posted on December 1, 2000 06:48:00 AM
I just read this article on Bidbay.com and wanted to share:
"TO ALL MY FRIENDS ... PASS IT ALONG TO YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS!!!
> >>> > > > >
> >>> > > > > I was
> >>> > > > approached yesterday afternoon around 3:30pm in the Walmart
> >>> > > > parking lot at
> >>> > > > Forest Drive, by two males, asking what kind of perfume I
> >>> > > > was wearing. Then
> >>> > > > they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent
> >>> > > > they
> >>> > > > were willing to
> >>> > > > sell me at a very reasonable rate. I probably would have
> >>> > > > agreed had I not
> >>> > > > received an email some weeks ago, warning of a "wanna
> >>> > > > smell
> >>> > > > this neat
> >>> > > > perfume?" scam.
> >>> > > > >
> >>> > > > > The men continued to stand between parked
> >>> > > > cars, I guess to wait for
> >>> > > > someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going
> >>> > > > toward them, pointed at
> >>> > > > them,
> >>> > > > and told her about how I was sent an e-mail
> >>> > > > at work about someone
> >>> > > > walking up
> >>> > > > to you at the malls or in parking lots,
> >>> > > > and asking you to SNIFF PERFUME
> >>> > > > that
> >>> > > > they are selling at a cheap
> >>> > > > price.
> >>> > > > >
> >>> > > > > THIS IS NOT PERFUME -- IT
> >>> > > > IS ETHER! When you sniff it, you'll pass
> >>> > > > out. And they'll take your
> >>> > > > wallet, your valuables, and heaven
> >>> > > > knows
> >>> > > > what
> >>> > > > else!
> >>> > > > >
> >>> > > > > If it were
> >>> > > > not for this e-mail, I probably would have sniffed the
> >>> > > > "perfume". But
> >>> > > > thanks to the generosity of an emailing friend, I was
> >>> > > > spared
> >>> > > > whatever
> >>> > > > might have happened to me. I wanted to do the same for you.
I
> >>> > > > looked for this
> >>> > > > in the "hoaxes" website and didn't find it.....so,
> >>> > > > BEWARE
> >>> > > > out there
> >>> > > > always.....but be especially more vigilant and alert during
> >>> > > > the
> >>> > > > upcoming
> >>> > > > holiday shopping season"
Please be careful out there. Wouldn't want any of my family and friends to get hurt this way.
Tatiana
posted on December 1, 2000 06:54:33 AM
DON'T PANIC - this is merely a rumor - I checked Urban Legends & Rumors and it listed this one.
It said:
Two Sniffs and You're Out!
Dateline: 11/24/99
By David Emery
"This week's hot email rumor, a warning to women about a robbery scam involving a remarkably potent cologne, has arrived just in time to strike fear into the hearts of holiday shoppers: "
It quoted a version of the e-mail above, and state it as merely a holiday rumor.
posted on December 1, 2000 07:08:34 AM
I received that email about 20 times, and also checked Urban Legends & Rumors.
Also, I read an article in our newspaper where the police in the towns originally mentioned deny ever receiving any such complaints, and call this hoax at the holiday season "terrible".
I think the only thing these type of things do is to put ideas in peoples minds, and then the rumors turn into reality.
Unfortunately, women must always be cautious and afraid whether while out, at work, or at home.
It's sickening.
Women should be able to go and do as they wish without having to worry about these types of things.
posted on December 1, 2000 07:55:43 AM
Oh for God's sake! My mother always sends me these. First of all, a Wal-Mart parking lot? Get a grip!! in my past experience Walmart parking lots are always as full of customers at ants at a bar-be-que picnic. 10,000 people around pushing baby carriages, wheelchairs and carts, and somebody actually buys a story where a woman falls down from ether (you think THAT'S going to go unnoticed?? I got news for you,someone trips and doesn't even fall in a wal mart lot, you got kids pointing and teenagers snickering. If some woman fell down completely and just lay there then she'd have 100 interested passersby A)(the men) gathered round trying to peep up her skirt or b) (the women) thinking she had gone into labor and trying to get her to breathe!) men riffling through her belongings? why the hell would they pick a walmart parking lot? criminals are dumb but not that obvious. AT LEAST make this a darkened parking garage in the middle of the night, that might have a grain of credibility.
And nobody stops to hear those perfume sellers schpiels anyway. at least around here.
posted on December 1, 2000 08:03:56 AM
> THIS IS NOT PERFUME -- IT
> IS ETHER! When you sniff it, you'll pass
> out. And they'll take your
> wallet, your valuables, and heaven knows
> what else!
Technical considerations ... it takes more than a "sniff" of ether to put a human being under. You have to cover their nose and mouth with a cone, continuously drip ether onto the cloth in the cone and even then it takes 10-15 seconds to put them under and constant administration to keep them there. To forcibly administer ether, it takes a cloth saturated with ether and the assailant has to hold the cloth in place over the victim's nose and mouth so the victim has no choice but to breath through the cloth ... and hope the ether doesn't evaporate from the cloth before it takes effect or wear off too soon. Not exactly easy.
Result of fact check - method described is medically impossible, which relegates this to the urban legend category, along with the "woke up in a bathtub full of ice missing kidneys" story.
posted on December 1, 2000 08:04:09 AM
If some stranger on the street tells me he wants to sell me something at a "fabulous rate", I just keep on walking.
If it's so legit, why isn't he in a store or a kiosk or something?
No thanks. I live in Chicago. If that's the scenario, it's either stolen or a version of "got a match?" -- where I stop and they rob me.
posted on December 1, 2000 08:59:12 AM
I get these stupid urban legends all the time!
I got this ether one too and it was basically the straw... So I decided to fight back by educating people. I took up the email address of everybody on the email (It had been forwarded many times, leaving all the emails behind)... I composed a letter to all of them. (I kept their addresses private though by using the BCC feature).
Anyway, I basically said that it's time that we become informed consumers of Internet hype and verify stories before we pass them on as a fact. Urban Legends that are propagated this way are like a form of computer virus. We pass them on to unsuspecting people, we worry them, we guilt them, we take up their valuable time...
I continued by giving links for finding out if a story was true or not.
Fullofknowledge- My apologies for sounding harsh. This is just one of my pet peeves.
I'm not a very opinionated person, and I don't speak out much, unless the right topic is touched upon. I hope those addresses I listed help.
PS- If you've received the story about the little girl who was abducted (Kelsey Brooke something) (her photo is usually in the email), it is also an Urban Legend.
Jozi
Edited to fix my links. )
[ edited by jozi on Dec 1, 2000 12:22 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2000 10:35:43 AM
Granted, we live in an age where everyone has to be very aware, men as well as women...BUT!
do you realize how much of the stuff you need to smell to pass out???? You are probably too young to have gone through the "ancient" anethesia ways of the 40's....I assure you..it is far more than a whiff...yuk!!!
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on December 1, 2000 10:45:59 AM
If someone can pass out from a slight odor of ether in an open air enviroment then they have more problems than the "smell this scent" guys. Better warn these women not to walk past the automotive department of any dpartment store. I imagine they'd hit the floor from the fumes.
posted on December 1, 2000 12:18:02 PM
It is not an urban legend folks, it actually happened. The women weren't interested until the guy said the perfume would be always free and even offered to pay them $5 to try it. Then they started telling these victims the conditions under which it was offered and the conditions kept changing which made their heads spin and by the time they recovered, their accounts were frozen and their bank accounts empty, so beware.
posted on December 1, 2000 12:32:25 PM
Yisgood, perhaps it DID happen. Once. But I had this one e-mailed to me weeks ago. The real bottom line is that people DO need to be careful. Parking lots aren't the usual place for people to conduct business.
posted on December 1, 2000 01:11:55 PM
True or Untrue, the message does serve a purpose....As others have said in posts above...BE CAREFUL!...Especially at this time of year (unfotunate that we live in a society like this, but the plain facts are WE DO!....If you are lucky enough to live in a town/city/country where all is utopian, without crime, then consider yourself blessed...For the rest of us...Let this message serve as a warning to heighten our defenses as we shuffle to & fro' with our holiday treasures....
Always be careful in parking lots (day or night)...
be aware of the people around you....
Ladies keep your pocketbooks closed / men wallets in your front pockets...
DO NOT whip out large amounts of cash, if you're shopping with cash, small amounts in different areas...this also works well should someone demand your case the won't get it all...
Don't go put all your packages in the car & then go back into the store/mall to shop..if you MUST unload, do so, but then drive the car to another spot in the parking lot (thus creating the illusion that you are actually leaving)....
Keep car doors locked at all times (even when in the car)
All this may sound like paranoia to some, but BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!....
posted on December 1, 2000 02:04:58 PM
Sorry, rancher, but I don't think this sort of BS serves any useful purpose. All it does is terrify the gullible and - because it's so obviously an urban legend - encourage legitimate warnings to go unheeded in a sort of boy-who-cried-wolf reaction. Aren't factual accounts good enough?
Frankly, you've got a much greater chance of being pickpocketed than you do of being abducted or at least anaesthetized in the Wal-Mart lot. The best advice for women would be to leave the big handbag at home.
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Dec 1, 2000 02:06 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2000 02:08:49 PM
This is just the type of nonsense that scares women like my mother-in-law. She will hear something like this, and believe it is gospel truth, no matter what you tell her.
So now in addition to her fearing she may have her kidneys stolen, she has to worry about some creep smothering her with ether and robber her blind.
posted on December 1, 2000 02:30:06 PM
Meya, that's so true. My mother-in-law's the same way.
She also believes those e-mails that promise that some big company is going to send gift certificates to everyone who forwards the e-mail to 20 of their friends.
If I get that e-mail one more time, I'm gonna scream.
posted on December 1, 2000 02:40:11 PM
I guess I should be careful not to post when I'm runnin' out the door & really make sure I make myself clear....
I DO NOT in any way, shape or form approve of emails like this...I NEVER forward this kind of stuff, I zap 'em outta my inbox just about as fast as they land there!....I understand how many many folks believe these "stories" and fret needlessly & how nothing, but nothing will convience them otherwise (I wish I had a nickel for every person who is convinced that we will soon be charged .5 per email....again, I KNOW this is not the same type of story but it's just an example of e-propaganda ).....
My point here was in the context of THIS thread.....Several of the posters above have shown evidence (some with links, some without) that this is simply Urban Myth...That said, all I was doing was using the opportunity to remind us all that although many many (if not all) of these stories are NOT TRUE, it IS TRUE that we should all heighten our personal safety awareness, especially at this time of year.....
posted on December 1, 2000 03:08:33 PM
Being a woman, I realize that men are more likely our natural predators. If I see someone approaching meusually a man trying to sell something, I turn to them and tell them to back off, and I say this loud. It works.
Be safe ladies.
posted on December 1, 2000 03:30:01 PM
And small towns are not any safer than big cities. I used to live in the city and never had the problems that I have encountered here. I have had two stalkers in the past couple of years and also several scary incidents in our shop, one in September that left me even more wary.
These days, no matter where you are it pays to be cautious as long as you don't get obsessive about it.
posted on December 1, 2000 03:36:13 PMrancher24...very good, clear post. I understood what you meant...
yisgood I always enjoy your sense of humour...
What is so sad to see is some (not necessarily elderly) women leaving their handbag IN THE CART and walking away to pick the milk, halfway across the store , or walking in the street holding purse by it's long, long, handle...so easy to snatch!....
So, although the majority of these Emails are not a good source, they DO remind one to be very aware of one's surroundings. That is something in itself, non?
posted on December 1, 2000 05:46:18 PM
And here is another one that came thru the university pipeline- somebody crawls into your backseat of your car at self serve gas station! He cuts your ankles to keep you immobile (while you are drivin, of course!) and takes one of your body parts home to gain admittance to a gang! So many holes in this story that I laughed. However, besides all the holes, it is wise for women to keep their car doors locked at all times!
posted on December 1, 2000 06:02:53 PM
Please, please let me know where I can come by of this Ether-Perfum. What a chance! Thousands of German girls overhere can't stand waiting to smell it. I swear, I won't use it in a parking lot.
posted on December 1, 2000 06:43:28 PM
Off the topic! Hi Shosh, old friend!
Retiring in 10 working days! Remember when you led me thru jpeg optimizer? Well, with the Sony Mavica 73 set at "standard" and not "fine", you don't need that anymore! In January I go on ebay full time- many thanks to you and everyone on AW thru the past 2 1/2 years! Retirement means I pull the plug on my alarm clock!
)
