caveat emptor or caveat venditor?
You can trace the origins of Caveat Emptor back to Roman times.
. “Let the buyer beware” is the English translation of this latin phrase and although it is primarily used as a legal real estate term these days it still has a meaning that reads loud and clear in most circumstances. Oddly enough you won’t hear its opposite, Caveat Venditor. And you guessed it, that’s the warning for the seller.
Mostly, the underlying sentiment is that what you are buying is an “as is” sort of deal. No expectations other than “what you see is what you get”.
euphemisms anyone?
It is amazing once you get started how many of these sayings that you can come up with over time. And time is important to understand the history. As mentioned above, Caveat Emptor originated with the Romans and then became a documented legal term in the 1600’s. The thought being that it is up to you the buyer to do ‘your due diligence’ forget common decency or (gasp!) honest trade.
bringing it home
All of these warnings are for the buyer of course. The premise being that only the buyer need fear. Ah but alas! We live in an age where there is an all new way of taking advantage. So lets not let the buyers have all the fun. Let’s talk about the sellers.
Caveat Venditor! Yes, they too can now be victims. This was never more apparent than the other week when I innocently decided to place a bedroom suit onto the Facebook marketplace. I had no more finished the descriptions and hit submit when my private messenger lit up! Well, I have to admit although stunned I was excited. I knew that I had priced my items competitively but seriously, how could there be someone that loved this cherry sleigh bed as I?
But wait! Now there wasn’t just one person but 3 vying for my items. (One at a time please.) I began conversing with the first “gentleman” (and I will use that term loosely). After some back and forth, he wanting all items (sight unseen) and willing to come the next day to pick them up, pay ahead of time…I was like, hold it! Slow down… and then finally he finishes with wanting my phone number to stay in touch.
“there’s a sucker born every minute”
Even the circus had a racket! Well P.T. Barnum was quoted as saying, “there’s a sucker born every minute” but let me tell you, I wasn’t one of them. 
This little conversation just set every alarm I had ringing. Thanks but no thanks. I marked it all as sold and decided to regroup. I still need to sell my items but am going to approach it a wee bit differently. But it got me thinking.
rennie’s two cents worth
I was chatting with Rennie during all of this and of course he starts sending me links to all of the Facebook scams out there. (I keep trying to tell him that I just may be smarter than the average bear.) 
But that aside the article was a good place to get my “what if” juices going. The current scam du jour is around Zelle. You would think that anything to do with depositing money directly with your bank would be ok. The article went into detail about how it was being perpetrated. And I’m thinking to myself, who is that dumb to fall for some of this stuff? https://www.zellepay.com/safety-education/video-how-avoid-online-marketplace-scam
think again
O.K. I mentally smacked my hand for the uncharitable thought. You see there are still people out there that believe in the overall good. Naivete’ still exists. I am betting that you know someone. You may be that someone. I’m not really sure what has happened to us. Other than it has always been there. The easy way out. For the thieves that is. And now with technology it is even easier to breach those bank accounts, the credit and debit cards. There are expert hackers that can make your passwords look like child’s play.
the best defense
Is a good offense. I want you to get offended. And be proactive. Don’t let them make you a victim. But first, use your common sense. We all have some. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. And if it is still on the up and up, well it will still be there after a little checks and balances.
Speaking of passwords, don’t write them down! Mix them up a bit. If you have trouble remembering them then there is an APP for that. Check out Password Keeper. You access it with one password that is hopefully only known to you. Don’t offer personal information unless you know who is receiving it. NEVER- give your full social security # over the phone. Same thing with bank accounts. Most legit organizations will set up a security authenticator without using this info.
a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Scammers have taken falsehoods to a whole new level. It isn’t just a blatant attempt at getting your banking info. It is the play on the heart strings, lets find your weaknesses, the “you never saw it coming”. All of this innocently presented in the form of a dare. For you Facebook fans, how many times have you clicked on a picture where the caption reads, “they said I couldn’t get 2000 likes”- you got scammed! Or when you see that there is only 1 more left on TV or a vendor ad and if you call this number in the next 15 minutes then you will be the proud new owner of…-you got scammed! It doesn’t always have to do with money on the forefront. It can start as innocently as asking for attention. From there it mushrooms until you wonder how and when it all got started.
be aware
Caveat Emptor or Caveat Venditor. Let the buyer beware, the seller and you the average consumer. Let’s face it. It’s the only world we’ve got. We have to live in it but we can be a little more aware of what to ‘beware’. And THAT my sassy readers is my public service announcement for the week. (and just for those who might wonder, I plan on asking for cash only for the furniture. Fool me once..)
Sassaleeyours…