Duped

Many years back, I remember reading about a man from USA who put in an advertisement in the papers asking readers to send 10 dollars to his postal address. Hundreds send him the money and when they did not receive any returns, they complained to the Police and the case went to court.

In court, the scamster pleaded innocence as he had made no promises in the advertisements. People had wrongly presumed it was some sort of an investment or purchase scheme. There was no case of misleading anyone.

So often, we find that the seemingly smartest of persons are easy to dupe. They are easily lured into shortcuts to success. They are gullible to succumb to greed without realising that they are being taken for a ride. They swallow whatever is dished out to them.

Today the internet is hunting grounds for the scamsters as they can easily single out the gullible. These are persons who carelessly forward without putting the message to the test of thinking

A friend once told me that he does not endorse what he forwards. When I asked him what could be his reason, he said just for ‘discussion’ purpose. He had no answer when I asked him how one can discuss without thinking.

The story of the US scamster tells us how people who do not think are easily dupable. A person is easily deceived when he chooses to unquestioningly serve a cause or another person without thinking about what is in store. The dupable do not need to be duped… they are waiting to be fooled!

When we evade the test of thinking

To be duped is what we are asking!

~ Pravin K Sabnis