phiketpete Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 quote: Originally posted by herpesv2: After all this bad publicity I wonder if these scams will still be able to turn a dollar out of senile aussies One thing is for sure they will keep on trying. Whilst on line this morning I received a piece of junk mail via my ICQ from a young lady in New York asking me to'suscribe ' to a newsletter listing all the stocks certain to increase by 100% in the short term. I have already sent her my life savings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boemba Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 About stupidity. I remember I was duped in a similar way about 20 years ago, when I just had finished at university. You could be really surprised how well these things can be set up. I got all kind of well made documentation of 'high-tech' companies that were quite believable. Whole sheets of company structure, financial data etc. If you are not familiar with financial markets you can be duped, even if you are not particularly stupid. The stocks I traded were so called penny stocks, you could not even look them up in the Wall Street Journal if you were that clever. Fortunately I lost only about 2-3000 dollar and learned a lot from it. Another remark. As far as I read in the newspaper there are about 20 companies in Bangkok like this? If each employs about 80 people that means some 1500 people are engaging in this activity. While this activity of 'boiler' rooms is supposed to happen all over the world, it strongly suggests that for some reason (lax legal status?) Bangkok is at least a major center for it. Not much sympathy for the perpetrators, should be punished, even if it means spending some time in Thai jails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 Is the list of names published anywhere on the web? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ckrisg Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 According to news reports here in England (Saturday 28/7/01) most of the Brits at the lower end of the scam, those selling on the phones have been released fined and deported. Two Brits remain in custody as they appear to be the money men. All Thais arrested were freed without charge. Any updates as I know a couple of people on the list. Ckrisg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Toad Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 There are couple of good points here: 1> There are many people who come to LOS and want to stay. Any job that pays money is welcome. 2. There are sevewral other scams run from LOS by expats desperate as in 1. 3. From the Thai police point of view kicking them out, and suposdly keeping them out, is the best option. Keep them in jail and it won't be long before the press in UK and other incomming tourist destinatations, start publishing stries about how awful Thia jails are and the poor people stuck in them for doing nothing! Bad for mom and pop toursits! They seem to have kept the ringleaders and that is right. 4. The Thias are fed up with psudo businessmen running not very good (or honest) businesses. How would any other country put up with that. So we all want to be here....fine. But try and at least be legal and don't run a scam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 I find it very difficult to understand how anyone with even an ounce of common sense can wire-transfer large amounts of their hard-earned cash to a foreign country based on a phone call! I realize greed and high-pressure sales tactics account for a lot of the "success" of these crooks. Unfortunately, since we're in the early stages of a world-wide Information Revolution, I'm afraid these scoundrels will find even more fertile ground to apply their evil craft. I believe in privacy, but perhaps laws need to be passed that require banks to "question" certain financial transactions made by retired or elderly folks. I believe a balance between privacy and protection is possible. Something has to be done to limit the success of white-collar criminals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiedoug Posted July 28, 2001 Report Share Posted July 28, 2001 The "victims" of this scam are usually just plain greedy or desperate, much like people who end up buying overpriced overseas lottery tickets.I got contacted by one of these people(NO, I did not buy anything) on a telephone number that is not listed anywhere but on my hotel check in slip.I reckon they are getting some details from the hotels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 Stickman, It looks like the other companies like this are indeed taking this serious. .. at least according to the Bangkokpost, they are "fading away." http://bangkokpost.com/newindex/today/280701_business01.html Would be surprise if any company would stay in business. I mean 5 years in a Thai prison.. you would have to be nuts!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 One thing that does bother me is that all of these dodgy characters who have got off scot free will now be looking for jobs in the teaching profession again. Brace yourself interviewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phiketpete Posted July 29, 2001 Report Share Posted July 29, 2001 These 'scams' which all the boiler room operations are exist all over the world. They are extremely profitable for the 'masterminds' while the 'mules' on the telephone take most of the risk. Offset of course by the the huge commissions that they make prior to being caught. These operations move at the speed of greased lightening. All that is required is telephone operators and telephones.Therefore difficult to catch an put a stop to The difficulty for the authorities is that the scam is played across many borders. Resding in Thailand, calling targets in OZ/NZ bank accounts in HK. Securities and companies involved unlisted. The people organising these scams are not stupid unlike some of the people that hand over their hardearned savings and fuel the industry. For some it is greed- wanting something for nothing. For others paricularly the retirees that are targeted it is the high pressure antics of the salespeople. Bottom line if something sounds to good to be true then it probably is. I disagree with Bangkok Phil. These salespeople knew what they were doing unless they themselves were incredibly stupid and I doubt that they would have callred themselves that prior to their arrest. They too were greedy at best. Just look at the arrogance and greed that permeates the legal side of the finacial world and they are the "good" guys. I agree that the antics of these people as reported in the local media will have an adverse affect on those farangs in Thailand looking to follow a law abiding lifestyle and honestly earn a living. I think it would be diffivcult to have any sympathy for most if not all of those caught. The peolpe whose money they took might have their lives ruined. The recently deported will get on with their lives as if nothing had happened with perhaps the consequence of never being able to return to Thailand. I think that is a small price to pay. Too small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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