Every scam you can think of has been done thousands of years ago.
Recently, a shady brokerage firm had brokers call from the phone
book two thousand people. They told 1000 that a stock would go
up the rest that it would go down. Needless to say few bought
in.
When the stock went down they called back the thousand people
who had been told that it would go down and told 500 of them
that another stock would go up and the remainder that it would
go down.
At this point hundreds of suckers bought in and lost their shirts.
I do hope that these people did not learn their trade through
Torah study but the very same scam, and them some, is found the
Midrash Tanchuma on our perasha.
"Legs which run do to evil." (Mishle 6-19) this Pasuk
refers to Achav Ben Koliah and Tzidkiyah Ben Maasiyah who sinned
in Jerusalem. As if this was not enough, when they were banished
to Babelonia they got even worse.
They mediated for each other the vilest scams. Achav would go
to a governing official and he would say "I am the Great
Prophet Ploni. The Holy One Blessed be He has sent me to tell
your wife something." The official would say that she is
right in the next room go and speak to her. Achav would then tell
the lady that G-d has sent him to tell her that G-d wants her
to give birth to a prophet so you must go to fool around with
Tzidkiyah and then you will have children who are prophets. And
so Tzidkiyah would do for Achav.
This was their hobby for several years. See how bad these guys
were. They made a name for themselves that they were great prophets.
When a women was pregnant and she asked him; "Oh prophet
what gender is in my womb?" He would always say that the
child will be a son. [In order to cover his track like the above
brokers] he then went to the lady's neighbor and would say that
he was just being nice when he said that she would have boy and
in reality it will really be a girl. If it would be a boy then
she would say that Ploni the prophet foresaw it. If it was a girl
then the neighbor would tell her that she had really been informed
that it would be girl….
Purim Sameach