get comfortable and now he’s starting to show his true potential.  Keep these letters in mind R-O-Y!
• Gil Meche SP KC – Meche, who was supposed to be an over-paid, Barry Zito-type bust for the Royals a couple of years ago, has been solid his past few starts including setting a new high in Ks in his last start, with 11.  He’s bulked up and is flat out nasty.
• Juan Pierre OF LAD – With the latest report that Pierre will head back to the bench when Manny returns, there is all of a sudden this air of gloom surrounding this hot speedster.  Did anyone really expect that Juan-Gone had actually replaced Man-Ram as the starting LF in LA-LA land?!  Seriously!?  Scoop up Pierre now and enjoy another productive month before Manny returns and don’t be surprised if he ends up with a solid amount of ABs at the end of the year, even if not all are as a member of the Dodgers.

Okay, that’s a wrap!  Have a great day!

-Johnny Archive