A reader wrote me this last week partake a site that sold blue Citrullus vulgaris seed .
These watermelons are a foresightful - fourth dimension cyberspace fraud , yet seeded player scammers are still take up advantage of gardeners and their love for interesting varieties .
On ebay right now are listings for patrician watermelon vine seeds :
notice where these so - called “ blue Citrullus vulgaris ” seed are coming from .
It ai n’t the salutary old U.S. of A.
But you could bet that ’s where the money is flowing from . Out of a nurseryman ’s pocket and into the sack of a grifter .
When you buy seeds from overseas , your chances of being scammed are much , much high . How do you know that you ’re going to get what you order ?
You do n’t .
And how will you take recourse if you plant the semen and get something unlike than advertise ? Or if they do n’t arrive up at all ?
You ca n’t .
Caveat vendee is the phrase of the eon when you ’re dealing with overseas seeds . Of course , if you pass for something like this :
Then maybe the scammers merit your $ 1.39 + $ 0.28 transportation .
Here ’s another raft of bizarre seminal fluid , this time in the world of flowers :
Seeds for a RAINBOW ROSE !
I postulate that !
OMGOMGOMG I necessitate IT !
Some of these semen offering are credible , and some of them are n’t . You might have an ad for “ heirloom tomatoes ” which still is n’t heirloom tomato . catch for those as well . If it look too unearthly to be straight , avoid it . And if it ’s coming from China , avoid it .
The Chinese are well - sleep together for scamming .
They haveelaborate date scams :
“ A Modern study , “ Quit Playing Games With My mettle : Understanding Online Dating Scams , ” a collaboration between University College London and Jiayuan , China ’s largest date site , revealed the unbelievably originative and mired cons that plague online dating there .
The source of the study analyzed more than 500,000 profiles , drawn from Jiayuan ’s 100 million users , which the land site ’s employees had flag as scam accounts . And while by far the most democratic of these scam — imitation profile promoting accompaniment Service — will be conversant to anyone who uses Tinder in the U.S. , the remain scams could be drawn straight from The Sting or The Grifters .
The most cunning of the Jiayuan cozenage start up when the owner of a fancy eating house engage an attractive fair sex , who then make a dating profile . The woman then contacts a lonely tenderness over Jiayuan and convinces him to take her on a date to the expensive restaurant , where she runs up an enormous tab . According to the study , these dates can cost anywhere from $ 100 to $ 2,000 . Afterward , of course , the bilked bachelor never hear from his date again . ”
And who could forgetChinese drywall ?
Or deadlyChinese favored treats :
“ When Kevin and Candace Thaxton ’s 10 - yr - sure-enough pug-dog Chansey got sick late last year , the duet wear at first it was simply old age . The pocket-size domestic dog started bear witness symptoms of kidney failure — drinking water to a fault and urinating in the theater . By the meter the Thaxtons got her to a veterinarian , Chansey ’s kidneys had shut down and she was in extreme pain in the ass . She go bad two Day afterwards .
“ It was so hard . It was just annihilating , ” Kevin Thaxton told ABC News .
But the Thaxtons would go through the ordeal again just hebdomad later — lead them to a new theory behind Chansey ’s death — when their new Pekingese - mix puppy Penny exhibited the same symptom , in the end resulting in kidney failure . When Candace Thaxton stumbled on a Food and Drug Administration monish that there ’d beenan increase in complaintsabout wimp jerky dog dainty made in China , she suppose she knew immediately what had pass off to her dear dogs .
“ I grabbed the bag of treat and turned it over , ” Candace said . “ At first I see it said ‘ fabricate in South Carolina ’ so I thought I was safe . Then I looked harder and it say ‘ Made in China ’ and I just said ‘ Oh no . ’ “
Of course , it ’s not just China . There are hoaxes get along from other places . Nigeria has a repute for fraudulence which is legendary . alternatively of a few bucks for seeds , they ’re stealingpeople ’s entire retirements :
“ Spears , who is a breast feeding administrator and CPR instructor , said she mortgage the house and took a spleen out on the category elevator car , and ran through her married man ’s retirement account .
“ The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and work around and picture America — is pretty much gone for him right now , ” she said .
She estimate it will take two year to remove the debt that accumulated in the more than two class she spent sending money to con artists .
Her family and depository financial institution officials told her it was all a scam , she said , and begged her to stop , but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting pay off . ”
Stupid !
This is why I ’ve bury all my retirement money in mayo jars where no one can discover it .
Seriously though , if you see something like this :
NO .
JUST NO .
I understand the allure of blue watermelon and exotic seeds , but if it ’s really out of the ordinary – and it ’s come from somewhere out of the ordinary – I can almost guarantee you ’re go bad to get scammed . Fortunately , it ’s not a immense personnel casualty – but every person who institutionalize a couple of vaulting horse to these stealer is just encourage them .
If this variety of thing makes you sore , experience free to post this article on Facebook in various horticulture groups . Also be sure to describe folderal on ebay when you see it .
I do n’t care to see swindler wee money or my reader losing it . Stick with good society likeBaker Creekfor alien seeds and just say NO to weirdie with weird - colored watermelons .
