by Cyn Bagley

Created on: July 21, 2007   Last Updated: July 23, 2007

I read a few years ago that most scams start in Las Vegas and then spread across the continental US. The reason these scams are developed in Las Vegas is that if you can scam a cynical Las Vegas resident who sees scams every day, then you can scam anyone.

Las Vegas has more than its share of scammers. One woman would stand on a street corner asking tourists for money. She looked obviously pregnant. Unfortunately she had been pregnant continuously for eight years (pregnancy prothesis). After nine months in one area, she would move to another area before the police were called.

Another man had his own begging street corner for over thirty years. He made more money begging than I made repairing Xerox machines. He would show up to his corner in a limo at 4 or 5 in the morning. The limo would pick him up late at night. He also had an expensive house in one of the better areas of town.

I also have had my experiences with these cons. One day when I was on a break and was sitting in the parking lot near my car, a man came up asking for money. His wife was in the car. All he needed was fifteen dollars to get her out of town. He had five dollars. If I gave him twenty, he would give me the five with the promise that I would receive my money in two days.

My co-worker laughed. "It is a scam," she said.

But, I decided to give the man a chance. I explained that this money was my lunch money. If he did not come back with it that I would have nothing to eat for the rest of the week. He nodded his head. We exchanged money.

My co-worker was right. He never showed up with the money.

Another case, my husband and I had just travelled to northern California for my chemo-therapy. We had just come back to Las Vegas and had stopped at one of the malls so that I could walk and use the restrooms.

Unfortunately, I had underestimated my need for the restroom and had an accident. I was stinky and disgusted with myself. The mall was not going to open for at least ten minutes. My husband sat me down on the cement pedestal of a parking lot light. Then he walked back to the car. I did not have the energy to go anywhere.

While I was waiting for my husband, a truck drove into the parking lot. Four men jumped out of the back. They consulted with the driver and then started to spread out over the lot.

One young man saw me sitting. He walked towards me. He was a handsome, muscled, well-fed stranger.

When he reached me, he said that he didn't have any money and he was hungry. I looked at him carefully from his head to his toes. All his clothes were new. Even though he was in jeans, he was carefully groomed.

Then I said to him, "I have an autoimmune disease. I take chemo-therapy every four weeks. I am close to dying."

The young man stared at me. He didn't move. Didn't speak.

"By rights, I should be asking you for money."

He turned around and left.

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