Unfortunately, the record was unplayable. The slider of a working zipper on the cover had pressed into the vinyl – making the third track, "Wild Horses," skip. As a result, when Mick Jagger sang, "Wild horses couldn't drag me away," the record went no further. "Wild horses couldn't drag me away" played over and over again until I physically picked up the tonearm and moved the needle beyond the indentation in the vinyl.

I thought of this episode in my life when preparing today's article, because it may sound like a broken record. That's because the topic I'm writing about – passport scams – is not a new one for me. Indeed, I just did a Web search with my name on this topic and found that I've written at least three warnings on the subject in the last few years.