Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
The Internet has made life easier for many people—including scammers. They use email to try to trick gullible people into sending them money or revealing personal information like bank account numbers and email passwords.
With a good spam filter and a healthy amount of skepticism, most of us are able to avoid these scams. But an email from a stranger offering a chance to get rich quick can be pretty alluring. That’s why it’s important to remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Find out if Dale or Mason has ever been fooled by an email scam.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Dale: You know what bugs me more than anything in this world?
Mason: Um…bad drivers.
Dale: Close. It’s scammers off the Internet, trying to get you off email, Craigslist, or on some type of thing.
Mason: Mmm-hmm.
Dale: But the secondary part is the people that also fall for it.
Mason: Well that’s…You gotta wonder with the email scams, like how people end up falling for a lot of those.
Dale: I don’t get it. I see it on the news, and people are willing to give up thousands and thousands of dollars. And they’re young people. I could understand the older generation not understanding how email works, but I’m seeing these 20, 30, 40 year old people falling for it, and I just don’t get it.
Mason: I mean, all I can say is like, this is an art form that has been refined over a long time. You look at the Ponzi scheme method, which has been going on for years.
Dale: Gosh. For me, it’s starting to scare me a little bit. I don’t know, how do I look at it where I can be safe? What is your advice?
Mason: One, never be afraid to ask questions. If people can’t answer your questions then they’re probably trying to sucker for a sucker. And other than that, it’s just like, use your brain.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Dale hates getting tons of spam email from people trying to scam him over the Internet. He can’t understand how anyone could fall for one of those scams. It’s surprising to him that some young people are fooled by the scams, since younger people are usually more Internet-savvy than older people.
Mason says that scammers have existed for a long time. They’ve had years to refine their schemes. Mason thinks that if you get an email offering a chance to get rich quick, you should ask a lot of questions. Only a sucker would give a stranger money or personal information without asking him plenty of questions first.
Have you ever fallen for a scam? What do you think is the best way to avoid Internet scams?
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