A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grit, hustle, scam or scamming, scheme, or swindle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark and his accomplices are known as shills. Much of the time, promises made and paid for are never written down in formal documents, but are made verbally so there is no way to later confirm what was actually said.
In the International Social Tour and Matchmaking business, the hustler and main confidence man is also known as the pitch man. He or she is the person who represents the company and is able to convince a man that there is something real about his or her services and makes unlimited promises and possibilities to meet an honest sincere mate searching for the same. The claim is that, if you pay a lot of money to this confidence man, he will somehow introduce you to Mrs Right. He will often act like he knows hundreds of women who want to meet you. He will claim that he has the ability to introduce you to women who are desperate to leave her country and will fall in love with the first man she sees. He will claim that there are thousands of women who want to leave poor and poverty stricken countries due to poor economic conditions. He may even use his own life history from years ago to describe what is happening in today’s world. Unfortunately, all of the statements made, are created to make you believe what he is trying to peddle is true and honest when the real truth is a million miles away from reality.
A confidence trick exploits everything from greed to physical emotions. Lack of experience and knowledge in a certain field or subject creates an additional level of one’s inability to fully understand how a scammer takes advantage of any situation. Many men and women do find each other from around the world. Unfortunately, social events in foreign countries where women are often forced and paid to meet men from first world nations are nothing more than another day at the office for the women. Social events in foreign countries also put at risk a man’s physical and monetary safety. Girls at these events look at foreigners as a meal ticket for money and a way out of her country and nothing more. Meeting real women at any social event in a foreign land has a ninety nine percent failure rate. If a representative from any company offering social tours tells you any different, he is lying.
The other critical element to the success of this type of scam is the placement of shills inside each group of men who attend Social Tours and Events. A Shill is a person who appears to have joined the tour for the same reason a man has paid thousands for, but the Shill is actually paid the be there. His all expense trip is paid for by the tour company to monitor the behavior of the men on the tour. The shill is also paid commissions and bonuses to encourage men to come back for more. He is also responsible for making a man believe that there is something legitimate to all of the activities and events that take place. Most of these men have been on many tours and will attempt to create strong friendships with the men while on the tour and afterwards. This is done to market products and services at web sites for membership fees and gifts sent to ladies in the future and to validate the scammers activity.
Just as there is no typical profile for swindlers, neither is there one for their victims. Virtually anyone can fall prey to fraudulent crimes. … Certainly victims of high-yield investment frauds may possess a level of greed which exceeds their caution as well as a willingness to believe what they want to believe. However, not all fraud victims are greedy, risk-taking, self-deceptive individuals looking to make a quick dollar. Nor are all fraud victims naive, uneducated, or elderly.
Government authorities in many countries including Canada, The United States and Great Britain have had many International Dating Web sites, Marriage Agencies in foreign countries and companies offering Overseas Social Tours under investigation for some time. If you or someone you know has been the victim of this type of crime, please contact the authorities listed below.
If you are planning to go on a Social Event in a foreign country offered by any web site or tour company, protect yourself by alerting authorities of scamming activity. Ask all women in attendance at any social if they work for the tour company or at any web site or marriage agency. Ask all tour participants to show you his or her international passport to determine how often that individual has travelled to a foreign country. If a participant in your group has travelled to many countries, be aware that they could be part of the scheme. Be aware of promises made in writing and make audio recordings of all conversations with company officials. Keep strict records and documents pertaining to all monies paid before, during and after the social event.
Report all suspicious activity to the authorities below.
Complaint Referral Form
Internet Crime Complaint Center
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
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