InfoAnda - As recession deepens, con artistry booms in Asia

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My Profile Top News Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day. Subscribe You are here: Home > News > International > Article Home Business & Finance News U.S. Politics International Technology Entertainment Sports Lifestyle Oddly Enough Environment Health Science Special Coverage Video Pictures Your View The Great Debate Blogs Weather Reader Feedback Do More With Reuters RSS Widgets Mobile Podcasts Newsletters Your View Make Reuters My Homepage Partner Services CareerBuilder Affiliate Network Professional Products Support (Customer Zone) Reuters Media Financial Products About Thomson Reuters As recession deepens, con artistry booms in Asia Wed Mar 4, 2009 7:17pm EST Email | Print | Share | Reprints | Single Page [-] Text [+] By Ralph Jennings TAIPEI (Reuters) - When 96 people from China arrived at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei after paying hundreds of dollars to compete in a music contest offering big cash prizes, they soon discovered they'd been swindled. A con artist had faked invitations from the city of Taipei, pocketed the contest entry fees and abandoned the "contestants" at the airport when they arrived in mid-February. Some of the musicians were so angry that they refused to return home. Such scams are expected to increase in Asia, particularly greater China, as the economic downturn motivates swindlers to prey on the down-and-out looking for a change in their luck, crime experts say. "We see more and more victims now because of the economic crisis," said Chu Yiu-kong, a criminologist at Hong Kong University. "Chinese people like money a lot, so it's easy to get trapped. Chinese people also believe in lucky opportunities, especially in difficult times." Trade-reliant Asian economies are reeling from a global slump. Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan are in recession and major companies in the region are cutting production, freezing job recruitment and laying off workers to save money. Criminologists say con artists often thrive in such desperate economic climates. Scams which police say are particularly likely to increase include job search deception, fraudulent money lending and getting people to pay hefty fees to obtain bogus lottery winnings or buy into supposedly lucrative business opportunities. In one type of scam that has recently become popular, swindlers prey on desperate job seekers in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China by posing as recruiters and asking for applicants to invest in the companies they hope to join. Those firms and the "investment" vanish by the time job seekers call back about their applications. "We don't dare go to any roadside job agencies," said Zhou Yang, 26, of the south China boomtown of Shenzhen. "They cheat you most of the time." Another creative scam artist in south China made 800,000 yuan ($117,000) last year by sending mobile phone text messages using a common Chinese name demanding repayment of a debt, local media said. Most of those who fell for the trick owed money to various people and assumed they were being pressed for repayment. Such scams add misery to those already struggling to make ends meet. "People will get desperate and morals will decline," said Chang Chin-lan, a prevention officer with Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau. RISING DECEPTION Continued... View article on single page Share: Del.icio.us Digg Mixx Yahoo! Facebook LinkedIn Also On Reuters Full Coverage: The Changing Drug War Commentary: Deterring Future Darfurs Reuters Industry Summit: Travel and Leisure More International News Hague court issues warrant for Sudan's Bashir | Video Pakistan issues sketches; no breakthrough on attack | Video Venezuela's Chavez seizes Cargill unit Car bomb in south Iraq livestock market kills 12 Israeli air strike kills two Gaza militants More International News... Editor's Choice Slideshow A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. 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