4 replies to this topic

[OctoberLily]

Hi Everyone,

I got an e-mail from a friend in Roseville and thought I should share with all the Folsom women in this forum. This incident happened in Auburn which is too close to home to ignore. Here is the e-mail that I received. Please copy and pass on to all your female and male friends to warn each other their spouse, grandmothers, mothers, sisters, etc. Women need to be informed about this crime.

"To all my female friends:

It was about 3 weeks ago, I was at the Shell in Auburn getting gas. It was about 11:30 p.m. I was approached by 2 men and 2 women in a car. The man that was driving asked me "What kind of perfume do you wear?" I was a bit confused and I asked him "Why?" He said "We are selling some name brand perfume, at cheap prices." I said I had no money. He then reached out of the car and handed me a paper that was laminated, it had many perfumes on it.

I looked quickly at it and gave it back. I said I have no money. He then
said it is OK, we take check, cash, or credit cards. Then the people in the car began to laugh. I just got in my car and said no thanks.

Then I received this e-mail yesterday, and it sent chills up my spine.

Please read this. It is not a joke. - Wendy McGee

Here is the e-mail that I was sent:"

Letter To Wendy:

"Dear Friends:

I know not all of you are women that I am sending this to, but I am hoping you will share this with your wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, etc. Our world seems to be getting crazier by the day. Pipe bombs in mailboxes and sickos in parking lots with perfume. Be careful!

I was approached yesterday afternoon around 3:30 pm in the Walmart
parking lot at University Drive (Des Moines), by two males, asking what kind of perfume I was wearing. Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were willing to sell me at a very reasonable rate. I probably would have agreed had I not received an email some weeks ago, warning of a "Wanna smell this neat perfume?"

scam.

The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, pointed at them, and told her about how I was sent a e-mail at work about someone walking up to you at the malls or in parking lots, and asking you to SNIFF PERFUME that they are selling at a cheap price.

THIS IS NOT PERFUME! IT IS ETHER! When you sniff it, you'll pass out.
After which they will take your wallet, your valuables, and heaven knows what else.

If it were not for this e-mail, I probably would have sniffed the "perfume." But thanks to the generosity of an emailing friend, I was spared whatever might have happened to me. I wanted to do the same for you.

PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO ALL YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS, AND PLEASE BE ALERT, AND AWARE!!

IF YOU ARE A MAN AND RECEIVE THIS PASS IT ON TO YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS!"

Reply to Letter:

"Ladies this happened to me yesterday and I didn't smell the perfume either, thanks to this email!

This is true! Believe me, I know! I was over by Big Lots in the parking lot at lunch time when I was approached. So either day or night, it does not matter.

There were 3 guys together when I was approached. I called the police when I got back to my desk. Like the email says above, LET EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS. YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, COWORKERS, who ever. It helped me.

The first thing that popped in my head was this email warning!"

[OctoberLily]

I thought more about this e-mail and did a little research on the web. Here is "one" of the many reports I found. I wanted to share this with you all so that you can use the information above as you wish. Believe it or think of it as another "urban legend" e-mail going around.

As for me, I will be a little bit more aware and careful when being approached by strangers with perfume or whatever it is they are trying to sell. Anyways, take the information and do with it as you wish.

************************************************************
The Knockout Perfume

Dateline: 05/24/00

By David Emery

One of the more alarming urban legends circulating by email just now holds that bands of thieves across the U.S. are using ether-spiked perfume samples to render victims unconscious before making off with their valuables. This is likely false. At any rate, there's a dearth of confirmed incidents to substantiate the scare stories, with the sole exception of the strange case of Bertha Johnson of Mobile, Alabama, who told police last November that she was robbed of $800 after sniffing a sample of cologne offered her by a stranger and passing out in her car. Toxicological tests revealed no unusual substances in the victim's blood, but at last report the case remains open in spite of the fact that police apparently have no evidence or leads to follow.

Though the details have metamorphosed over time, the legend showing up in inboxes today is directly descended from rumors based on early news reports about that very incident. The kernel of the story remains the same, but instead of cologne, the knock-out product is now perfume. Instead of an unknown, undetectable substance, the soporific agent is ether. Most interesting of all, the moral of the story is no longer simply, "Beware of parking lot scammers." It has also become, "If not for these email warnings, I might have been a victim too."

It's typical of rumors and urban legends to undergo changes as they pass from person to person, though admittedly – as folklorists are wont to complain – texts forwarded by email tend to vary less than orally transmitted stories. Variants crop up for a couple of reasons. For one, people tend to misremember and/or misreport the information they've heard (as anyone knows who's played the children's game called "Telephone"). For another, it's in the nature of storytelling and storytellers to "creatively enhance" certain details of a yarn (i.e., lie) to make it more scary, more funny or more believable, depending on the desired effect. The results of these processes can be seen in the evolution of "The Knock-Out Perfume." "

"Two Sniffs and You're Out

On November 8, 1999 the Mobile, Alabama police department issued a press release stating:
On Monday, November 8, 1999, at approximately 2:30 p.m. Officers from the Third Precinct responded to the World of Wicker, at 3055 Dauphin Street. When the Officers arrived the victim, 54-year-old Bertha Johnson of the 2400 block of St. Stephens Road, advised she was rendered unconscious after smelling an unknown substance. Johnson was approached by an unknown black female, who was described as follows: slim build, 120-130 pounds, 5 feet 7 inches tall and was last seen wearing a Leopard print wrap on her head and large gold loop earrings. The victim told Investigators the incident occurred at the Amsouth Bank at 2326 Saint Stephens Road. After the victim-regained consciousness she discovered her property missing from her purse and her vehicle. The MOBILE POLICE DEPARTMENT is advising the public to be on alert for this type of activity.
The local media jumped on the story. A Nov. 10, 1999 article in the Mobile Register quoted Johnson as saying her assailant offered her a $45 bottle of cologne for $8 and asked her to sniff a sample. She sniffed it once, detected nothing odd, then sniffed it again and lost consciousness. The next thing she knew, she was standing in another parking lot miles away, woozy and minus $800 in cash.

"I feel like I got flimflammed out of something that I should have known better than to even look out the window at her," Johnson told the Register.

Within days, the story of her parking lot misadventure was all over the Internet. "

[NRB]

Thank you for checking this email out! You would not believe how many urban myths there are being passed around the internet! As trusting as most humans are, we unknowingly help them spread! I have been guilty of this myself but now make a habit of visiting the website below before I pass on any email "warning" ! If you would like more information regarding this particular scam or any other you may have received please check out this site. For this particular topic click on crime and scroll down until you find the related link.Urban Legends Hopefully, we can spawn a new generation of internet users that inform themselves before they pass on bogus information to their friends and family!

[OctoberLily]

Thanks for the info.

You're absolutely right, I am too trusting with the e-mails I get from friends.

This last one just gave me the impression that I needed to research it a little more. I'm glad I did or I would have passed it along willingly to all my friends and family. I just tell them to be careful in the parking lots when shopping at the malls. You just never know. There are a lot of wierdos out there - even here in No. CA.

[jobu]

Here's a great website on urban legends - includes a lot of interesting tales we have all heard during the hysteria following 9/11 -

http://www.snopes.com