& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Fools' Gold Rolls in for the Great Pretenders

by Nicola Cole
***The closure of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International, better known these days as "The Bank of Crocks & Criminals Incorporated," illustrates the thin division between success and failure in high finance. Few know this better than confidence tricksters, that infamous band of lone wolves who defy an insecure world with ever more audacious rip-offs. Gemini News Service reports.
THEY say that the Uni led Stales Is divided Into threw classes — the havri the have-nots. and the havenat-paJd-foTwhntlhey-
The fast category was blind a true of TV evangelist Jim
l«r. He conned nearly 86 million from viewers, using the money meant for his ministry to pamper himself and his egregious wife Tammy with a lifestyle so rich that even their dog enjoyed an air-condtitoned kcnncL
It may be "Halo an.t farewell" lo the frecbootlng Bakker, who Is now serving a 45-ycar jail sentence for fraud, but other tricksters arc thrtv Ing more comfortably than ever before and not In the US alone.
They arc growing bolder and greedier everywhere, as recent cases show. No longer content with "a little tickle' to maintain a caviar and-cham-pagne lifestyle for a few months at a time, they think tn millions. not thousands. Take the charismatic Anton von Kassel, who strolled Into the National Westminster Bank groups smallest branch in Britain and coolly duped the manager into lending him over £3 million.
Then, driving a Rolls Royce par ked with art treasure, he fled to his chateau near Bordeaux, France, and was not tracked down for two years.
During his trial at London's famous Old Bailey court earlier this year, von Kassel was de scribed as "an extremely at tractive figure, very charming, and very generous, particularly with other people's money " He was imprisoned for six years
As summer visitors throng round tourist attractions like Buckingham Palace and the White House, there Is very likelihood that "great pre tenders" are mingling with them, antennae alert for someone susceptible to one of the oldest con-tricks In the book.
The "mark" will be wealthy, gullible. awed by the grandeur of these residences and secretly wishing to own a similar sized mansion. Offered the chance lo buy either of these great houses, they jump at It.
Arthur Ferguson "sold" not only Buckingham Palace (The Queen can no longer keep up Ihc mortgage repayments." he gravely assured his victim), but also disposed of a 99-ycar "lease" on the While House for • 100.000 and accepted a "deposit" for an Identical amount on the Statue of Liberty.
Queen Elizabeth's main residence was also used In a cheeky scam by a well spoken swindler posing as a representative of Her Majesty, one "Colonel Allen."
Having arranged to meet a London jeweller at the Royal Mews pari of the Palace sometimes open to the public — he ordered a £5.000 diamond brooch for the Queen; then, tn a change of tactics typical of such cases, he asked to "borrow" a £1,200 gold-and-diamond necklace on approval.
The jeweller readily agreed "Col Allen” promptly disappeared and has not been seen since.
Equally audacious was the South American forgery gang who persuaded genuine US banks to pay out large cash sums on faked travel cheques and bank drafts.
All had been "issued" by three legitimate-sounding financial Institutions the City Bank of Miami, the First Western Bank and the Wells Fargo Bank. But these simply did not exist. All had been in vented by the forgers, most of whom ended up behind bars. The gang leaders are believed still to be at large.
Stephen Hedges, a 24-year-old clerk from England, did not bother to Invent banks. He simply switched £1.5 million from the one where he worked to a bogus company In Switzerland.
After that, he bunked off to Hong Kong where, to divert any suspicions, he pretended to live modestly, meanwhile playing the stock markets. When the law caught up. I ledges earned three years as a guest of Her Majesty’s Prison Service.
"Ever been to Harrods? Honey, I own the place." Few women could resist Mohamed Yehia Soed s devastating chat up line about the famous London store as he wined and wooed his way across ihc US — charging his lavish lifestyle to Ihc Harrods account, of course.
But Mo. as he liked to be called. had no link with the real owner. Mohamed Al-Fayed. and when Al-Fayed was sent photos of Mo with pop group Duran-Duran, a two-year hunt for the imposter ended with Mo tn the stammer — and Harrods footing bills of around 8500.000.
What makes such individuals risk their liberty In ways that not even passionate gamblers think worth chancing?
The myth of the "loveable rogue" — clever, resourceful, streetwise, tn the almost admiring words of a senior British police officer s recent report — blinds many people to the plain truth that conmen are basically lazy, very badly twisted cheats from whom honest people everywhere need constant protection.
The depths of heartless avarice to which conmcn fre qucntly sink was amply illustrated tn the case of Rohan Bissett.
Employing a deviant variation on the unpleasant practice of preying on rich but lonely women (manipulating and dumping them gives swindlers a sexual "high"). Bissett posed as "Diana* in a lonely-hcarta advert. He wrote lovingly to a 20 year-old sailor who replied from the aircraft-carrier Ark Royal, and accepted gifts of expensive Jewellery.
Having "hooked* the young mnn, Bissett persuaded him to open u bank account for Dlnna.
You will know you have met one If you encounter a jobless high spender who. with ut "lend" cash townrd^^nythlng from a "can't fair business to establishing right to 'a lost fortune."
The more outrageous the pretext the more probable ft is that his scam will succeed.
- GEMINI NEWS