The big scam agency thread

[amy]

Hi Ray, and thanks for allowing me to bump one of our enduring favourite threads back to the front page. Please read this, this, and also this.

[spyder_steve]

Read a few posts on here but want to be a little more specific on this case.
I've registered my interest with an escort agency (approx a week ago): Decadent Dating
they've sent me a text message:

Hi its <name> from decadent dating to let you know we have a secured booking for you on <date> we have emailed full details of this to the email address you gave to us when you registered. please also check your spam folder. Please can you let us know asap if you can do this. Thanks again <name>

Checked my mail and this is what i got:
Good Morning,

Thank you for recently submitting your application to Decadent Dating as a professional Male Escort. We have gone through your application and have found that we will be able to match you immediately with a number of our clients and feel we would be able to supply you with a decent level of work, i.e. between 6 and 8 bookings per month.


We have already secured a guaranteed booking for you and it will take place on Thursday 26/08/10. It will be in the region that you specified in your application and the booking will begin at approximately 9 pm. If this booking goes well she also wishes to book you for the following week too. It will be a hotel based booking and she is a regular client of ours who has used our service a number of times in the past. She is in her late twenties and has requested a three hour booking with someone new on our books. We have recommended you for this booking. We try and get everyone on our books a booking in the first instance as this is the only way we have of ascertaining whether or not you will be suitable for the role of a Male Escort. Your payment for the evening will be a minimum of 360 pounds. This amount will be paid to you in cash(all your payments will be cash) at the beginning of the booking and the client will pay for any expenses incurred. The client will contact you prior to the booking to discuss her requirements for the evening, these will be what you should wear and where and what the booking will consist of, e.g. dinner, drinks etc. and of course which hotel to meet in. In the event the booking goes over the three hour period we ask that you continue to charge at 120 pounds per hour. Please note there is no obligation on either party for anything other than a social booking to take place.


In order to accept this booking and to become active on our system we need to hold a deposit from you which equates to you first three commission payments. Therefore you will need to make a payment of 150 pounds to our bank account. This can be done at any HSBC Bank. The details are as follows. Account Name: L.L.S. Account Number: 54304969 Sort Code: 40-47-31. Please use your name as reference when you make this payment. This can be done across the counter by cash or by online banking.(Sorry no cheques will be accepted) Once you make payment please text confirmation to 07624819012 quoting your name and the reference at the top of this page.

We ask for these commission payments in advance from you as a commitment on your part so that we know you will actually turn up at the booking and are completely serious about joining us and becoming a professional Male Escort. Usually when people make a financial commitment like this they will honour it. The last thing we want to happen is for a client to be left on her own without the escort turning up, this would reflect very badly on us and we would probably lose the client for good which is something we cannot afford to happen. We get a lot of people who claim they want to do this work but unfortunately we have found in the past that sometimes this is not always the case. We also quite regularly get other Escort Agencies pretending to be escorts so they can sabotage our bookings that is why we have to have this upfront component. Please Note. This is not a registration fee but a commission deposit therefore you will not lose this money as it will be used as commission for bookings completed, if bookings do not take place for any reason whatsoever and you want your deposit returned we will honour this request.

Once we receive payment we will then start the activation process and assign the booking to you. Once payment is received both we and the client will contact you with all relevant information pertaining to the booking. This payment needs to be made as soon as possible. So that we can assign the booking to you.


If you have any other queries please feel free to call us on 0871-<number> text us on <same as text msg> or email us on info@decadent-dating.co.uk and we can answer any questions that you may have.

I look forward to speaking and working with you very soon.

Best Regards

I've tried to research this company but cant find any comments on it, seems a bit steep to charge that much that quick, and a person wanting a newbie aswell sounded a bit strange.

[casey_kisses]

Please just search 'male escort' in the search box...

xx

[Lucy Chambers]

or in this case have a look four threads down, Male escorting- the scammers favourite myth.

[xw5]

Yep, asking for money upfront before you have cash in your hand from a client is the giveaway that Decadent Dating is a scam.

If you paid up, you would be told that the 'client' had just been abducted by aliens or some similar lie, but that there be lots more work coming real soon now... just wait for their call. Then they don't answer when you ring / email them because they've got your money.

Congratulations on not falling for it. The bad news is that unless you're willing to have sex with men, scams are basically all there is: it's vastly easier to find optimistic straight men than find them female clients.

[seaside arnie]

Can anyone give me some guidance.
I have accepted a job through Ideal Escorts.
Received an e-mail booking mr from the client.
I have been sent a cheque for mor than my services.
And then asked to split the balance in half and send it through Western Union to 2 different people in Spain.
Is this a fraud?

seaside arnie

[amy]

It's a scam, as are Ideal Escorts. The overpayment scam is extremely common, and you can read more about it here and here.

If you are a straight man hoping to escort women, you would also do well to read this. And start working on your Plan B.

[casey_kisses]

And start working on your Plan B.

LOL Amy you crack me up!

xx

[HBC-FAN-JBK]

Yeah. I spent at least an hour writing that post and was quite pleased with it until I thought about what a tiny proportion of people would find it before handing their money over. It's depressing.

Hi i just really want to thankyou you may say only a small proportion will see but i was unsure about when i got a call off a 'socail escorting agency' asking if i would complete an application and i applied to a couple intentionally to compare to see if they all asked for similar requirements and right in the middle of a call from one of them an hour ago i thought is it a scam? so i asked how can he ensure me it's not a scam and I'm not just going to lose my mine, unlike the previous escorting agencies who checked for clients while u was on the phone to them he turned round and said oh I'll call u back in 10-15 Min's when I've ran my details through the computer but he didn't call back and i think it's cus i asked that question he knew I'd clock on, so then i researched and found this and I'm pleased to say I've not been conned!

So thankyou so very much you've been very helpful to me cus I'm very naive!

[lady2010]

hi there

i went through exactly the same thing, i  was asked for ?310 for a years registration fee, and was told about a booking with a guy from the states that was here in town. this happened three years ago now, little did i know the con artists had actually made money out of me, not only that, but conned me also.  i was really gutted and disappointed that this actually happened to me, as i was really stupid and vulnerable at the time, as i'd split up with my boyfriend. i then tried to see if there was anyway i could get my money back, but it was looking doubtful. i sent a few letters by special delivery to two Escortopia company addresses. And last year a guy contacted me and i spoke to him, as Escortopia website was actually a site that belonged to him. So he said that he would contact Escortopia himelf via email and tell them whats going on, and that i would take legal action. But i think he said all this to cover his own back. I didn't hear from him again which i thought was abit suss, i also tried to contact Escortopia myself on the 0870 number, which happened to be based in Spain somewhere, well that number had coincedently discontinued. Needless to say i was just really disgusted and appalled that these fakists could take a person's money just like that and con you! To this day i curse them for doing this to me, and hope one day whoever these people were get there comuppence as i really could have done with my ?310 back. I even told my local Police about Escoropia and an officer found someone writing about them stating they were conned.

[SuffolkTradingStandards]

Hi,

Suffolk Trading Standards are investigating several advance fee fraud escort agencies and we want people that have been victims of these sites to come forward and respond to your survey where they can register their complaint.

Here is a list of the businesses we're investigating:
 
Adorabelles
 Beautiful Adults
 
Candy Escorts
 Companion Fever
 
Companion Work
 Delightful Stars
 
EscortOpia
 European Escorts
 
Evening Encounters
 Graceful Partners
 
Lovely Liasons
 Manstrokewoman
 
Model Couples
 Partner You
 
Holding Hands
 Diamond Companions
 
Date Angels
 Delightful Companion
 
Select Media Ltd
 Mayfair Marketing Ltd
 
Evolution Business Associates Ltd
 Real Promotions Ltd
 
Marketing and Promotions Ltd
 Anvil Media Ltd
 
Express Media Ltd
 Direct Media Ltd
 
Greenway Marketing Ltd
 Blue Media Ltd
 
If you have been a victim of any of these sites visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SC5YYN2 to let us know about what happened to you.

[Sleeping Admin]

Hi,

Suffolk Trading Standards are investigating several advance fee fraud escort agencies and we want people that have been victims of these sites to come forward and respond to your survey where they can register their complaint.

Here is a list of the businesses we're investigating:
 
Adorabelles
 Beautiful Adults
 
Candy Escorts
 Companion Fever
 
Companion Work
 Delightful Stars
 
EscortOpia
 European Escorts
 
Evening Encounters
 Graceful Partners
 
Lovely Liasons
 Manstrokewoman
 
Model Couples
 Partner You
 
Holding Hands
 Diamond Companions
 
Date Angels
 Delightful Companion
 
Select Media Ltd
 Mayfair Marketing Ltd
 
Evolution Business Associates Ltd
 Real Promotions Ltd
 
Marketing and Promotions Ltd
 Anvil Media Ltd
 
Express Media Ltd
 Direct Media Ltd
 
Greenway Marketing Ltd
 Blue Media Ltd
 
If you have been a victim of any of these sites visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SC5YYN2 to let us know about what happened to you.

Thank you for posting this and taking forward investigations into these scams.

For further info, people can read about Operation Troy on the Suffolk County Council website at:

http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/BusinessAndConsumer/TradingStandards/latestnews.htm

[Chaddy-d-daddy]

Hi guys I'm new to all of this, I'm glad that I researched this don't know if you guys have covered this company but I really need your help. (Elite services 4u) any1 know anything about this??
Love this site wicked. Please let me know. 

[amy]

Well I couldn't find them even with Google but the same rules always apply:

Are they asking you for cash upfront before you have done any work?
Are they telling you that they have lots of work for you, despite having never seen or met you?
Are you a straight male, or looking to do 'social only' work?

Then it's a scam. Article here (or you could read this thread).

[Chaddy-d-daddy]

Why is it such a competitive market? Iv looked at there website  (http://www.eliteservices4u.co.uk/) the agent Sara did say when the booking is confirmed then I make payment. I guess that still could be a scam.... All I wanna do is make abit of extra cash!!