Avoiding Freelancer Scams and Extortions
i wrote and posted this advise on avoiding freelancer scam and extortion on another forum. i wrote it specifically with cebu in mind.
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for those with extensive experience with street girls in manila, cebu or elsewhere, what do you think of these countermeasures to reduce the odds of a monger being victim of extortion?
the modus operandi of these scammers appears to be for the girl to go in your room and then calling or texting an accomplice (including police) to show up to extort you for having sex with a minor or for being in a room with a minor (which is illegal). or after sex with a girl clearly of age, cops knock on your door hours later to charge you with [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url] per her complaint.
granted, if you're in angeles city, there's never a need to pickup a freelancer. but elsewhere in the philippines, particularly outside manila, picking up freelancers on the streets, mall or from a dating website is a mongering essential.
these recommendations are ways to detect, deter and thwart an extortionist.
1. question her age.
ids aren't worth shit in the philippines. so you have to question her aggressively. ask her age and year of birth. even if she gives the "right" answer, play dumb and say "hey, that makes you 20, not 18". if she even considers your answer for a second, she's lying.
or tell her you can definitively reveal her age from closely inspecting a certain body part like her palm, fingers, lips, teeth, etc. then do an "inspection" and insist she's a minor and gauge her reaction. if she thinks you're a rich educated foreigner, she might actually believe you have such abilities ("in america, police can tell your age by the color and shade of your eyes").
other strategies include asking for her zodiac or star sign. or quiz the age and year of birth of her siblings and, after she gives a long list (filipinos usually have large families) have her repeat it to see if her story change.
you can even go perv by saying "you're cute but do you know someone who's 16 or 17?" and see if she suddenly admits to being ****.
when someone's lying, they tend to trip up, stumble, refuse to answer or suddenly go quiet, especially someone young, nervous and pressured by cohorts to scam. truthful people usually go on the offense when challenged. this isn't a foolproof lie detector but it's far better than relying on her merely claiming her age.
2. no phones.
keeping her from her cellphone is probably the most important tip here for it deprives her the ability to summon accomplices.
ask her to leave her phone with someone. if she understandably cannot, tell her it must remain off and it goes into the room safe until the service is over. if she needs to call, tell her she can always use your phone.
if she asks why you're requiring this, tell her you don't want her distracted while paying for her time.
most scammers will not agree to go with you if her modus operandi gets disrupted and when she's left in-field without assistance.
if she promised to keep her phone off but turns it on later, it's your sign to bolt.
3. give misinformation and misdirection.
there's no reason to tell the girl any truthful information about you. all she should be concerned about is getting paid doing what she agreed to do for an agreed duration.
naming your hotel during initial negotiations allows her to inform cohorts where she'd be (where they can ambush you). if she asks where you're staying, name a random hotel but change your mind in the taxi. there's no reason she'd object to a change of venue if she's legit.
of course, never give your real name either or even how long you've been in town.
4. use a throwaway room.
this may be overkill and only for particularly paranoid people like me who don't mind the slightly added expense.
in any philippine city, there are cheap hostels which they call "pension houses". many will charge hourly and won't ask for i'd.
these accommodations allow you to make a quick getaway if you suspect a set up brewing. they also prevent the scammers or police the ability to find you later. if you use your actual hotel, hotel staff can reveal your real name and passport number to police and philippine immigration can stop you at the airport from exiting.
5. take her far away.
scammers rely on nearby cohorts since it's impossible for a girl to extort you alone. if they're far away, it becomes time and expense consuming for her accomplices to come to her rescue. or you can be far enough so that the cop she's working with has no jurisdiction.
for example, if you pick up a streetgirl in central cebu, tell her your room is in lapu-lapu. by taxi, it is 45 minutes away, enough to deter a scammer from going with you. as you pull away with her in a taxi, look behind to see if you're being followed.
a girl shouldn't object going reasonable long distances if you give return taxi money (upfront, if necessary).
6. lowball her offer.
if a girl wants to set you up, she will likely be desperate to go to your room immediately. so give a ridiculous lowball offer. if she asks for p800 and she accepts an immediate counteroffer of p250 without resisting, she could be a scammer.
7. check if she's stalling.
i want to thank someone on this forum for this one.
once both of you are in the room, notice if she is stalling. there's no reason why she wouldn't want to get down to business immediately, especially if you've negotiated a short-time session. this isn't a bargirl who've already been paid upfront and may stall hoping you'd fall asleep without fucking her.
if the freelancer is stalling, you boot her. not just because she may be waiting for cohorts to arrive but also because she's a non-performer.
8. keep an audio recording.
this tip is also for paranoid people like me.
most smartphones can make voice recordings. you can secretly audio record your sessions or just at the end of a session when she's about to leave the room. without her knowing she's recorded, get her to to say that everything is ok and that she'll see you again soon. this proves [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url] did not occur in the room.
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granted, all these recommendations could be overkill. but if you do most of them, it should drastically reduce your odds of being entangled in a police extortion. it's also worth advising you to question the girl in a friendly, light conversational tone or a legitimate provider might get creeped out and refuse to go with you.
Paranoia, paranoia. Everybody's coming to get me
i have started noticing furryfrends posts on the philippines board over the last year or so and i am yet to see one positive post about the phillipines. he mentioned he has been to ac couple of times but now prefers thailand. that's cool, and i am all for different opinions and angles that's what forums are there for but i wish he comes out and says what happened to him while in phils. some posts have descent advice granted that but fuck me arguing every positive thing that philippines has to offer, every positive aspect of mongering there even official stats sounds like well paranoia or sour grapes. as simmon said mongoing is for the brave if you are not prepared to take calculated risks then stay home and wack off in front of your screen.
furryfrend please stop spreading crap about ac, blackmail is not common especially not for the visiting punter. in a year there is over million barfines there and at most there is 2-3 cases. for 2011 there were 2 that i am aware of one of a girl that accused a punter (girl was from geckos bar) which was sorted out quickly but we never got to hear what fully happened. from a girl that works in geckos i was told that the girl in question had scars when she went to the cops and the next day in the bar. again this could be just them trying to save their reputation but maybe there was more to it? all we got was one side of the story.
the other was a bar manger that was accused of [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord125][CodeWord125][/url] a non bar girl but the whole town relied behind him and he fought the charges and as far as i know they were dismissed. this was a case where the girl tried to save face in front of her family saying that he forced her after the family found out she is no longer virgin. things happen but odds are about 1 in a million in ac and far less in other places.
i don't think setting someone up is as easy and simple as people think it is. we are talking freelancers that have to fuck everyday in order to pay bills, feed their family and survive on day to day basis. for a girl to work out the logistics of a set up is almost impossible. if they operate as a gang then they are more likely to set up someone they know has money easily accessible and has far more to lose then a 2 week tourist. therefore targeting an expat or a local makes far more sense.
i can understand foreign tourists being targeted for small crimes like pickpocketing and so on but this is lol way out there. i am not sure if it was one of ganges or ge's posts that described the western culture as culture of fear, furryfrend is a text book example i guess.
furryfrend, relax, take a chill pill and get laid.