The Scam

Treasure Hunters. Don't get tripped up on this get rich quick scam. Take my real offer.

Treasure maps. That’s been my thing. I've always wanted to be a cartographer, even before I knew what that word was. Maps fascinated me.

Spanish gallons with Aztec gold sunk in unknown waters, pirate treasure cast off on tropical islands, it gets in your blood. Not just mine, there are dedicated groups out there financing get rich schemes, some honest, some for suckers. I’ve built a career as an honest broker.

My maps sell with the amount offered beforehand. Cheap maps reveal a few hints of pirate and Spanish ship trade routes, along with fragments of sailor journals floating away from shipwrecks to land in a buyer’s hands. More expensive maps get you more specifics. A few prized possessions that have to be torn from me are the real thing.

I’ve been set up and ripped off, attacked and thrown away half dead often enough to have set up certain conditions for a meeting. Birthday parties. So innocent and so public, kids and moms provide protection while dad’s gather around me in someone’s den and money exchanges hands for a map. It has been a formula that has worked like a charm for years.

Now, not so much. Why? Copycats. Success breeds those in any game. I knew it would eventually have to happen. So quickly, not so much

The rip off artists have ruined the ploy. I’ve got to change my game. You, if you are one of these guys, must know you will drown in your own water.. Scams, when they become known, become the bad joke, they are. Even die-hard gold enthusiasts shun their grasp.

Me? Out of the game. Doodling maps and attached information about where the best on and off-line garage sales are. The ones offering stolen goods or are they, who knows at a garage sale, for a reduced price that local law enforcement hasn’t broken up, yet. Yours for a price. You’d be surprised. There are groups making a living buying and selling this stuff on Ebay. It’s not a mom and pop operation any more. Email me if you want to know more. We can sponsor a garage sale party I'll map out for you.

My other advice? Never invite a cartographer to a birthday party.