Michael Borovetz is a poker player who has been playing in the WSOP, I never met the guy before Sunday morning. Here is what happened:
I was catching a flight out of McCarran on June 22, Sunday morning, at around 9:30 am or so. Between getting out of my taxi and heading to the United counter to check my bag, I was approached by someone who identified himself as “Michael Borovetz”, wearing a Penn State cap and telling me a tale of woe. (This was ½ way between the front doors and the United counter in Terminal three.)
He stated he had been in Las Vegas for about a month or so, showed me a hotel invoice ending the morning before, claimed he had been there for a job interview with DuPont and had been looking for an apartment. However, he claimed, Southwest had cancelled his flight due to bad weather on the 21st, . He showed me a couple of other documents, a Southwest Airlines airlines ticket jacket, and a “CEO’s card” explaining that he was going to help, but all the ATMs in Terminal 1 were broken, which was why he now was looking for help in Terminal 3. There was a wealth of detail provided, actually way too much, and the repeated insistence on repeated details were way fishy…. So I asked him to wait for me while I checked in and then I could talk to him. (I googled his story this morning from Europe, the details are repeated for this guy and his airport fundraising scam on different postings. )
He waited, anticipating I was going to go to the ATM and give him the $300 he kept asking for. I asked him to repeat his story, which included a reservation at a Ramada Inn for that night for $139. He promised to pay me back plus another $300 and gave me his information written on one of my cards. I said I was not looking for anything extra., walked to a row of chairs and put down my carryon luggage.
I took out my cell phone and asked him what Ramada he was booked into … He said, you cannot call them, because Southwest might get him out that night (Sunday). I pointed out that he had said he was already booked for the hotel, his story had a hole in it, retrieved a card of mine he had asked for and was still holding, and left for my flight.(I was impressed that he was trying to replace the worn out “CEO” card he had flashed with a fresh one of mine.)
I did not give him any money, but I am suspect he does this regularly based on my initial google search. Suspect he has been working McCarran for at least three weeks , as that was what the hotel receipt he showed me had him staying in town, (maybe a Hilton Garden Inn or a Hyatt place).
I googled him by name just now and, damn …. He is a poker player, with his face plastered on poker pages, and he cashed in a WSOP event on June 14. Definitely the guy who approached me at McCarran on Sunday.
So, if this guy is still raising a bankroll at McCarran, and is staying in Las Vegas for the WSOP or the Deep Stacks, ….. you might be able to watch him in the act.
The guy pissed me off because his act is bad for Las Vegas, bad for people who really need help, apparently tried to acquire my card for future efforts, traded on religion, and apparently is raising his bankroll through "crowdfunding" with a fraud twist.
http://www.pokerpages.com/players/im...x250/53925.jpg
That's the guy .....
Last edited by Bobo Fett; 06-24-2014 at 04:02 AM.
Reason: Fixed last name - Borovetz not Borovitz.