Gullible people scare me
I don't know if any of you have been following this story, but in Southern Nepal, a young boy has been pulling a confidence scam of massive proportions without any apparent outcry from authorities.
This 16-year old lad has convinced a large number of people that he is the reincarnation of the Lord Gautama Buddha, and that he has achieved the blessed state of Nirvana. How has he managed to convince a large part of his country of this claim? By meditating.
He sat underneath a tree, meditating for a solid 10 months without getting up from his spot. Through rain and shine, cold and heat, he has been in a meditative trance for the better part of the year. His closestfollowers (who are also his friends from before his meditation) claim that he has been underneath the tree without food or water for all that time, but adamently refused to let scientists observe him to determine whether he was getting up in the night to eat and drink. In fact, the boy's followers erected barriers to prevent him from being observed during the night.
Thousands of pilgrims came to visit him and meditate nearby, and many donated what money they could spare to his followers, who by many reports have amassed a small fortune from the donations.
Now, I'm hoping that you all are seeing through this scam as it is, quite frankly, not really all that sophisticated. His pals, all in on it from the start, simply have to smuggle him in food and drink at night. During the day, he can doze under the tree, or who knows, maybe do some actual meditating.
All he has to do is keep that up until they reach some preset amount of money they decided on in advance and then end the charade with the boy claiming that he has failed to reach Nirvana but will try again.
Clever, but not terribly complex of a scheme.
Unless, that is, the 16-year old boy disappears, which is exactly what has happened. The authorities took seriously the worry of his parents and have scoured the forest around his tree but have come up with no answers as of yet. Also missing? Lots of the money.
The problem with confidence men should be obvious to his friends now: When playing with fire, don't be surprised when it burns you. A scam-artist will have no compunctions about scamming even his friends.
This 16-year old lad has convinced a large number of people that he is the reincarnation of the Lord Gautama Buddha, and that he has achieved the blessed state of Nirvana. How has he managed to convince a large part of his country of this claim? By meditating.
He sat underneath a tree, meditating for a solid 10 months without getting up from his spot. Through rain and shine, cold and heat, he has been in a meditative trance for the better part of the year. His closestfollowers (who are also his friends from before his meditation) claim that he has been underneath the tree without food or water for all that time, but adamently refused to let scientists observe him to determine whether he was getting up in the night to eat and drink. In fact, the boy's followers erected barriers to prevent him from being observed during the night.
Thousands of pilgrims came to visit him and meditate nearby, and many donated what money they could spare to his followers, who by many reports have amassed a small fortune from the donations.
Now, I'm hoping that you all are seeing through this scam as it is, quite frankly, not really all that sophisticated. His pals, all in on it from the start, simply have to smuggle him in food and drink at night. During the day, he can doze under the tree, or who knows, maybe do some actual meditating.
All he has to do is keep that up until they reach some preset amount of money they decided on in advance and then end the charade with the boy claiming that he has failed to reach Nirvana but will try again.
Clever, but not terribly complex of a scheme.
Unless, that is, the 16-year old boy disappears, which is exactly what has happened. The authorities took seriously the worry of his parents and have scoured the forest around his tree but have come up with no answers as of yet. Also missing? Lots of the money.
The problem with confidence men should be obvious to his friends now: When playing with fire, don't be surprised when it burns you. A scam-artist will have no compunctions about scamming even his friends.
posted by The Academian | 9:32 PM
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