To think many fell for the Captain Tom scam

[Binjob118]

I never understood all the fuss about Captain Tom. A rich old man walked around his garden and was lauded as a hero. Family then go on freebie holiday to Barbados whilst rest of us were locked down for Christmas. Then it turns out he was part of family scam to pay the family from book proceeds. No wonder so many people in this country are targeted by scammers, we are a gullible lot.

It was on channel 5 at 9pm last night, called Where Did the Money Go? I turned it off in the end because it was bloody annoying. 😆

I'm so interested in what made you different? How come some people thought like you but the vast majority didn't?

I did too but I felt so bloody alone. No one else I knew thought like me. I knew all my thinking was based on logic but I started thinking maybe I'm the crazy one?

It was an awful time.

I'd like to think he wasn't in on it and just genuinely wanted to help the cause. He was very old so hardly likely to benefit from the success. What his family did after is awful.

Agree the clapping was stupid can't believe we did it.

Completely agree about this mawkishness. I didn't bang any pots (and really felt for my shift-worker neighbour being woken up by the pot-bangers) or an shrewd old man wandering round his garden. Thought it was tosh then, and still do now.

I've not seen the documentary - did any money go to the NHS?

I don't know. I was brought up to question things. To be naturally skeptical of big claims.

I looked up the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and I also found details of what the vaccine trial protocols were actually testing. Covid was obviously not as deadly as was being claimed, and the Diamond Princess was the perfect illustration of this. As for the vaccine trials, they were clearly not intended to prevent transmission, so I wondered why everyone up to the US President was claiming that they would. It seemed like people were lying.

I also felt extremely alone. Only my partner and one parent felt the same was as I did. Well, I had a long-distance friend who did too, but I actually couldn't cope with his opinions too. I was wary that he was going too far the other way, and I didn't want to go down some weird rabbit hole.

The same naive people who believed this also believed all other lies about Covid. The only difference is that this scam made an individual family money, while the Covid gravy train made corrupt governments and their cronies a lot of money.

Remember, how anyone who questioned anything at the time was called a conspiracy theorist. Most people must be feeling very stupid now to fall for all of it.

It was very uncomfortable watching, I am sure most fund raising events are all run above board however this may make some people connected to charities review how their charity is managed,

Speak for yourself. Rational people thought no such thing.

It felt eggy at the time to me.
What channel is the documentary on?

No need to be so scathing. That's a pretty unpleasant attitude

@Zanatdy no nothing wrong with coming up with a genius marketing ploy to start using a title you haven't been referred to as in decades to conjure up a certain image that allows you to manipulate a patriotic middle England at a time of unprecedented despair to raise huge amounts of money so you can cream off hundreds of thousands of pounds to line your own pockets and extend your million pound pile with a pool and spa, and enjoy national treasure/celebrity status and all that goes with it for essentially nothing extraordinary at all.

When you put it like that you are right, nothing wrong there.

It may be unpleasant but It’s true now and it was true then.

@tpxqi sorry no, you're just using your opinions as an excuse to be unpleasant.

Nothing to do with being kind, I just can't bear people pretending to share 'their truth' when it's just barely disguised vitriol. You're perfectly entitled to share your opinion, but sneering and scathing and pretending you're superior to others who think differently is just unnecessary

I doubt the the whole Captain Tom thing started as a scam. However, when they saw how much money was rolling in I'm sure they then thought that it was an opportunity to make a little for themselves. I'm pretty sure Captain Tom was happy for his family to benefit a little from this unexpected opportunity and told them to do so.

You can’t bear it? And?

He was forced to enlist (conscripted). He was an officer and in India, he was setting up and running a training programme for army motorcyclists. Hardly front line at D Day. Some time in Burma but it was all training for armoured vehicles.

After that he left at 26 and worked for the family business then was a salesman.

Cashing in on his titles and wearing his medals for that. He and his daughter were so in on it.

I said at the time there was something off about his daughter, she seemed to be enjoying the lime light a bit too much and the whole thing felt suspicious to me.

I was told I was a miserable cow. But a correct miserable cow it seems!

I feel like this too. This site was a mess to show how much people lost their minds

His privilege was clear. Top of the range walker, not NHS issue for sure, large house and garden. Nobody would have clapped or donated to a chap walking around his housing association bungalow with his zimmer frame
They had the connections to get the publicity. It blows my mind what people don't are to. Sadly its often those who need the money more

I agree . I couldn’t understand the hype & hysteria around a very wealthy elderly man walking up and down his garden . Many elderly people take a daily walk around their gardens for exercise - my 92 yo aunt who has recently had her hips replaced for example .
However I’m all for raising money for charity so to an extent was onboard too
I certainly didn’t understand the awards , adoration and hero status that he received and started to have my suspicions when his daughter seemed so keen on the tv appearances and interviews .
What (he?) & his family did was deplorable. No doubt many people with far less wealth & privilege gave hard earned cash to fund their lavish lifestyle.
I think the whole country was duped