The Rise Of Internet "Shills"
There is a great programme on BBC3 at the moment called "The Real Hustle" which follows around 3 people as they perform scams and cons on the general public.
The group consists of Alex, a "confidence trickster"; Jess, a young, blonde "sexy swindler" and Paul who is described simply as a "scam artist".
Basically they travel around the country tricking people out of money, cars, jewelry - anything of any worth. Once they have scammed a victim the camera crew intervenes and gives the "mark" their money/goods back.
Some of the tricks they perform are ingenious. Equally fascinating are the insights into common scams - a recent one highlighted the "one day" sales you sometimes see in city centres.
A group will hire out a shop and distribute leaflets to attract people into their "blowout" sale. Once inside the shop, the group works to a script to sell off cheap rubbish to the crowd whilst at the same time managing to make everyone think they get a good deal.
One of the "secrets" of these sales is that the organisers will employ staff to place in the crowd to bid on the items, making the items seem very desirable.
These people are known as "shills".
Now, you may have heard this expression before when reading about online auctions such as eBay. Some dodgy sellers will list auctions and then bid on their own auctions using a second ID with the aim of ramping up the price.
Although eBay work hard to stop it happening, it does still happen.
However, eBay isn't the only place where you have to be wary of being taken in by a shill. It occurs a great deal online with business opportunity sellers.
The extent to which it is happening is quite worrying. Supposedly "genuine" business opportunity sellers are fraudulantly promoting their wares.
I'll cover some examples shortly so check back soon!
P.S. If you want to know more about eBay shill bidding, check my other site at:
http://www.BenCatt.com/shill.php
The group consists of Alex, a "confidence trickster"; Jess, a young, blonde "sexy swindler" and Paul who is described simply as a "scam artist".
Basically they travel around the country tricking people out of money, cars, jewelry - anything of any worth. Once they have scammed a victim the camera crew intervenes and gives the "mark" their money/goods back.
Some of the tricks they perform are ingenious. Equally fascinating are the insights into common scams - a recent one highlighted the "one day" sales you sometimes see in city centres.
A group will hire out a shop and distribute leaflets to attract people into their "blowout" sale. Once inside the shop, the group works to a script to sell off cheap rubbish to the crowd whilst at the same time managing to make everyone think they get a good deal.
One of the "secrets" of these sales is that the organisers will employ staff to place in the crowd to bid on the items, making the items seem very desirable.
These people are known as "shills".
Now, you may have heard this expression before when reading about online auctions such as eBay. Some dodgy sellers will list auctions and then bid on their own auctions using a second ID with the aim of ramping up the price.
Although eBay work hard to stop it happening, it does still happen.
However, eBay isn't the only place where you have to be wary of being taken in by a shill. It occurs a great deal online with business opportunity sellers.
The extent to which it is happening is quite worrying. Supposedly "genuine" business opportunity sellers are fraudulantly promoting their wares.
I'll cover some examples shortly so check back soon!
P.S. If you want to know more about eBay shill bidding, check my other site at:
http://www.BenCatt.com/shill.php
posted by Ben at 5:46 pm
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