Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Get great gifts from strangers, for free!

By creating wedding registries similar to existing ones
  (+20)(+20)(+20)
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In this evil little scam, you enter a name or names and a city, and a software program will search the major online gift stores for people with similar names who are registered for weddings or other events.

Many guests, when buying gifts online, just want to get the process over quickly, and won't notice if they're on the wedding of Phundug J. Smith and Jutta Fishbone or Phundug Smith and Juta Fishbone, if both are in the same city and the list of gifts looks reasonable.

So, once the program has completed making copies of other people's registries in your name, you should start to receive your gifts in the mail.

Remember to send a cordial thank-you card to the senders (typed, of course), which is polite and doesn't reference anything specific.

Thank you.

phundug, May 15 2011

[link]






       Congrats, fundung and jooduh.   

       A thank you card for my gift would make me suspicious, since normally we don't get one.
Mustardface, May 15 2011
  

       I must admit [phun], this idea is deliciously evil.   

       I WILL have a new toaster.   

       Bun (toasted). [+]
Grogster, May 15 2011
  

       This is too ingenious not to bun.
MaxwellBuchanan, May 15 2011
  

       'grats bugwug and junta ! Here's the first of your subscription to "Great Fewmets of the Northwest" that you were raving about along with the free mounting case.
FlyingToaster, May 15 2011
  

       Mazel tov, to Jetta and Moondog. Many happy reruns. [+]
mouseposture, May 15 2011
  

       I feel like it's Christmas in May, Yay!
blissmiss, May 15 2011
  

       This idea is an unprincipled attack on the institution of marriage, and will promote the spread of suspicion, cynicism, bitterness and deceit.   

       [+]
8th of 7, May 15 2011
  

       Whilst I will bun your devious brain, what [Mustardface] said is right, as I have noticed that I did not receive Thank You cards from many of the young people I have given gifts to this year!! Is there a trend in rudeness?
xandram, May 16 2011
  

       Yes.
blissmiss, May 16 2011
  

       This is a known scam that some stores watch out for, if they're intelligent, which they're probably not.
RayfordSteele, May 17 2011
  

       but the address should be the red flag, won't people notice the address? and wouldn't the store notice the address is wrong? soooooooo many questions. I... just ...can't.. bun...helpme.
dentworth, May 18 2011
  

       Consider a version for Prince William Arthur Philip Lewis and Katherine Middleton. I think such a couple might be more likely to receive a gift of "fabulous jewels" if requested. Although I don't know the crowd this Smythe and Fyshbone couple run with - maybe they are the jewel-giving sort also?
bungston, May 18 2011
  

       I don't remember seeing the wedding couple's street address on registry sites before; just a city. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Anyway, I'm unlikely to know whether the address is correct or not.
phundug, May 18 2011
  

       [Phundug] You're not a Nigerian prince, by any chance, are you?
Alterother, May 20 2011
  

       It would be funnier if the store did twig to the scam and went ahead with the dispatch. So Phundug J. Smith gets a "designer rockery" in place of the expected "designer crockery" that was on the gift list for Phundug Smith and his betrothed.
infidel, May 20 2011
  

       Before long you're going to end up with enough linens, fancy desert dishes and subscriptions to Custard Making Quarterly and Bee Keepers Digest to slowly turn your cute scam into a lifelong obsession with building blanket-and-desert-dish magazine forts.   

       That or you'll be able to open up a restaurant with only the finest in cutlery and crockery. Maybe you could cater specifically for wedding receptions there.
froglet, May 22 2011
  
      
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