Lost Cell Phone Scam Might Lead to....You arrive in Costa Rica and are so delighted that your $800 Blackberry works perfectly and you only pay $2 or $3 a minute for international roaming.Not long after you check in to your hotel you meet a nice woman... a student at the university too! After a couple days you notice your Blackberry is missing! You've been careful not to lose it or let someone pick your pocket. But the phone is no where to be found! Your friend suggests that you call your phone, just in case you lost it and someone found it. What do you know! Someone answers your phone and says they found it! Your excited now because you won't lose the $800 phone or more importantly, all the information stored on it! The person that found your phone says they want a small finders fee. You think that's great $5 or $10.... now your in for the big surprise. You'll be lucky if the finders fee is anything less than half the value of the phone or more! You'll also be lucky if you aren't jerked around for days or weeks before you get your phone back. Now you would have been very smart to have picked up a cheap $20 phone with a line when you got to Costa Rica... no data to worry about and a throw away price! There are infinite variations of the above. Now your friend has discovered what a big sucker you are... so its time to move ahead. She tells you about a family gathering at some friends house and wants to borrow your camera. Being the generous type you give her your camera for the day and she is so excited she'll be able to bring back photos for you. When you see her the next day, her demeanor is not so good. She is crying and has a bit story about how she broke a vase or spilled red wine on a white carpet and the host of the part kept your camera as security. The host probably kept her cell phone too. Now, the damages not surprisingly are almost the same as the value of your camera! Your friend doesn't have that kind of money but promises if you loan it to her she'll get a job and pay you back. You'd probably be wise to chalk that camera up to your stupidity rather than buy it back. The cycle can really go on for ever.... or until you run out of money and/or gadgets. | 
