Identifying Scammers

[El Diablo]

... in response to Remember when you were accused of....., posted by Hoda on Dec 18, 2001


Hey Hoda,

Great point, in the end what really were the facts that Digital provided us, as best we know them;

1. gringo goes out for date with girl
2. girl brings young colombian guy along to interpret.
3. colombian guy works at an agency and can speak english.  
4. girl has dated young colombian guy in past, possibly dating him now?  
5. girl does not divulge past romantic history with young colombian guy
6. girl asks to look at photos of gringo's life back in states, house, car, etc.
7. gringo pays for dinner for all three. (possibly more but "night out on town" is not given any detail.)
8. girl or young colombian provide the transportation
9. girl asks gringo to pay for the gas as payment for interpreters services
10. gringo knows another person, we'll call him gringo-dos.
11. gringo-dos tells gringo that he was scammed by girl and she took him for thousands.
12. gringo does not ask gringo-dos for any details of this scam that took gringo-dos for thousands.
13. gringo believes gringo-dos to be an extremely reliable source

I sense that Digital is truly sincere but from my perspective this isn't the slam dunk scam story of the century.  While the story does strike me as odd, I'm not sure it's even a scam.  A meal and some gas hardly seem worthy of such an effort.  Maybe she's just a scammer in training, starting out small and later moving up to big things like free trips to the zoo. lol  Anyway, I think this isn't a slam but more like a rim shot and I can't for the life of me understand why he just didn't tell the whole story from the upstart.  I think you and Patrick may be right in that the fear of the Colombian boogie man runs deep.

El Diablo

[Cali vet]

... in response to Seperating fact from fiction..., posted by El Diablo on Dec 19, 2001

You must be a professional playwright but I've got it on the QT that Ruby's young boyfriend is an anonymous anarchist. Hey if I went to an agency in Cali and the girl showed up with a male "interpreter" and I bought them dinner and then found out he was her boyfriend I would be very d*mned pissed too. That's pretty slimey and I'd sure be inclined to warn others whether it was my first post on this board or my hundredth. Diablo you seem to be dragging this out so long I'm beginning to wonder about your real motive.

[El Diablo]

... in response to Re: Seperating fact from fiction..., posted by Cali vet on Dec 19, 2001


Seems you're following me around these days, no problem I like someone who challenges my words, keeps me on my toes.  (-:

You're right I would have been pissed too although I would have probably laughed it off a day later and chalked it up as another Cali adventure.  I must admit it was particularly odd bringing a guy that she either dated in the past or was currently dating.  Nevertheless it's not too high on my scam radar, this story pales to others that I know of.  But whether it pales or not it was legitimate to bring forward.  But in bringing it forward I think there NEEDED to be details.  I think the impression that was given without details was really quite different then the impression with.  

No hidden agenda or motive.  I don't know the gal that well but when I have seen her around my impression wasn't favorable.  The young Colombian is Bud's brother in-law, he worked at the Palace when I lived in Cali.  He also worked for Norm earlier this year.  He came to my birthday party in April with the rest of the Mis Gringuitos staff and gringos who were staying there.  He's not like a buddy or anything but I've always liked him.  I used to go visit my friend Veronica at LL a lot when I lived in Cali.  He was nice to me despite me being somewhat of a nuisance.  Anyway, I'm not at all afraid to tell of my associations with people around Cali or on this board.  

El Diablo

BTW, you lost me with the anonymous anarchist quip...   (-:

[TG]

... in response to Identifying Scammers, posted by El Diablo on Dec 17, 2001

I take everything I read here as interesting information, then draw my own conclusions. If someone decides to accuse a girl of being a scammer, but only offers a vague description as to why, then most of the guys in PL will be suspect of the post.

Why did he not register and provide an email? What are the details of his experiences with the girl in question? Maybe he is hurting from being taken by her, but he needs to provide some level of explaination if he is going to make accusations like this.

Just my take on the issue.....

[Raptor]

... in response to Identifying Scammers, posted by El Diablo on Dec 17, 2001

This my fellow board members is how honorable people act!!"

Yep the tell us who is a scammer.  She is and he told us.

Like the majority of Colombian women who marry men twice their age.  Women who marry men who can't even speak spanish above the level of a child.

Look around the boards you will find fools and scammers and a few who do it right.  Very few

[Hoda]

... in response to Re: Identifying Scammers and fools, posted by Raptor on Dec 18, 2001


Coming from someone who cuts & paste anti-feminazi & war stories to paste here. For lord only knows, the who, what
& why for. You're one of the people who won't even gather stats from here, to back your theory of why May - December marriages fail. Why are you interested in scammers? You have yet to provide a single post of your quest. Too busy trying to find buddies to join you on your beer & breast fest to Central & South America? You talk of "other's" failures, please post "your" personal path for success for "others" to learn from.

No proof....NO RESPECT!!!

[El Diablo]

... in response to Re: Identifying Scammers and fools, posted by Raptor on Dec 18, 2001

Maybe she's a scammer, maybe she's not.  To date he has given absolutely no credible information that she is.  The only thing he has said is that a reliable source, who he refuses to name, was taken for thousands.  A few other people commented about her, including myself, but we offered no scamming evidence but only that we didn't like her.  There's a big distinction between being a pushy chick and being a scammer.  Why do you  accept his conclusion without any real evidence?

El Diablo

[Cali vet]

... in response to Identifying Scammers, posted by El Diablo on Dec 17, 2001

No one on this board is in a position to dictate the behavior of other participants. It's an open forum. No one has a more valid claim to "legitimacy" than anyone else. Nobody, absolutely nobody on this board holds the "high moral ground" over another participant. There are many different approaches to the "quest" and they are as individual as the particpants. And The only "thought" policeman here is Patrick in so far as he holds the magic wand that makes commentary dissapear.

[Aaron]

... in response to Re: Identifying Scammers/Freedom, posted by Cali vet on Dec 17, 2001

...

[Hoda]

... in response to Re: Identifying Scammers/Freedom, posted by Cali vet on Dec 17, 2001


But me & EL-D's objection had nothing to do with a person's approach to the "Quest". If a person comes out talking trash on a person, place or thing without providing evidence to their charges, the accuser has no legitimacy! EL-D's three points weren't a demand, only Patrick can set those.  If someone provides an ID, reason & evidence, you dayyum skippy they have the "moral high ground" compared to some anonymous assasin lacking the intestinal fortitude to show their face or real agenda. EL-D & another poster admitted contact with the woman being charged. Did they hide? No! They stated facts with faces & places....

Peace...Hoda

p.s. Vet, you know I ain't mad at-cha. Just calling it as I see it!

[Ralph]

... in response to Understood....., posted by Hoda on Dec 18, 2001

Yeah but their facts sort of supported the theory that this one should be avoided. How many guys here want to date a girl with a Colombian boyfriend?

[Aaron]

... in response to Understood....., posted by Hoda on Dec 18, 2001

I guess you guys are really leading to a higher standard for posting information about past relationships that didn't work.

That Digital guy didn't provide enough information in his original post, just trying to slam a person.

But, after patricks request, he followed up with more detail.

Personally, I'm glad he did because I meet this girl he was talking about during my last trip. She seemed like a nice person, but it is always better to know some background from others as long as their accounts are credible.

Now, I know when I return again, I'll avoid this girl. But, I'm not going to be the time to spread this rumor about her. That's not my place.  

Aaron

[El Diablo]

... in response to Howard, you El-D, and Cali Vet are all r..., posted by Aaron on Dec 18, 2001

Hi Aaron,

Read his reply to Patrick again.  He really offers VERY little in the way of further information.  The only additional information is that he says the ''mucho dinero'' was thousands and that this information comes from a reliable source who he isn't at liberty to name.  This isn't exactly compelling information and the fact that he is for some reason unwilling to tell us any real details or identify himself ought to raise some ''red flags''.  

IMO this is actually a step below rumor.  With rumor, we might actually learn some of the facts of what happened. Here we haven't.  This is for lack of a better word, unsubstantiated hearsay. I never take unsubstantiated hearsay seriously, why are so many guys willing to do so here...

El Diablo

[Patrick]

... in response to Re: Howard, you El-D, and Cali Vet are a..., posted by El Diablo on Dec 18, 2001

You have to admit that meeting a woman this way is a bit out of the norm and many people come into it with great mis-trust.  Both of the women, and of the agencies.  Under these circumstances, it's very easy to believe in negative stories and small misunderstandings often get blown into scam stories, especially when they're second or third hand accounts.  This lady doesn't sound like the type of woman I'd like to meet, and she may even be scamming, but we have yet to hear even the details of how she took someone for "mucho dinero" let alone names.  She may indeed be doing what Digital claims, but we still don't have any information on what she did (or to who) other than what others said she did (night on the town and a tank of gas or being pushy).

A few years ago I got some nasty e-mails from a guy on a message board telling me what scum I was, etc. etc.  It wasn't from the man who had a complaint, it was from a man who read the guy's complaint on a message board.  After several rounds of e-mail, I still didn't know who was complaining, but I bought my way into the message board to finally read the accusations.  Turns out a guy was saying that we would not remove a woman from our correspondence agency site and that we even told her that she should dump the guy because he was chasing other women.  Supposedly it was to keep her on the site to continue selling her address.  When I finally got to the bottom if it, it turns out that the lady was indeed complaining about this, but it was another agency, one located in Cali, that she was complaining about.  The guy didn't speak Spanish and she didn't speak English so the language barrier caused them many mis-understandings.  At no point did he contact us, he simply slammed us on a message board because he was angry.

This is just one example of many I could give where someone turned something innocent into a scam.  It happens all the time in this business.  The same thing happens often to the ladies.  Richard Woolderink comes to mind as one good example.

I don't mind accusations being made against someone, but accusations without detail strikes me as being an attempt at revenge by an angry man.  Angry men often embellish things to support their side of the story.  When someone makes a post intended to help others avoid a problem with someone, they give details.  I saw no details from Digital.  I see only anger.  That doesn't help anyone, it only hurts someone's reputation.  Someone who may, or may not, deserve the label of scammer.

[Aaron]

... in response to Trust, posted by Patrick on Dec 18, 2001

Patrick,

I totally agree with what you posted here.

Feliz Navidad,
Aaron