New Scam Targeting Older Adults!

Avoid falling victim to the Qatari Jumbo Jet Con

There’s a sucker born every minute, but they aren’t usually President: image created in ChatGPT

As the FBI, the DOJ, the IRS, the AARP, and our grandchildren constantly warn us, scammers are everywhere. These bottom-feeding bandits, gleefully buying into ageist stereotypes, see elders as their ideal marks. 

As far as they’re concerned, we’re techno-phobic, credulous stooges with bad hearing and fat nest eggs. 

We’re ready for the cracking. 

Luckily, most of us are sharp enough to stay one step ahead of the swindlers. We’re too savvy to fall for the Nigerian prince ruse, the too-good-to-be-true investment appeal, or that heinous grandparent scam. 

We know better than to wire cash to an offshore account, or to offer up our credit card info or our Social Security number.

And yet, grift happens. 

The National Council on Aging reports that in 2023 alone, folks 60 and older lost over $3.4 billion worldwide to scammers. 

And those are only the losses we know about. Many victims, once they realize they’ve been fleeced, are reluctant to come forward. They feel ashamed, embarrassed, and they blame themselves. 

The crooks know this and are happy to use it to their advantage.

Just this year, a new and devious strategy has (pardon the pun) taken off: the Qatari Luxury Jumbo Jet scheme.

This one is especially pernicious, targeting wealthy, insecure older men with a weakness for over-the-top status symbols. Their public visibility makes them especially resistant to admitting or even understanding that they’ve been snookered.

Be warned if this profile fits you or someone you love or tolerate, possibly stand to inherit from, or whom you desperately hope doesn’t sell your nation for parts.

Forbes, in its May 14, 2025 article “Why the Qataris Are Happy To Dump Their 747 on Trump” reveals the how and why of this nefarious scheme.

See, back in 2012, Qatar’s prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani bought the Boeing 747–8 for $367 million. It was then customized in sumptuously cheesy style, a makeover that took three years and probably cost tens of millions more.

Not long after it was ready for service, the flying palace was already an albatross. For one thing, it’s wildly expensive to operate — according to Corporate Jet Investor, it costs $23,000 an hour to keep in the air. 

Its fuel efficiency lags well behind that of newer, more streamlined widebodies like the Boeing 787 and the Airbus 350.

Also, it costs a bundle to maintain, another reason the Qataris have been trying to sell the thing since 2020 without success. As the Forbes article points out:

The 2020 sales brochure noted that the plane was due for a landing gear overhaul in 2024 and a 12-year check in 2027. A check in which the airplane and engines are taken apart, typically carried out every six to 12 years, can take months to complete and cost millions of dollars.

No wonder Qatar is ready to give this flying money pit away, since they literally can’t sell it. 

And there’s another niggling issue pointed out in the article:

Beyond poor fuel efficiency, large ostentatious planes are a security risk, notes Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with Aerodynamic Advisory. “These things are big targets.”

Just like our Dealer-in-Chief.

But you can hardly blame him for being dazzled by such a gift, dangled in front of him with its intimate seating for 89, two bedrooms, entertainment rooms, and Parisian-designed cabinetry of sycamore and wakapou wood. 

Sadly, all that bling has to be torn out if Air Force Fun is to be brought up to the security and operational standards of Air Force One. It would need to be swept for bugs, reconfigured as an airborne command center with nuclear blast shielding, missile defenses, and encrypted communications systems. 

According to some sources, that could take around a billion dollars, paid for by American taxpayers.

Far more of a problem to #47’s way of thinking, it could also take five years.

I mean, the man is 78. He’s already foaming at the mouth with frustration that Boeing is still jiggering with the two Air Force One planes it started work on in 2018.

Unless, of course, security requirements were relaxed.

The Forbes article quotes Richard Aboulafia as saying, “I can’t imagine any well-trained senior Air Force officer saying this is a good idea.”

Has Mr. Aboulafia met Pete Hegseth?

As sad as this story is, it should serve as a cautionary tale for all of us who may be offered a gift that looks too good to be true.

As of this writing, our Chief Transactional Executive remains enraptured by the One Big Beautiful Boeing. “Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country,” he posted on his social-media platform Truth Social.

I can’t argue with that, Mr. President.