Date: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:38 pm. By: Guest
On Sep 2, 5:23 am, Eeyore wrote:
Laurence Sheldon wrote: Water to Hydrogen scam - Jail for Patrick Kelly Water to Hydrogen scam - Jail for Patrick Kelly ... Gregory A. Paw announced that an Idaho man has been sentenced to prison for stealing .... http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.energy.hydrogen/2006-11/msg00...
Idaho man going to jail for fuel cell investment scam | Cleantech ... Idaho man going to jail for fuel cell investment scam ... but it was really nothing more than a hydrogen fuel cell demonstrator that you could purchase in a ... http://media.cleantech.com/364/idaho-man-going-to-jail-for-fuel-cell-i
Brilliant news !
Graham
Graham, I'm an 'old fart' that can tell you I remember very similair scams being pitched every fall at every state fair here in the US. My first year to attend a state fair was in 1949, and while I was only 11 years-old at the time, I was facinated by the 'pitchman' and his well honed skill at selling what amounted to 'smoke and mirrors'. (Even today I collect some of the pitches used for entertainment, as do many others. I found them entertaining when I was 11, and still do.) The closest thing to the 'state fair' pitchman, are some of today "Infomercials" seen on US television today.
Today, many shady schemes involve investment scams, and until they grow to a certain size, they are very difficult for the states or federal government to prosecute. The problem is that it can cost millions of dollars to prosecute even one case, so the prosecution rightully reserves its budget for the prosecution of the most egregious offenders. I believe that the same situation exists in the UK, because I have a close friend who likes to tell tales of the "Tinkers", who evidently are of the same ilk as what are caller 'scammers' here in the US. Those here in the US are likely to be associated with a mobile, well organized group of scammers that here are called "Irish Travellers". They are very difficult to prosecute, but they operate on a hit and run basis, usually using some trivial thing like driveway coating or roof repair as the basis for their scam. By the time a homeowner notices that his driveway has been coated with nothing but used engine oil, the group has vanished to a different state.
It please me to no end that Patrick Kelly went to prison for his particular water-to-hydrogen scam. BRAVO! It seems that good old Patrick was stupid enough to perpetrate his fraud from the same location much too long, or else grew to a scale that justified the cost of prosecution. Even Irish Travellers know better than to make this mistake. Patrick was either so greed or so stupid, that he didn't know when to pull the plug and move on.
Graham, I hope that it doesn't offend you that I find scams like this entertaining, but criminals like these are usually not violent individuals, and nearly always exploit the greed on the part of the mark. It's pretty difficult to defraud an honest man, or a person who realizes that their is no free lunch.
The Internet is a prime locatin for the scammers to do their thing, because there are so very many clueless people today surfing the Internet. It an environment quite similar to state fairs, where often clueless rural people get their very first taste of the 'big world'.
Again, I love the pitchman's craft. He can pitch a crappy modified can opener, and do it so well that he has people elbowing each other out of the way to purchase one for ONLY $10. In addition to opening cans, this wonderful device which you will wonder how you ever lived without can also slice and dice...etc.
Actaully, in US politicks, this is quite like Obama's pitch for the US presidency.
Harry C,.