Anyone else? Scam or Not?

Thu Jan 15 12:26:37 AKST 2004

Larry, I bet the guy you built a boat for was glad to have it and probably had a ball. What would you have thought if he said "I don't like the little boat you built me, I'm used to the turbine powered Miss Budwiser boat and that is all I want to run". We have a 14 year old kid at my field that crashed his durabat (real real hard) and between the experienced flyers we had him back in the air in a week with a donated trainer, servos, and an extra OS 40 FP that I had lying around. To me that makes sense. I know poor people and people who have suffered tragedy, they usually despense with the pride and are grateful for whatever they get. It sounds highly unlikely that they would be so bold as to request, even humbly, a giant scale IMAC style performance airplane with all the fixins. Again, there is a chance it is legit and Jason will ultimately decide how he wants to handle it, but it still reeks of scam. I believe in introducing as many people as I can to the hobby, and I have taken
 scores of poor kids from my neighborhood out flying and will continue to do so. Unfortunately there is an element in our society that seeks to profit from personal and nationwide tragedy. Just look at the 9-11 after math, they came out of the woodwork.

Larry Diamond <jed241 at msn.com> wrote:Jason,

I've read the reply's so far on the list, but here's my two cents:

It's either a scam or it's real. You are a celebrity in the RC world and suspect that folks like you get a number of this type request in one form or another.

A couple of things you can do if you so desire:

1) Contact the AMA and try to verify the identity of such a person. If he exist, you can contact him directly or have a friend in the area verify his story. If it's founded you have a couple of options;
    A) Ignore it and go on. (If this is what you would do, it might be best to not respond at all).
    B) Try to help this individual through your sponsors.

2) If you can't verify his story, it's a scam. Since it's through the Internet, I would be willing to bet it's unlawful solicitation and should be turned over to authorities.

None-the-less I would not try to help him with personal resources.

I get allot of scam messages at work. Allot of people have my work e-mail address. As a marketing tool, I suspect some company's sell the contact information. Like it was mentioned in previous post, it's mostly about someone from Africa wanting money to get them out of poverty.

The reason I'm offering this opinion is that I was confronted years ago at a local field in person in the mid-80's. He was struck with MS the year before and was in a wheel chair. I decided to build an RC boat for him because it was beyond his physical ability. We became good friends.

I'm virtually an unknown to most on this discussion group and in RC. I thought your e-mail was worth responding to with a positive tone. A surprise to most is that I have a soft side for this kind of stuff. Again, the risk is it's a scam. However, if it isn't this guy has selected you for assistance.

Let your conscience be your guide.

Larry Diamond
NSRCA 3083
AMA 5024
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jason 
To: IMAC ; NSRCA 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 12:16 AM
Subject: Anyone else?

Hi all,

Has anyone else received an e-mail like this? Just curious since this is the 2nd time I've gotten it (work). Obviously he was asking for something different in the 2 e-mails.

Jason

Subject: Please read and see that it reaches the right person,, Thanks a lot

Hello to whom it may concern

My name is Randy Winnett, and if you would be so kind in giving me a few 
minutes of your time I’ll try to make this as quickly as possible and but 
please understand this is not a sympathy letter. On March 28 1999 I was leaving work at a recording studio here in Nashville, TN (I was a session drummer) when a man came up to my car and pointing a 45 cal handgun in my face demanding my car, money and everything in my pockets, well as I was trying to calm him down by saying you can have anything you want just please don’t shot,  the man told him that "you scene my face" and shot me 5 times and then took off in my car, you may have heard about the Music Row shooting in Nashville, TN.  Well that happened in March of 99 and I was able to come home from Vanderbilt Hospital in March of this year and Thank God I made it, but for the last 2 ½ years I went through was complete hell on me and to save time after 23 surgeries and 1 year of learning how to walk and talk again and having a body full of scares everything seems to be ok for now, My right leg from the waste down is paralyzed and I have to wear a brace but I can live with that, Now
 I know your thinking why are you telling me this well the reason is I have been flying RC planes since I was a child, and every since I got out in March Iv been flying everyday, but just when I thought that all the bad in my life was gone someone stole my H9 Sukhoi 33% weeks ago at our local field, Well all the club members were so kind and pitched in and bought me some basic flight gear but I'm a long way from flying again But what I was wanted to ask and I know this is probably un heard of but all I can do is try and ask if it would be possible to donate to me one of your Extra 330L 2.3, I was trying to save up for awhile to buy a composite airplane but my finical situation is in a very bad position right now, You see the  problem is I had Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance and my medical expenses totaled over a million and a half dollars ,well my policy was only a million so they dropped him after I maxed out and I have so many bills that have to be paid now So I live on a very
 tight budget , So if you could please see about helping me with this it really would mean a lot to me.You have know idea how I hate asking for something like this it just seems to take every bit of dignity you have but if I don't ask and try then I would just simple have to wait until I can buy another one, But if this is something you just cant do, do you think you could arrange maybe away for me to get it at cost and maybe pay with two payments or something like that, but if not Thank you so much for just even reading this ,  and one more thing I know a story like this is probably hard to believe and I would probably be skeptical about it to, But I have over 2500 sheets of medical records and bill statements that exceed well over a million and a half dollars, my family also has taken photos from the beginning of all this to monitor my progress, so if you need anything like photos of me in the past two years just say so I will send what ever you need just ask. Thank you for listen
 and  could you see that this reaches the right person..

Take care

Randy Winnett

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