A simple rule of thumb in gambling is to never risk more than you are willing to lose. I like casino gambling as long as I win, but I don’t mind losing because I’ve set a price for the experience.

It’s like buying a ticket to a movie. With the cost of transportation and/or parking, a drink and a snack – for two, if you’re so lucky – seeing a dumb comedy like “The Hangover” could easily run you $50. Theme parks, concerts, and sporting events will certainly take you into triple digits. But that’s the cost of the experience.

So if you get real clever and buy that hacked iPhone from a transient street vendor for only $100, tax-free, make sure you are willing to pay $100 for the gamble that the iPhone isn’t fake or broken or won’t work with your phone service. You can’t get your money back, and you sure can’t go to the cops. Buying that iPhone was a criminal act in itself, and you have no legal recourse if that pie in the sky is made of mud.

This applies to any deal that circumnavigates the normal, legal, and often expensive commercial route. If it’s a cash-only deal to avoid paying taxes, you’re breaking the law. If it’s a grey market (unauthorized) or black market (illegal) item, you’re breaking the law. If it’s through eBay, Craigslist, or any classified ad, you’re at least taking a risk that it’s illegal. If it involves a Western Union payment, you are stupid for even considering it.

Pirated software, illegal video copies, items with serial numbers removed, stolen goods, weapons that require permits, medicine and medical devices that require prescriptions, illegal drugs – you’re committing a crime if you buy any of it, and you can’t complain if you get cheated.

Word.

Scrud Kelley

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