Decades-Old Tradition Of Swamp Peddling Still Thrives Online

from the PT-Barnum-would-be-proud dept

Who says that technology stamps out traditions? It seems to be giving new life to some traditional scams - such as selling worthless swampland in Florida. A new generation of swampland scammers are buying back land (for pennies on the dollar) that was sold to duped individuals decades ago, and reselling it on eBay for ridiculously high prices again. Owners of the land who were tricked many years ago still "own" the worthless swampland, and are all too thrilled to get it off their hands for a few hundred dollars. While the scams from years past involved high pressure phone salesmen (see: Glengarry Glen Ross), today the scammers simply post their "property" to eBay and let the suckers come to them. For their part, the land sellers insist it's no scam, and that these plots of land are a "good investment" even though the land is often under water or is unlikely to ever be developed.

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