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NEWS: New York Anime Festival Warns Attendees of Cruise Scam


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LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5633
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:20 pm Reply with quote
I hope that someone called the cops on this "business" and they get their butts nailed to the wall!

I also hope that someone wasn't stupid enough to fall for it...but I won't hold my breath.
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Hon'ya-chan



Joined: 31 Jul 2007
Posts: 973
PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:24 pm Reply with quote
Damn, another opportunity to ****-up another scammer missed.

Back to Nigerian Scammers for me....
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:37 pm Reply with quote
Who the hell thought up that?
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kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:12 am Reply with quote
These guys have been in business scamming people for years. This is their latest business venture out of an abandonded area in NYC itself. They have been operating the "cruise" scam since earlier this year. About time people started to catch on to them.

In the meantime, if you find links and stuff about them, DO NOT visit any websites - they are trapped with trojans to read your credit card info.
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Becki_Kurosaki



Joined: 30 Sep 2005
Posts: 19
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:29 am Reply with quote
While I was volunteering at another booth, some people walked up to me asking me to sign a form, but said I had to be at least 18. I didn't feel like signing anything, so I lied and said I was 17 even though I really am 18. I'm really, really glad now that I did that. Anime hyper I don't know if those guys happened to be the cruise scammers, but they did say something about a free trip, so I think they might have been. o.o
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Lucca_Ashtear



Joined: 07 Oct 2007
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:30 am Reply with quote
When I was at the convention, I was approached by a guy with a contest form asking me to fill it out (I didn't). I hope nobody was scammed, their both was in a high traffic area (you had to pass it to enter the screenings/panels hallway)
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calawain



Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 192
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:44 am Reply with quote
Anytime someone says that you need to pay gift taxes to them you should automatically be suspicious. You pay taxes to the government, you don't give the money to the company Wink
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16935
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:48 am Reply with quote
LydiaDianne wrote:
I hope that someone called the cops on this "business" and they get their butts nailed to the wall!

I also hope that someone wasn't stupid enough to fall for it...but I won't hold my breath.


After working in a bank for over a year I am no longer amazed at the dumb things people do with their money, nor the shit they fall for. I saw so many cases of people doing stupid things with their money that they might as well have been just handing it out. Oh wait, they basically were.
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billyarnie



Joined: 03 Dec 2007
Posts: 190
Location: San Antonio, TX
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:52 am Reply with quote
psycho 101 wrote:
I saw so many cases of people doing stupid things with their money that they might as well have been just handing it out. Oh wait, they basically were.

It's the accurate cliche: "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is". There probably were a few idiots that got scammed; the odds were in the scammers' favor & they knew it from the get-go.
It sounds like these guys only had to pay registration to get access & they passed around "entry forms". Reed Exhibitions should have a "No Soliciting" clause on future registration forms, so that vendors & artists have to purchase space & people just registered as attendees cannot solicit others for "contests".
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Mylene



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:09 am Reply with quote
billyarnie wrote:
their both was in a high traffic area (you had to pass it to enter the screenings/panels hallway)
It sounds like these guys only had to pay registration to get access & they passed around "entry forms". Reed Exhibitions should have a "No Soliciting" clause on future registration forms, so that vendors & artists have to purchase space & people just registered as attendees cannot solicit others for "contests".


No, that is an inaccurate assumption.

Lucca_Ashtear wrote:
their booth was in a high traffic area (you had to pass it to enter the screenings/panels hallway)


article wrote:
VTS Global set up a booth at NYAF's exhibition hall that offered a drawing for a free cruise for people who filled out a form.


They were a real vendor, not random solicitors who merely paid registration.
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Viga_of_stars



Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 1240
Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:55 am Reply with quote
In another forum someone was talking about this and that he won. I linked this article there too.

I hate it when people try to take advantage of people. I really hate scammers!
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:09 am Reply with quote
Those [blank blank] [bleep bleep] bastards!! What the [ring-ring] are they doing at a anime con??? Mad

I'm familiar with those scams. These companies can somehow get your info from who knows where. Like your phone number. Then they'll just call you up.

"You've won a free cruise!"

And you're like, "REALLY!! Wow, that is something!"

"Yes! But in order to process this great reward all we need from you is a down payment of ???$$$."

And they try to get by making you feel bad that you're missing out. I never fell for that because it was as the saying goes, "too good to be true". It's good to be suspicious.

DON'T FALL FOR THIS CRAP!! It is a scam. If a trip is free then nobody should ask you for a dime. And never give out your info.

It's a good thing they banned them but they should have did a check on them to see who they were. Stuff like this pisses me off. Taking advantage of people in this matter. They ought to fine these guys millions for that type of fraud.
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naruto fan 09812



Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Posts: 499
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:40 am Reply with quote
I can believe would actually fall for this obvious scam. That why there will always be scammers because their too many suckers in the world.
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BellosTheMighty



Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Posts: 767
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Idea... Otaku who come to conventions have cameras for catching cosplay and such. I don't suppose anyone got pictures of these guys? Turn them over to the cops, maybe it'll help catch them.
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Horitsuba



Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 35
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:57 pm Reply with quote
I remember them. My first thought when I saw that booth was, "...is that related to anime/manga at all? o_O"

My friend had asked me, "Want to sign up?" (He likes any and all contests) I was like, "Naah. They want credit card info" XD;. I had glanced at their forms as I was walking by.
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