« The Law of the Sea Treaty | Main | Why don't cell phone companies price per minute? »
Markets in everything: pretend you're rich edition
Welcome to CustomReceipts.com. We print the finest fake ATM receipts available, with your custom information on them.
Tired of being used as a drink-dispenser? Maybe if you were rich you’d have more luck.
Ever wanted people to think you’re rich? Just casually let them see your massive bank balance on one of our fake ATM receipts, with your name right on it.
Trying to impress that hottie at the bar? Money talks. Hand out your number on the back of one of our fake ATM receipts. They’re a players dream come true.
Check out our fake ATM receipt packages, available as a One Year Supply or as a One Month Supply.
Here is the link, and thanks to Jared Hansen for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 3, 2007 at 05:25 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
This looks more like pretending you're stupid and rich to me.
That kind of money should be invested, not sitting in a checking account. Their sample is more than 7 times the limit for FDIC. These things are a signal that you're a lying bonehead.
Maybe the sort of woman that is of interest to the sort of man who would use this service is too dumb to know, though.
Posted by: MattJ at Nov 3, 2007 5:51:44 PM
Their sample is more than 7 times the limit for FDIC. These things are a signal that you're a lying bonehead.
Yes, but I've known people who've received large payment checks above the FDIC limits who have put it in their checking accounts until they could transfer it. Granted, it usually was transferred in the matter of days ... but I guess they'd have ATM receipts like this.
Posted by: gs at Nov 3, 2007 6:02:38 PM
Makes no sense to me - by the time you've given out your number, you've already closed the deal. Maybe there's a few percent of marginal cases between "don't want your number," and "let's fuck soon," but it's not a client base that's worth wasting much time on.
Wearing $3k in clothes and spending $200+ on food and drink is a signal that is hard to imitate for long. It's much easier to claim to be a CIA assassin or misunderstood artist or something.
Posted by: gorobei at Nov 3, 2007 6:04:28 PM
MattJ -
The example given on the site certainly is ridiculous, but one of these fake receipts showing a balance of, say, $15,000 might be more effective.
Posted by: Peter at Nov 3, 2007 6:04:43 PM
Once the deception is discovered, will the
relationship fall apart or will the person
have effectively hooked the bait--he's gotten
her interested in him beyond his wealth. Perhaps
she has seen he has more to offer that makes up for
little wealth.
Does the demand for such a product suggest that one
can't demonstrate other perhaps compensating
qualities to a girl in a club that would
sufficiently hook them?
"I can't say I have a large savings and a job that
pays well, but I'm a good dancer, hence able
bodied, and I'm witty which signals intelligence.
And I'm persistant, trying to get you to give me
your number. These qualities show that I would
probably have some ability to generate income--
if not that I posess income at the moment."
Maybe the ATM receipt acts to separate you from
all the other witty, dogged, able-bodied guys in
the club...until they get those receipts too. I
guess if this situation is the case, the ATM slip
would be a means of getting a girl who normally
would be out of your league. Or maybe you just
want to pick up the same girls you normally do
and don't want to do all the work of being witty,
a good dancer, or whatever else you see as means of
conveying similar information.
Posted by: Mike Kenny at Nov 3, 2007 6:18:43 PM
This strategy relies on the girl not having a cell phone (I assume she would simply put the number in her phone if she had one) and you not having a cell phone (so you couldn't put her home phone in your cell). Then, you have to explain why you have $700,000+ in your checking account (wtf?) and don't own a cell phone.
Posted by: Drew at Nov 3, 2007 6:39:45 PM
MMike: the goal is to get the
girl into bed. Only a fool
looks for a relationship with
a golddigger.
Drew: "Sorry, my phone is out of batteries right now."
ike: the goal is to get the girl into bed. Only a fool looks for a relationship with a golddigger.
Posted by: playa at Nov 3, 2007 7:04:31 PM
Playa, there's a strong case to be made that most
if not all women are interested in income. The
idea is that men who make money can take care
of them and their children more than a man without
means.
I agree it's probably not a good move to get
involved with a gold digger, but getting involved
with a woman who is concerned about your
productiveness and ability to support her and
her children isn't unreasonable, and that
selectiveness on the female's part probably would
get her genes passed on more readily than a woman
who isn't concerned about her mate's (or mates')
ability(ies) to support her.
Posted by: Mike Kenny at Nov 3, 2007 7:15:35 PM
Peter-
Maybe you're right. The question arises, then: Given a couple of days, I can make a real ATM receipt with a number bigger than what you propose, and so can a lot of other guys.
Does anyone here think such a thing could land me a more desirable woman than I can get otherwise?
Doesn't this depend on whether I desire an easily-impressed bit of fluff who knows nothing more about money than "Oooh... shiny!" over an intelligent woman who would rather look for a fellow who knows that checking accounts are not the place to store >$15k. (Or at least, not unless it's the checking account you run your business with or something)
Posted by: MattJ at Nov 3, 2007 7:40:59 PM
Won't work--All bimbos read MR!
Posted by: Daniel Klein at Nov 3, 2007 10:40:25 PM
So I think the argument that no one who was smart and rational enough to make a ton of money would leave this much in their bank account is dead wrong.
Assuming you have a reputable bank the risk you are taking on loss of FDIC insurance is minimal compared to what you are losing in interest. So suppose you lose out on about 6% interest by keeping your money in the checking account rather than investing it. That means each month you (roughly) lose 5000 dollars. But on the other hand if you didn't keep a million bucks in our checking account every time you wanted to buy a new house, yacht, super fancy vacation, make a big gift or spend huge amounts of cash you would need to fuck with transferring money. Sure you probably have an account manager to do this for you but you still need to spend time remembering to tell them. For the very rich (Bill Gates) a more reasonable ($100k) bank account might mean they have to do this once every couple of months with say a total cost in effort to them of 30minutes. But so long as they value their time at more than $20k an hour (36.8 million/year at 40hrs/week and 11.5 months per year) this means it isn't rational for them not to stock their bank account with a new million or so every month. Of course if you consider the sub-logarithmic relation of wealth to utility it would mean ppl earning a lot less might be justified in doing this as well.
Or to put the point differently if you earn $36k a year you might very well keep $1000 in your checking account so if you earn $36 million why not keep a million in their? If you are this crazy rich fretting about a million here or there just doesn't make sense.
---
Of course as a practical matter it's a lot harder to fake being insanely wealthy than it is to fake being just well off. I mean what do you say when you bring the girl back to your normal apartment? Or you don't have the penthouse suite at the hotel?
However, just because it wouldn't make sense for people to fall for it doesn't mean it wouldn't work on plenty of dumb (or just inattentive) girls. I mean just getting a girl to actually evaluate you instead of blowing you off without consideration is going to make a big difference. The story doesn't have to be that she is a total golddigger, just that she sees the bank account goes and is inclined to see everything you say in a slightly better light and after the good impression is made you are still better off if you tell her it was a fake than if you never made it at all.
Still, ultimately it strikes me as being totally and completely not worth it.
Posted by: logicnazi at Nov 4, 2007 4:58:32 AM
A newly hired's fake partially filled out 1040 with a wildly inflated salary on the desk is always good for enraging the older engineers in the office.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at Nov 4, 2007 5:32:59 AM
logicnazi,
Publicity photos of lottery winners holding giant decorative cardboard checks notwithstanding, you'd only use checks for smaller amounts (the price of a used car, perhaps), if at all.
Maybe businesss issuing a high volume of checks need to maintain a higher balance, but for a private individual, having more than very low five figures in a checking account doesn't make any sense.
As a practical matter, you'd use a high-limit credit card (or several) to fund shopping sprees. Large single items often involve legal contracts and could involve a wire transfer from your lawyer's escrow account (buying a residence, for instance). A large payment to the taxman can be handled by your bank straight out of your account, you wouldn't actually mail a check.
As for the truly wealthy, well, they have flunkies who handle the banalities of payment.
Posted by: at Nov 4, 2007 9:23:58 AM
The story doesn't have to be that she is a total golddigger, just that she sees the bank account goes and is inclined to see everything you say in a slightly better light and after the good impression is made you are still better off if you tell her it was a fake than if you never made it at all.
You may be right. See Robert Cialdini's classic Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, particularly the chapter on "Commitment and Consistency". Once a person makes a decision, they tend to resist changing their mind even if the original reason for making the decision is taken away. Used car dealers were notorious for using this technique.
Paraphrasing from Cialdini:
Suppose I offer you $100 to spend five minutes tomorrow filling out a survey, and you agree. Later, I sheepishly phone you and explain that my research funds were cut, so I can't pay you after all, and by the way, the survey will take two hours to fill out and it's rescheduled for Sunday morning at 7:30. Some people will back out at this point, but you'll still get far more going through with it than if you'd been honest and upfront to begin with.
Posted by: at Nov 4, 2007 9:36:55 AM
I've always suspected that there's a good market for receipts - I'm just surprised that I haven't seen a business built around my recycled receipt idea as yet!
Posted by: Ironman at Nov 4, 2007 10:06:57 AM
I agree with prof. Klein.
Posted by: Yan Li at Nov 4, 2007 7:24:21 PM
Makes no sense to me - by the time you've given out your number, you've already closed the deal.
Not necessarily. Women are quite well known for handing out fake numbers for example.
But this is all moot anyway: no woman, especially one swayed by big numbers, will be taking a guy's number. She'll expect him to ask for hers and MAYBE she'll give him the real one.
Posted by: BB2 at Nov 4, 2007 9:14:55 PM
Hi everyone. I'm the owner of customreceipts.com.
I'm following the discussion here and have to say thanks for finding my site/product of interest and linking to it from MR.
It's interesting most of you assume these products are intended for use by men in picking up women. A careful reader will note I've never mentioned gender in any of the examples. Our customer base is distributed 80% male, 20% female. If you have any tips for increasing the sales to the ladies, I'm all ears.
I have to agree with many of your comments re the 3rd party realizing you're not rich. It's bound to happen, especially if you drive home in a '79 pinto. This product is not at the foundation of a good relationship.. But it might get you laid. They seem to work as we hear a lot of success stories, including some from the ladies.
They can be fun in a practical joke etc too, it's not all about sex. Have you seen our embarrassing receipts?
Anyhow, a lot of people ask how I came up with this, and why. Long story short - I saw a thermal ATM printer unit on ebay and it was cheap. I'm a geek and knew I must have it. Then I decided to open a web site, and allow anyone to print anything. This didn't work out, all I had were requests for receipts which were likely to be used for insurance fraud, fake returns, etc (which I did not print of course). Since that fell through, I came up with fake atm receipts and embarrassing receipts. I'm open to suggestions for new products, just contact me through the site.
Thanks again for the link/discussion,
John
Posted by: john at Nov 4, 2007 9:37:56 PM
Of course as a practical matter it's a lot harder to fake being insanely wealthy than it is to fake being just well off. I mean what do you say when you bring the girl back to your normal apartment? Or you don't have the penthouse suite at the hotel?
Her: Why do you have $1,250,000 in your checking account?
Me: I know this is going to sound weird, but I answered one of those emails from Nigeria...
Posted by: 8 at Nov 5, 2007 3:10:53 PM
Also, I don't really care how much money a potential mate has. I care how much of it she's willing to give to ME.
Posted by: Andrew at Nov 7, 2007 11:24:43 AM
CustomReceipts.com is the proof that any market can exist in America. With access to the Internet, anything is possible. This is a sad realization what guys would do to try to get that one date with the hot girl at the bar. Let me just flash my fake ATM receipt with my monstrous bank balance on it and pass it around like business cards to random hotties. Who in their right mind keeps a copy of their bank account in bird’s eye view for people to view?
First of all as a female, I would be very suspicious if a guy ever flashed around his ATM receipt. From previous experience, most guys who “brag” about money never have any. Gold diggers would eat this up, but most females are not at the bar for prince charming, we are looking for a good time. Also, with modern technology of cell phones, why would a guy ever give out his phone number on a piece of paper? If so, why his ATM receipt that is screaming out “LOSER”.
Good try, but this market is not for me. It does make me more aware of how far people will go to impress others. What happened to impress people for all the right reasons? It will lead to more success, I promise.
Posted by: Conley6267 at Nov 20, 2007 1:37:47 PM
Posted by: 鑽石 at Apr 2, 2008 11:08:06 PM
Posted by: Alii at Apr 3, 2008 9:56:43 PM
^^ nice blog!! ^@^
徵信, 徵信網, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 感情挽回, 婚姻挽回, 挽回婚姻, 挽回感情, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信, 捉姦, 徵信公司, 通姦, 通姦罪, 抓姦, 抓猴, 捉猴, 捉姦, 監聽, 調查跟蹤, 反跟蹤, 外遇問題, 徵信, 捉姦, 女人徵信, 女子徵信, 外遇問題, 女子徵信, 徵信社, 外遇, 徵信公司, 徵信網, 外遇蒐證, 抓姦, 抓猴, 捉猴, 調查跟蹤, 反跟蹤, 感情挽回, 挽回感情, 婚姻挽回, 挽回婚姻, 外遇沖開, 抓姦, 女子徵信, 外遇蒐證, 外遇, 通姦, 通姦罪, 贍養費, 徵信, 徵信社, 抓姦, 徵信, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信公司, 女人徵信, 外遇
徵信, 徵信網, 徵信社, 徵信網, 外遇, 徵信, 徵信社, 抓姦, 徵信, 女人徵信, 徵信社, 女人徵信社, 外遇, 抓姦, 徵信公司, 徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信社, 女人徵信社, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 女子徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社, 徵信, 徵信社,
Posted by: dc at Mar 17, 2009 4:13:49 AM
花蓮,旅遊租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花東旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,租車,花蓮旅行社,花蓮旅遊景點,花蓮旅遊行程,花蓮旅遊地圖,花蓮一日遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車旅遊網,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花東旅遊景點,租車,花蓮旅遊,花東旅遊行程,花東旅遊地圖,花蓮租車公司,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊租車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮賞鯨,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊,租車,花蓮租車,花蓮租車 ,花蓮 租車,花蓮,花蓮旅遊網,花蓮租車網,花蓮,租車,花東 旅遊,花蓮 租車,花蓮,旅遊,租車公司,花蓮,花蓮旅遊,花東旅遊,花蓮地圖,包車,花蓮,旅遊租車,花蓮 租車,租車,花蓮租車資訊網,花蓮旅遊,租車,花東,花東地圖,租車公司,租車網,花蓮租車旅遊,租車,花蓮,賞鯨,花蓮旅遊租車,花東旅遊,租車網,花蓮海洋公園,租車 ,花蓮 租車,花蓮,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車公司,租車花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車網,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅行社,花東旅遊,花蓮包車,租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮一日遊,租車服務,花蓮租車公司,花蓮包車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車網,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮租車,租車網,花蓮租車公司,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,租車,租車服務,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮賞鯨,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車網,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,租車花蓮,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,租車花蓮,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮包車,花蓮租車網,租車公司,花蓮租車,花蓮租車公司,花蓮一日遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊租車,花蓮租車網,花蓮租車,花蓮一日遊,租車花蓮,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊租車,花蓮租車,花蓮租車旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮包車,花蓮溯溪,花蓮泛舟,花蓮溯溪,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,租車公司,花蓮旅遊租車,花蓮租車,租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花東旅遊,花蓮賞鯨,花蓮旅遊,花蓮泛舟,花蓮賞鯨,花蓮溯溪,花蓮泛舟,花蓮泛舟,花蓮溯溪,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花東旅遊,花蓮,花東,花蓮旅遊,花東旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮,花東,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花東旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮,花東旅遊萬事通,花蓮旅遊,租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮包車,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮太魯閣,花蓮包車,花東旅遊,花蓮旅遊行程,花蓮旅遊,花蓮 租車,花蓮租車,花蓮租車旅遊,花蓮旅遊租車,租車,花蓮旅遊推薦,花蓮旅遊包車,花蓮租車,花蓮,花蓮租車,花蓮地圖,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊資訊網,花蓮旅遊景點,賞鯨,花蓮旅遊行程,花蓮旅遊,花蓮旅遊租車,花東旅遊景點,花東旅遊行程,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,租車,花東旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮,旅遊達人,旅遊達人blog,花蓮租車旅遊資訊網,花蓮,租車,花蓮,花東旅遊,地圖,租車,賞鯨泛舟溯溪,租車,[ 芝麻店家 ] 花蓮租車旅遊資訊網,花蓮租車-行易花蓮旅遊租車資訊網 ,旅遊網,旅遊景點,花蓮行程,花蓮,花東,旅遊租車,旅遊,花蓮,租車,花東旅遊,花蓮租車旅遊,行易旅遊民宿資訊網,花蓮,旅遊,花蓮,一日遊,花蓮好玩的地方,花蓮,,一日遊,花東,租車,旅遊,花蓮旅遊,花東旅遊,花蓮租車,花蓮租車,花蓮旅遊-花東旅遊萬事通
Posted by: 花蓮溯溪 at Jun 4, 2009 10:03:57 AM
