A Con Man's Dream! Think Big When Going Over to the Dark Side

A father / son team of convicted felons actually did this in the early 1990s. The Dominion of Melchizedek, a totally fictitious, sovereign nation was located on an uninhabited Stoll owned by the Republic of Marshall Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Columbia, South America. President of this island nation rip-off was the son's wife, who reportedly lived in California. It was purportedly a quasi-religious society governed by a "House of Elders." It had a complete financial system with phony banks and stock exchanges. It sold citizenships, insurance and stock licenses.. It sold diplomatic passports, religious grants, business licenses.. And, it had an embassy listing in Washington, D.C., Unbelievably, it was actually "recognized" by an African state. (One can only question what these officials were smoking at the time these documents were signed.) This mighty little nation even had the boldness to declare war on France for nuclear testing. (The mouse that roared?)

The sum of the Dominion's activities ran amuck. Cataloged by John Shockey, former U..S. Comptroller of the Currency, these included: taking deposits, investment sums and fees, and issuing worthless "guarantees." Also, making loan commitments, verifying and "authenticating" values of other Melchizedek entities which issued hundreds of millions of dollars in worthless debt instruments which were used to obtain real money loans and were exchanged in real brokerage houses for real value securities.

Amazing is the fact that--despite excellent, detailed exposure in articles run in Forbes, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal as long ago as the early 1990s--this monumental scam is still up and running, more than 15 years later. The Dominion's web site--www.melchizedek.com--was clickable as of press time of this News Release. Endless? Limitless fraud? On and on, into perpetuity? Where does it all end? Or, does it? one might ask.

Breakdown of the system in its ability to restrain giant scams seems to be the key to success for this con man's dream. In his book, Six Hours Past Thursday (www.sixhrs.com), author, Jack Payne, goes one application better. "This nation-building exercise is entirely illegal," says Payne. "It's blatant, in-your-face, outright crime. From the opposite side of the fence my book tackles another broken system," he goes on, "Our cumbersome, snail-moving legal system. Converse to Melchizedek, this system is rife with opportunities for entirely socially acceptable, non-jailable 'legal' crime." His novel weaves the story of how a Chicago mobster, with the aid of a con man, creates such an entity, a gambling island Mecca, ala Monte Carlo, off the coast of Florida.

"From fiction to reality! How close the gap?
Really! In this vast setting, a world stage, it's amazing the scale on which such shell games--such completely nutty mind games--do not only operate but flourish. And, when you have no moral compass with which to navigate," concludes Payne, "the sky is your only .limit."

Legal Thriller Author Outlines Social Security Disaster

How the U.S. Government is Committing "Legal" Crime Against its Own Citizens.

A Chicago painting contractor upon retirement moved to Florida. It didn't take long for the IRS to came down on him for somebody else's unpaid taxes. and a lending institution threatened him with a lawsuit over skipped loan payments, again, by somebody else. He was, simply, a victim of social security card number theft. Being bewildered by this, he drew a credit report on himself, and discovered a multiple of unidentifiable charges. His "crime"? Some 50 years earlier the man, now 70, applied for, and got, his social security card. "I don't understand it," he worries. "I've always lived a responsible life. I always paid my bills. I never ran up a credit card balance. I never cheated on my taxes. Now all of this. It's a nightmare."

Last year some 9,000,000 people paid taxes that would not match up with social security records. Core of the problem? Illegal immigrants. Up to 80% of these fraudulent records are thought to originate with these illegal immigrants who file stolen or manufactured numbers. Follow-up investigations have shown as many as 35 employers filing the same social security number under different names. Incredibly, no mechanism exists for notifying the rightful number holder of the misuse of his / her number.

"Legal crime, foisted off on all of us, by our own government? What else can you call it?" asks legal thriller author, Jack Payne. "The legal card holders never know until IRS chases them down for back taxes, and when private companies try to collect unpaid loans and past-due bills. On both counts, obligations run up by somebody else. It seems like a clear, outright case of fraud. With no legal requirement to report irregularities, the people who know do just that: they do not report. Rather, they simply thrust their heads into the sand, plead nolo contendre, and take shelter behind the Privacy Law They have no incentive to level with you about the imposter's use of your social security number. In fact, important non-incentives to inform exist. because benefits to them are abundant.. The Social Security Administration collects big amounts of extra tax money which they toss into something they call their Earnings Surplus File, an accounting limbo that now gobbles up $420 billion. Creditors extend more loans, and merchants sell more goods on credit. Employers get cheap labor. Result?, everybody is a winner through our maligned, non-system system. Everybody, that is, except the rightful card holder, you This is why this unwillingness to protect you from such obvious theft adds up to 'legal' crime. What else can it be called? It's the politicians in Washington who created this farce of a financial state, and it's they who are responsible for it," Payne concludes.

Stock Tips That Do Not Add Up

Beware of the Stock Tipster who Proves to be 100% Correct

It works something like this: "Stock Broker," Ira Foghorn, a complete stranger to you, phones and tells you to watch Blowhard Networks on NASDAQ. Its stock is going to go up. You do. It does. A few weeks later he calls again and tells you to watch Simpleton Industries. Its stock is going to tank. Again you watch. It drops, just as he'd said it would. Another few weeks later, guess what? He calls a third time to tell you that Consolidated Bread's shares will rise. Very curious now, you repeat your observance. And, of course, once more, this mystic is proven to be correct.

How did he do it?

Simple! You were one of eighty people, whose names he'd gathered from the internet, phone book, a directory, or other list. His second call was to the remaining forty, those to whom he'd proved himself correct. By the time he calls the third time, his list is down to twenty. You were one of the remaining twenty.

The word "con," as in con man, is derived from the word, confidence. And, I think you will agree that, based upon abbreviated face-time performance only, "Stock Broker," Ira Foghorn, has "performed," thus generating confidence.

In today's unreal, alternative universe, smoke and mirrors magic proliferate. In this setting it is most tempting to accept the infamous "free lunch," Now, Ira's suggestion that for a small up-front fee he will put you into Suckers, International, so that you, too, can share in the benefits of his omnipotence, sounds enticing indeed.(After all, lunch is always free, isn't it.)

If you bite, any further conversations with this flim-flam man will only get you a reaction akin to the fast-talking physician writing out a prescription while checking his watch as he mentally consigns you to his scrap heap of victims. To him, the surgery on your wallet is over. Successfully. Now it's time to brush you off, and get on to the next "mark."

Legal Phone Scam

How to lose your shirt the quick easy way with this common legal scam. Start calling 809, 876, and 284 phone numbers. Here's how they work:

A mom / homemaker, a New Jersey native, received an "urgent" phone message: call back immediately, your father had an accident. Upon doing so--putting through her call to a given 809 phone number--she was told to hold while the party tried to locate the proper duty nurse (at the supposed hospital). She did. For ten minutes. In later checking through other sources she found that her father was not endangered, had not had an accident, and was indeed well and happy. She promptly forgot the phone call, dismissing it as a matter of mistaken identity. Forgot about it, that is, until jogged back to reality by a $12,400 charge on her next phone bill. "I was in a panic. I didn't pay any attention to phone numbers," the confused woman said.

That's how they work. From the shelter of the Caribbean, Dominican Republic, 876, Jamaica, 284, British Virgin Islands phone numbers--these charlatans remain adrift from FTC phone number regulations which protect Americans on 900 phone number calls. Sudden accidents and illnesses are not the only lure to call. Other ruses are: a threat of legal action, to claim a prize, to claim an inheritance from a long-lost relative. Many more. Once you call back, aim is to stall as long as possible, to pile up chargeable minutes, which can range from as high as $2,400 per such unit of time.

Other Caribbean havens to watch out for, to avoid making a punching bag of your wallet, are: 246, Barbados, 242, Bahamas, 268, Antiqua, 345, Cayman Islands. 664, Montserrat, 758 St. Lucia, 787, Puerto Rico, 869 St. Kitts / Nevis, and 441, Bermuda.

Con Man's Back Room Game: Fictitious Credit Cards

If it's your ambition to become an Identity thief, you've got a tough row to beat. You've got to become skilled at a bunch of new things: ear-to-the-ground listening in public for starters. Eavesdropping everywhere. Dumpster diving. You must learn how to suck up tidbits of information like pulling a plunger from a toilet bowl. Inconspicuous loitering around key banking terminals is another talent you must acquire. And, along the way you must also know how to refrain from interrogation techniques wherein you risk exposing your own identity. Challenges. Many, you'd better believe it. All are formidable.

Now, the most gifted of these criminals have learned a way to short cut this whole messy procedure. They have shrunk it, boiled it down, to a true "Lazy Way" to fleece.

How?

Shift operations to the back room--out of sight. Create fictitious credit card numbers. This, the scam artists are now accomplishing, based on the algorithms used by the card-issuing companies themselves. They are producing authentic- seeming numbers. Very often these fake numbers are so professionally constructed that they easily pass verification fire walls and are actually given approval codes.

Advantages to the thief? If the scamster concentrates on scamming only businesses that operate via phone or over the internet--where showing cards is not necessary; where only digits count-- abundant possibilities for theft spring forth.

So, if you are a phone or internet business, how do you protect yourself from these scams?While technology is coming to your aid--fast--you can't wait. In the meantime, here are just a few of the defensive steps you can take:

Because a phony number might still come out the same as the one on your MasterCard, it is essential for the thief to keep the true number-holder blind as to what is going on. (This is why double addresses are so often used.) Hence, from the seller's side of the problem, much suspicion must be focused on all bill to / ship to double-address orders. Other red-light warnings are orders that are bigger than typical: orders requiring fast shipping (remember, the thief cares nothing of the cost--he has no intention of paying anything at all); early date cards--those with much time remaining before expiration.

A big minus for the thief: as his delusions of grandeur grows, technology is fast catching up. The card processors, not being born yesterday, are going, full-bore, at solving this threat to them. So, bank on it: with their vast financial resources, they will.

In the meantime, it behooves the merchant to show a maximum of caution, be vigilant, observing, and ready to slam the door on quick notice.

How to resist the con artist trying to make a "Yes Man" out of you through mind games.

The Yes / No Legal Scam

The skilled con artist knows how to rig the game to make the players think they are winning. Every time you put a quarter into the slot machine, out come 2 more. In setting you up for the big con, this formula is altered a bit, to nothing more than ace-high salesmanship. They know they must get you in a good mood, very positive thinking, in every respect, in order to get you over to their side.

Thus, you are subjected to the preliminary "Yes / No" test. In it you are being set up, softened, conditioned to saying "yes" to that final (when it comes) "closing" question, "Would you sign here, please?" Their means? A long, introductory series of questions that you, in complete control of your mental faculties, can only say "yes" to. Examples: Would $2,000 a week in additional income be helpful to you? Would your wife appreciate the extra luxuries? Would it be easier to set up a fund for your children's college education? Would holding a mortgage-burning party early make you happy? Would you breathe easier knowing that your retirement is secure?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes--to all 5 questions. Of course. Is there any doubt, really, as to what your logical reactions to such questions would be?

Now the con artist has you in the habit. You are being led, inexorably, like a sheep, to the slaughter, toward the desired end-result, the "kill." This would be your final head-nodding, agreeable acceptance of whatever crackpot scheme or product thisartist is trying to sell you.

How do you break the rhythm of this rip-off, keep a full handle on your conscious objectivity in reviewing his "sales" presentation? You almost have to play a little game on yourself, a form of self-hypnosis combined with some amusing musings on answers. For example, mentally--as you go, as he is talking--pose to yourself a mythical "no" answering routine. To demonstrate how this might work, let's go through those leading questions again:

"Would $2,000 a week in additional income be helpful to you?" (No, I enjoy being a struggling paycheck-to-paycheck working slob.)

"Would your wife appreciate the extra luxuries?" (No, she enjoys home canning, making her own clothes and soap, and all the other joys of care-free poverty.)

"Would it be easier to set up a fund for your children's college education?" (No, I'd only have more time to blow the money, like I might be doing right here, now, by listening to you.)

"Would holding a mortgage-burning party early make you happy?" (No, I don't want to incur any prepayment or other back-end costs. And, besides, my banker's got to eat, too.)"

"Would you breathe easier knowing your retirement is secure?" (No, this whole concept challenges my Vow of Poverty.)

In sum, beware of stories with happy endings. Often they have unsettling postscripts. Thus, going through some such mental gymnastics--as you go through this person's "Yes Man" routine--might a little better enable you to hold your own feet to the fire, keep you focused on objective analysis. This, so you will be better positioned for the end-game: when you must ponder the only yes / no question that counts, whether on not to sign on the dotted line.

A question that's a con man's delight: The Employee or Independent Contractor Scam

You've got some spare hours and want to earn some extra income. You get an offer to become an "Executive Assistant" in an aluminum siding company.. You visit their representative, and look over their literature, handsome colored brochures which proclaim opportunity, opportunity, and more opportunity. But, nowhere are benefit packages mentioned, the usual, medical, vacation, sick leave, termination pay--nothing of this in writing. But, the rep speaks lavishly of these "benefits." You are sufficiently impressed, join the team, find you are only to collect commissions for selling aluminum siding, work a few weeks, get disgusted and quit.

When you go back to collect your pay, the shell game starts. You are told that you were never an employee, but an independent contractor, and delay excuses are made for not having your limited earnings available yet. You get up and go. Then you wait. Next time you try to contact them, you find the tent has been pulled and the company is gone. This is a pattern that is practiced repeatedly, and with much success, by con men who operate under a simple premise, that a conscience does not prevent sin; it only prevents them from enjoying it.

Why this pattern?

Because it enables them "cover," a means by which they can hide behind an advantage to them, a differentiation problem--is he an employee or independent contractor?--that the politicians are too cowardly to solve.

Congress has punted on this due to the difficulty of precise language and because, generally, employers everywhere want to keep the language vague so as to give them more maneuvering room in taking on additional help. These companies assert lobbying pressure against precise language. Some states have laws, but mostly subject to interpretation all over the map. End result? You are caught in the middle.

Only IRS has hard rules covering this debate, the exact nature of which are unknown, but as a general rule run something along this line:

To qualify for independent contractor status a company must not provide any tools to work with. Example: when you, as an employer, call a plumber to come fix your sink, he, as an independent contractor, brings his own pipe wrench. You do not provide this for him You can only supply merchandise which will be used up in the process of the job, e.g. tissues to wipe down the plumber's tools while he is working. The company--you--may not specify work hours. That must be left up to the outside guy, the plumber. No other form of guidance may be exercised. You, as the employer, have engaged a freely-operating contractor to attain a desired result, a workable sink, that's all. The means of getting this desired result must be left up to him. And, importantly, the outsider must not be provided work facilities on a regular basis. This is yet more separation criteria in determining, is this person an employee or an independent contractor? To top off: the outsider submits invoices for services rendered (he works for others beside you). And, employees do not submit invoices.

So how do you protect yourself against these charlatans, expose their rip-off?

> Ask them to write down the work "benefits" they offer, maybe because you wish to ponder them, and / or, talk them over with family and friends. This will rattle their cage, maybe even make them drop you on the spot as a potential "mark."

> Have them clarify, in writing, the status of an "Executive Assistant" as opposed to Sales Representative. A request they will find totally repugnant.

>Ask for a list of references from satisfied customers. Ask for bank references. (Did Hell ever, actually, freeze over?)

You won't have to go much further than this. If these simple requests are filled for you, this opportunity might be worth further pursuit. If not, well, you've saved yourself a lot of time, effort. And, needless frustration.