QuoteOriginally posted by: Hardyhttp://www.whatsthebloodypoint.com/This is absolutely beautiful. Look up that tooBait a Muguwhich I found on the first link.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines certainly exists. It became independent of Great Britain in 1979 and is home to a thriving offshore financial industry. While I am not an expert on its legal system, my guess is it's pretty solid: based on English precedents and tailored for secure financial transactions.It's hard to tell from your description whether this was a fraud or not. If it was, it's not clear what the object was. The contract might have been bad for you, but unless you're very wealthy that seems unlikely. It may have been trying to draw you into some illegal conduct, perhaps raising money from investors to be stolen by the principals. Or it could be entirely legitimate.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AaronSt. Vincent & the Grenadines certainly exists. It became independent of Great Britain in 1979 and is home to a thriving offshore financial industry. While I am not an expert on its legal system, my guess is it's pretty solid: based on English precedents and tailored for secure financial transactions.It's hard to tell from your description whether this was a fraud or not. If it was, it's not clear what the object was. The contract might have been bad for you, but unless you're very wealthy that seems unlikely. It may have been trying to draw you into some illegal conduct, perhaps raising money from investors to be stolen by the principals. Or it could be entirely legitimate.My point precisely.What did they want? I had one more call from M Dallaire-Champlain. I have voiced my doubts and he told me that he would be in contact with me in some future time. His phone number does not work anymore. I did not manage to find the company o the net and have got a job elsewhere...

Although it does seem a lot of graft for a small reward, maybe it is just to get another life assured on their list? And then they knock you off and claim the payoff?

my girlfriend's ex lost a few grand buying 'rare gems' whilst in thailand, a scam that has been featured on the tv several times. I just hope that my girlfriend doesn't pick all her boyfriends from the same distribution, or if she does we're antithetic pairs.

About 20 years ago there was a major epidemic of gem sales from Canada. Victims would be offered something like 100 carats weight of emeralds for $10,000. Of course 100 gem-quality 1 carat emeralds would be worth 10 times that or more, but 1,000 0.1 carat low-quality emeralds aren't worth one tenth that price. The companies really delivered the jewels and Canadian authorities were disgracefully slow about shutting the operations down (even when they did, no one was convicted or even charged with an offense).The stranger-than-fiction part of the story is the mailing list of people who bought the gems were sold to other con artists for more money than the original scammers earned selling gems. You might think someone who had been burned in something like this would be less likely to fall for something again, but the reverse is true.A favorite second order scam would be to call the victim and ask if they had emeralds to sell. "The market is getting really hot, and we need product. We can pay $250 per carat!" Of course the victim was eager. Unfortunately, sales could only be done in 1,000 carat lots. If the victim would buy 900 more carats for, say, $100,000; he could combine them with his earlier holding and sell the lot for $250,000. Of course, only one leg of that trade got executed.

Aaron's story about selling the con twice reminded me of my "favorite" confidence man, Victor Lustig. In 1920s he managed to sell Eiffel Tower. He didn't only sell it once, but twice (well, almost... he only got the downpayment the second time)! Here is a short story I've saved from some site. It's a fascinating and entertaining read.QuoteOne of the most talented con artists who ever lived was Victor Lustig. Victor had been born in Bohemia and gone west, demonstrating his talents even in his early twenties. He was a natural conman, glib and charming in multiple languages. He established himself by working scams on the ocean liners steaming between Paris and New York, but eventually decided to stay in Paris for a while and see what he could find there.In 1925, France had recovered from the First World War and Paris was booming. Expatriates from all over the world went to Paris to enjoy being at the leading edge of the latest trends. It was flashy, fast moving, and an excellent environment for a con artist.Lustig's master con began one spring day when he was reading a newspaper. An article discussed the problems the city was having maintaining the Eiffel Tower. Even keeping it painted was an expensive chore, and the tower was becoming somewhat run down. Lustig saw a story behind this article. Maybe the city would decide the Eiffel Tower wasn't worth saving any longer. What would happen then? Lustig outlined the possibilities in his head, and realized they suggested a remarkable scheme.Lustig adopted the persona of a government official, and had a forger produce fake government stationery for him. Lustig then sent six scrap metal dealers an invitation to attend a confidential meeting at the Hotel Creon to discuss a possible business deal. The Hotel Creon was a meeting place for diplomats and a perfect cover. All six scrap dealers replied and came to the meeting.There, Lustig introduced himself as the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. He explained that the dealers had been selected on the basis of their good reputations as honest businessmen, and then dropped his bombshell. Lustig told the group that the upkeep on the Eiffel Tower was so outrageous that the city could not maintain it any longer, and wanted to sell it for scrap. Due to the certain public outcry, he went on, the matter was to be kept secret until all the details were thought out. Lustig said that he had been given the responsibility to select the dealer to carry out the task.The idea was not as implausible in 1925 as would be today. The Eiffel Tower had been built for the 1889 Paris Exposition and was not intended to be permanent. It was to have been taken down in 1909 and moved someplace else. It didn't fit with the city's other great monuments like the gothic cathedrals or the Arc de Triomphe, and in any case at the time it really was in poor condition.Lustig took the men to the tower in a rented limousine to give them an inspection tour. The tower was made of 15,000 prefabricated parts, many of which were highly ornamental, and Lustig showed it off to the men. This encouraged their enthusiasm, and it also gave Lustig an idea who was the most enthusiastic and gullible. He knew how to be attentive and agreeable, and let people talk until they told him everything he wanted to know.Back on the ground, Lustig asked for bids to be submitted the next day, and reminded them that the matter was a state secret. In reality, Lustig already knew he would accept the bid from one dealer, Andre Poisson. Poisson was insecure, feeling he was not in the inner circles of the Parisian business community, and thought that obtaining the Eiffel Tower deal would put him in the big league. Lustig had quickly sensed Poisson's eagerness.However, Lustig knew he was walking over dangerous ground. Fraud was bad enough, but the authorities would be very displeased at his having put over the fraud while impersonating a high government official. And Poisson's wife was suspicious. Who was this official, why was everything so secret, and why was everything being done so quickly?To deal with the suspicious Poisson, Lustig arranged another meeting, and then "confessed". As a government minister, Lustig said, he did not make enough money to pursue the lifestyle he enjoyed, and needed to find ways to supplement his income. This meant that his dealings needed a certain discretion. Poisson understood immediately. He was dealing with another corrupt government official who wanted a bribe. That put Poisson's mind at rest immediately, since he was familiar with the type and had no problems dealing with such people.So Lustig not only received the funds for the Eiffel Tower, he also got a bribe on top of that. Lustig and his personal secretary, an American conman named Dan Collins, hastily took a train for Vienna with a suitcase full of cash. He knew the instant that Poisson called the government ministries to ask for further information the whole fraud would be revealed and the law would intervene.Nothing happened. Poisson was too humiliated to complain to the police. A month later, Lustig returned to Paris, selected six more scrap dealers, and tried to sell the Eiffel Tower once more. This time, the mark went to the police before Lustig managed to close the deal, but Lustig and Collins still managed to evade arrest.* There were others who made a profit selling civic landmarks, of course. In the early 1920s, a fast-talking Scotsman named Arthur Ferguson found out that he could obtain a tidy profit by selling Americans visiting London such items as Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square (for the sum of 6,000 pounds), Big Ben (1,000 pounds for a down payment), and Buckingham Palace (2,000 pounds for a down payment).Ferguson's success in suckering gullible American tourists suggested to him that America was indeed the land of opportunity, and so he emigrated there in 1925. He sold the White House to a rancher on the installment plan for yearly payments of $100,000 USD and tried to sell the Statue of Liberty to a visiting Australian, who went to the police. The authorities had been looking for the mysterious salesman of public landmarks, and Ferguson went to jail, to be released in 1930. He profitably continued his trade in Los Angeles until his death in 1938.Lustig, too, finally emigrated to the US, and conducted a number of scams. Eventually his luck ran out. He was arrested for counterfeiting and sent to Alcatraz Prison. He died in 1947. The clerk who filled out his death certificate had to pause when he came to the entry titled OCCUPATION. He finally wrote: SALESMAN.