Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:24 am Post subject: Common scams
Although these are common scams that could, and probably do, occur anywhere, in this case I am specifically talking about the Philippines.
All are cases that I have some knowledge of, directly, as a witness, or from talking to the victims.
Although the Philippines has a bad reputation, crime is not as bad as is portrayed. Most is petty crime, caused by the terrible poverty there.
Having been there many times, my advice is, be careful but don’t worry.
A little bit of common sense will enable you to avoid the vast majority of crimes.
I was walking in Luneta (park) one day when a guy came up to me and introduced himself as one of the customs guys who had seen me at Manila airport.
WAIT.
Imagine you were walking in Hyde Park (London) or Central park, NY.
What are the chances of a customs guy from Heathrow, or Kennedy airports, approaching you a few days later?
Why would he do so?
Why would he be so far from the airport (most workers live as close as possible to their work)?
What are the chances he would remember you among the thousands that pass through the airport?
“Sorry”, said I, “You must have mistaken me for someone else”, and walked away.
Another time I was standing in Makati (the business district) when a car pulled up and the driver told me that my hotel had asked him to collect me and take me back to the hotel.
As my hotel had no idea where I was going when I left, again the “Sorry”, “You must have mistaken me for someone else”, line.
On one occasion, I was staying at a hotel where, each morning, one guest pulled from his pockets loads of banknotes, which he then sorted into piles on the table, before packing them away in different pockets. On the third morning, he only got a hundred yards up the road before he was mugged. He had over $3,000 on him!
Heck, I know places here where you wouldn’t last that long after flashing that sort of amount around!!
Sheer stupidity.
Then there was the French guy who met a stunningly beautiful woman, on his first day there.
He handed her a load of cash to get it exchanged for Pesos, and never saw her again. Heck, he didn’t even know her name!!!
More stupidity.
(Those, I have personally experienced / witnessed.)
Other approaches.
“We are holding a party with loads of naked girls and don’t have enough guys, would you like to come along”.
Yeah. Right!
Imagine this happening in your home town.
The chances of it happening in the Philippines are roughly the same!
(If it does happen in your home town, please tell me where you live!)
My brother / cousin / uncle works in the casino and can arrange for you to win lots of money, as long as you pay him afterwards.
Hey, they have just told you that they are crooks! And you are going to trust them?
They have lots of other ways to persuade you to engage in card games, (you will lose and if not, they will rob you), attend wild parties, and similar events, the end results of which will be, you being poorer!
And then there are the frauds.
Most victims of frauds are both greedy and gullible. The most common ones in the Philippines are: gold (Ex-Marcos, Japanese, WW2, or whatever); the “Nigerian” scam (someone has lots of money and just needs to borrow your bank account to lodge it in); up-front fees to arrange loans (a company in Makati has obtained millions this way); the chance to make money in some not-quite-legal way (the people have already said they are crooks, so run away) : and a wide variety of “business opportunities”.
There are some excellent business opportunities in the Philippines, but they need careful Due Diligence and an appreciation of many aspects of the business, plus usually local knowledge, to avoid losing money rather than making it.
Having said all that, the one place you might get troubles, even though, minor ones, is the taxi drivers at NAIA (Manila) airport.
The best way is to get the hotel to send a car for you. Usual cost is no more than $20. The taxi fare should be a maximum of around $7-$8, but what with the arguments and finding one who will use a meter etc, I prefer to pay more, and sit back and relax.
On the other hand, when you are used to the place, it can be fun to find cheap ways of going places etc. _________________ The Middle Eastern states aren't nations; they're quarrels with borders.- P. J. O'Rourke
Dearest One,
REQUEST TO BE OUR GUARDIAN AND THEN HELP US TO COME OVER YOUR COUNTRY,
I'm Miss Faith James Ama (18yrs) and have a younger brother George
(16yrs). We are the children of Late Mr. & Mrs.James U. Ama. Our father was
a very wealthy cocoa merchant here in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. He was
poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a
business trip.
Our mother died when we where babies. Before the death of our father on
Nov. 2004 in a private hospital here in Abidjan, he secretly called us
by his bed side and told us that he has the sum of Six million five
hundred thousand United State Dollars USD($6.500,000) deposited in a
suspense account in one of the big banks here in Abidjan. He told us that he
used my name (Faith) as the next of Kin in depositing the money.He
strongly advised
us not to seek for assistance in the investment of the money from his
lawyer nor any of his friend here but to seek for a foreign partner from
a country of our choice (outside Cote D'Ivoire) that willl assist us in
the wise investment of the money.We have since left the money in the
bank. But as you may be already aware by now, our country (Cote D'Ivoire)
is presently at political crises. Rebels have taken over the whole
Northern part of the country and making efforts towards the capture of the
commercial center Abidjan, where we are now.
For this urgly development, we have now decided to take quick actions
and have this money transferred out of this country before it is too
late. We now want to transfer it out Because of this we are honorably
seeking your assistance in the following ways:
(1) To serve as a guardian to us and then assist us transfer the money
into your bank account.
(2) To make arrangement for us to come over to your country to further
our education and then settle there parmanently. If you accept to stand
as our guardian or foster parent to us, we need not discuss on any
percentage with you as you have to see the whole money as yours and then
assist us invest it. But if you still want a percentage, we are willing
to offer you, 20% of the total money as compensation for your
assistance. As soon as we receive your concrete assurance to assist us with our
proposal and also your full contact address/phone number, we will then
give the bank your contact information and then tell them to transfer
the money into your account as we want to come over to stay with you
parmanently. The bank will then contact you and communicate with you on the
transfer. We shall also send our pictures to you.
Please, we advice you "STRICKLY," reply us through our yahoo email box;
Best regards,
Faith/George Ama.
_________________ Everchanging - Everevolving, Life's dynamic paradox; so remember- happiness is in the journey, not the destination.
Had a friend who got suckered into one of those card game scams--took him to play poker with promisies that it was rigged and he would win-later he found thathwe had to bet his own money--anyway they drugged him ,robbed him and dumoped on the side of the street somewhere.
This happened in Thailand _________________ Asia Expats Forum Expat Friends Dating
I think the same scam is common in many places.
Pretty dumb to fall for it. _________________ The Middle Eastern states aren't nations; they're quarrels with borders.- P. J. O'Rourke
I don't even read those, I delete it right away....
One of my Burmese friend fall for it..He spent 5 years in Thai Border..
when he got the letter he thought someone who really know him while he was there and replied it.. It was a shame he even fax the copy of his driver license with his picture..( proof of his ID )..I told him to contact the authorities because his valid ID might be used in other scams. He send half of the money for fees they asked. I am working in Bank, I saw alot of fraud cks daily. They send you a big lump of fraud ck and said oh they over paid you and you refund the diff amt that over paid. Their ck is no good but they already cashed your good ck.
here in the philippines in order for a tourist to be safe is to play safe. Just like in any other country if you flash your bling bling you will get rob. If your gut feeling tells you something is not good then trust it.
Philippines is a very nice place to live if you know how to take care of yourself. _________________ www.talkphilippines.com - A place to share your experiences about the Philippines
To put the other side of the situation, I have made around 50 trips to the Philippines over the past 15-16 years. Some of them for a week or so, others for many months.
I have stayed in 5* hotels, rooming houses, and nipa huts (native huts in the provinces).
I have been to many places that locals tell me are dangerous.
In all that time, I have not been robbed, attacked, had my pocket picked or suffered in any way whatsoever.
OK, I'll exclude the taxi drivers at Manila airport, 'cos they rob everyone when they can!!
Yes, there are scams and dangers, but from my experience, it is far safer than the media portrays. _________________ The Middle Eastern states aren't nations; they're quarrels with borders.- P. J. O'Rourke
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:43 pm Post subject: Re: Common scams
Hello Alan
Here are a couple of scams I have heard of:
When exchanging money.
The money changer will deliberately give you less money. If you don't count your money before you leave, you have already been scammed. If you do count your money and see it is short, they will take back the money, make a big show of giving you the missing money on top of the pile while removing more notes from the bottom of the pile. You walk away thinking you have your money but you have been scammed. In this situation, you need to count your money again, before you leave.
If a money changer is offering significantly more than other money changers nearby, it maybe because they are trying to suck yuu in so you can be scammed.
I have also heard of people going up and down the street chasing the best rates and making a big deal of it then have been robbed shortly after. Best to be as discreet as possible when changing money.
Pickpocket.
There will be two or more Filipinos operating together. One will say to you that he has never seen an American wallet and could he see yours. You don't hand over your wallet, you may not even pull it out of your pocket but you may make some motion that indicates where you have your wallet located. It is all the partner needs to know to pick your pocket as you go by.
Regards: Jim Sibbick _________________ Free Philippines videos, Philippines pictures and my blog can all be accessed from my website http://www.bigjimsphilippinesexperience.com
I too have heard of scams at money changers.
I dont think it is as common now as it used to be some years ago, but no doubt still catches some people.
(By contrast, those I have used in Thailand have always been excellent.)
As for the guys who try to get you to change money on the street, an obvious scam. _________________ The Middle Eastern states aren't nations; they're quarrels with borders.- P. J. O'Rourke
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