Selfishness Cometh Before the Scam

When I was young, my father always told me I had a problem with "instant gratification" meaning when I wanted something, I wanted it now despite whom it would effect.

Sadly at (almost) 25 years old, I have the same problem my dad tried to tell me about way back when.

Since I left Living Christ Church, I've been trying to aquire a new Macbook Pro, since when I was there I had one and fell in love with it. I worked on Living Christ's Mac for 2 years and swore I would never have a PC again, so leaving that Mac with them I "needed" a Mac. (I would still really love to own one...)

So, "needing" this Macbook Pro, I sought to buy one for a fairly inexpensive price. I searched online, did those crazy "surveys" which "can get you a free Macbook Pro if only you and 33 other people make a couple of payments. The survey fell through, so I eagerly searched Craig's List. To my excitement, there were 2 on sale...both for good prices. One was $750 and the other was $400, so I contacted both sellers. I got a call from the $750 Macbook Pro owner and talked him down to $700...but with Hilary not working yet (she got a tutoring job yesterday PTL) we decided that that was too much, so I said no to that guy. The next day I got an email from the $400 seller.

I was so stoked because I Hilary and I reasoned we could afford this one and I knew I was so close to getting this computer. We emailed back and forth and the seller (Arianna Haumann) said she would take the computer to a 3rd Party delivery company called TNT she sent me the url and all looked legit. They would check it out for me, send it from the UK and hold my payment until I checked it out and realized it would be a good buy. However...they needed me to Western Union (wire) the money to them.

This is where I should've seen the problem...but it my selfish desire to get what I wanted, I didn't even think about it. I sent the money and in 2 days realized I'd been scammed. I called the real TNT and they told me that I had indeed been scammed.

Lesson learned. Hard lesson and $440 later I know something I didn't before. Selfishness is a sin that I let get away from me and hinder myself, my family and my wallet. Never again.