Im late to this thread, someone must have said this, but, If im in an airport waiting to fly out, and some stranger just wants to talk, much less borrow money, I walk away.

Mike: I wish you the best in fighting your addiction. Make every effort to get into a program like the one in Minnesota referenced in earlier posts. I can't help but think an immersive experience would be the best way to start.

I was really struck by the stark contrast between your pre/post graduation life. Had you never gambled before hitting the riverboat casinos? From the way your story unfolded, it seems like you had a predisposition to addictive gambling that consumed you the minute you made your first bet. Regardless, you should work with a psychotherapist to better understand the underlying causes for such a dramatic disconnect in your life.

Mullet Man: I applaud your and others efforts in providing a helping hand. It's heartening to see kind and caring souls step up from within the poker community.

I encountered someone like this who was looking for money at an airport once, while I was on a 5 hour layover. He was about 20-25 years of age and had a really detailed story about how he missed his connecting flight because he was in the bathroom with stomach cramps. He went on to explain how he had to get to a college interview in a few hours but the next flight wasn't until tomorrow. His catalog of paperwork, folders and ticket stubs were impressive to say the least, enough so that anyone he showed them to would have a hard time reaching the conclusion that his story was made up. It all struck me as too much of a presentation though, he was almost too well prepared and I half expected him to whip out PowerPoint slides to seal the deal.

Finally, he told me that he was all out of cash and maxed his credit cards buying the flight ticket and he humbly asked me if he could borrow $100-150 for a car rental/gas money to get to his destination on time so that he could make his appointment with the university recruiter. He offered up his drivers license and cell phone number as proof he's an honest person and swore on every dead relative of his he would send me the money as soon as he got back home.

Now I had pegged this kid as a huckster from the first 10 seconds of his shpiel, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking.. what if I'm just jaded from dealing with dishonest people and this kid really is stuck in a jam and has nobody to help him? In my mind I briefly flashed forward 20 years into the future to see him as a crack addict in some boarded up house, all because I didn't lend him the money to make it to his college appointment on time and his life went downhill from there..

So I tell him I'm not willing to give him cash, but that I'd be willing to go to the Rental Car counter with him and pay for a 1 day rental with a full tank of gas to get him to where he needs to go. He was prepared for this and went on to tell me how he couldn't allow me to do that because if I paid for the car with my credit card I'd be financially responsible, God forbid, if he ever got into an accident or damaged the car. I said not to worry, that they had insurance policies for that kind of stuff and it would only cost an extra $10 or so. He tried to sway me again but I insisted he come with me to the rental counter and I would take care of everything.

So we both start walking over to the counter on the other side of the airport, making chit chat about how mundane air travel is yada yada, when he starts rubbing and clutching at his stomach and saying he's getting really bad cramps again. He says he thinks he's about to **** himself and tells me he's going to run to the bathroom real fast and could I please just meet him over at the Rental Counter. I said sure, no problem, and as he briskly walked into the bathroom I sat down at the bar across from it and ordered a beer and some pretzels instead.

About 10 minutes go by and nobody goes in or out of the bathroom except an elderly 60+ year old man. Just as I'm paying for my beer and wondering what this kid's next move is going to be, he walks out of the restroom, dressed in completely different clothes (he had a backpack with him) and a baseball hat on. Without noticing me across the way at the bar, he takes a quick look around and darts off in the opposite direction of the Rental Counter..

I reported him to airport security and they said they already knew about him and we're looking for someone fitting his description. At least he helped kill an hour of my wait with some priceless entertainment...

I don't quite get this. Mike (or other scammers like him) must have a boarding pass to get in the secure area.

Do these guys slip past TSA?

Pre-9/11 you had every con-artist in the world at airports. I rarely see any charlatans anymore.

I noticed that you went to rental car area so maybe you were outside TSA area. Most restaurants/food though are inside the secure area.

At least in my case, I was inside the secure area while waiting for a delayed connection. Had we actually walked the whole way, we would have had to exit the secure area and go through security again after going to the rental counter. This wasn't more than 2-3 years ago so I'm assuming that he probably just bought the cheapest 1 way ticket he could find to gain entry, rather than risk being arrested if he was caught trying to sneak past the TSA. He had a good sales pitch, I have no doubt he was able to take in many times what he potentially paid for any ticket.

Or perhaps he bought a refundable ticket..potentially one whose dates he could change as needed.

Yeah that makes the most sense.

The scammer was in his 20s, so this could have been in Mike's early days of doing this — i.e. before 9/11.

DV, you mentioned a baseball cap. Did it by chance have a logo resembling a large cat?

Edit: also, I must say that post is one of the rare times I can genuinely say "cool story, bro." Something about you grabbing a beer while you waited made me laugh.

Edit #2: Oh nm, you said it was in the days of TSA. Still a great story, though.

I think it looked more like this one....

a few questions about your scamming


A) did you get cleaned up before doing this? or did u just go in whatever old smelly unwashed tshirt u had been wearing for the last ten days?

B) if you got one to bite and give you money did you instantly leave and head to the casino? or did you try to get as many as u could that day? (assuming u insta left)

C) how many people were you approaching in an hour? is it just every professional looking businessman traveler that walked by you ran up to? playing the numbers game? or were you patient and picked your spots?

D) if you did this as a full time job how much do you think u would make a week?

E) how long did it take for you to get kicked out/trespassing charges? and did u generally just get a warning before a trespassing charge? multiple warnings?

Or this:



Still curious to know when DigitalVentures' incident happened. Either that scam is more common than I realize, or Mike looked young not so long ago. The M.O. is very similar.

It happened about 2-3 years ago. I don't think he was the same guy that this thread is originally about, though I was reminded of my own incident after reading about this "Mike" guy.

I've encountered no less than a dozen of these scammers over the years since I travel a lot, ranging from simple to extremely convincing. They take advantage of the fact that an airport is a dynamic place with strangers constantly streaming in and out and prey upon people's sympathy knowing that almost everyone who travels has been in a jam themselves at one time or another.

I've had people ask for money because they had their wallet stolen on the plane, because it was Christmas and they were heading home and forgot to buy a present for their young daughter, because they lost their passport and needed money for some emergency <insert random fee here>. Some of these people are so creative and sell their story so hard with so much detail and effort that I can't help wonder that if they'd just get a job in sales somewhere they could make 10x the money.

Hey mods, how about a temp ban for anyone who comes on here and claims to have seen me in this poker room, that poker tournament, etc... if they can't back it up. I am still in California and about to go see some doctor follow ups in Pittsburgh on Friday. Believe me, if I decided to play a poker tournament, enter some main event, etc.. I will let this thread know about it - why not at this point??? I know at the very least I'll have LegallyShoved and BeaverSlayer rooting for me anyways.

On a weird side note - I got an email today from a host at Borgata inviting me to play in their blackjack tournament on July 26th because I am a "special" player(more like because I lost over $70,000 playing baccarat and pai-gow tiles there in January and they think I have that to lose again). The winner gets $75,000 and 2nd-6th place gets $5000 each. I didn't respond. Here is the cut and paste of the email I received today:


Mike – It’s definitely been hope you are well. We have great Entertainment and a 100K BJ Tournament on July 26th, weekend hope you can make it! This is a private invite only event for 25K customers.



July 25th Darius Rucker -8pm Event Center

July 25 Art Garfunkel- 9pm Music Box

July 26th George Lopez -8pm Event Center

July 26th An evening with The Fray- - 9pm Music Box





Dear Mike,



You are invited to Borgata’s $100,000 Blackjack Tournament on Saturday, July 26, 2014. If you make it to the final round, you’re in the money! The first place prize is $75,000, and 2nd – 6th win $5,000 each. Click Here for tournament details. Only a total participants will be in the running to win the prize.



This tournament will take place Saturday evening, July 26, in The Signature Room. There is no entry fee or buy-in required for this exclusive, invitation-only event.



Please call me directly at 609 -xxx-xxxx for details and to reserve a seat. Spots will go quickly, so please contact me asap. I look forward to hearing from you!



Thx,

Mario P

Executive Director Relationship Marketing

So what's GA's opinion on playing in a freeroll?

I'm gonna guess it's not a relapse, but it's a potential trigger for a relapse, especially if you win some money.

**** it. Play the freeroll Mike!

Gzesh, what do you have against mike that you are all over this thread. Its like you have ahard on for him or something.

kick2Dante, you looking for some extra side money now that Poker is slow?

oh my..

that's an odd way to start a conversation. so i take it you were emailing all the casinos you've lost big at, trying to nudge them for free stuff?

baby steps away from scamming civilians, but it's progress. good job.

You would be wrong about that but you can think what you want. I have not emailed any casinos for "free stuff" but maybe I should have thought of that since I did lose tons of money in all of these places.

Mike, I say play the freeroll. Technically, you've already paid the entry fee. Would be a sick TR if you shipped 1st or even made 5k. Might as well give it a shot!

Then, take the $5k, and try and run it up. Get it all back! The $150k and more! What a feeling of relief that would be! Set for life!

Then quit.

Having been in GA, the opinion is that any game that you play where there's risk involved is considering gambling. So in my case, I love internet backgammon...It's not for money, but for points. But since I would be doing the "mental work" (my interpretation of their words) of playing a game of risk, this would involve gambling of a sort.

Oddly enough, 3 months after my ex-wife and I separated (I'll let you do the math on why I was in GA for that one), I completely lost the urge to play online poker. In my view, GA itself was a trigger for me (and the aforementioned ex). With all due respect to the organization, I saw a bunch of broken people that actively chose to believe they could never get well.

I couldn't live under the mental/emotional burden of that, so I said my goodbyes and aside from one insane 60 hour stretch at a live casino (poker and blackjack) in which I broke completely even two years ago, I haven't gambled a dime since.

I don't want to disparage the organization, though. It was a personal choice.

I believe Mike's in the right place right now. And I believe he can reclaim the dignity that's almost been completely eroded away by 1/5 of a lifetime of poor choices. That's not going to be easy and there will be lots of self-doubt (if there isn't, he's doing it wrong).

But for what it's worth, I'm rooting for you, Mike. If you need encouragement and real talk, put my name in the hat for a dude you can talk to.

Me too Mike. I wish you well. I'm not trying to disparage you by cracking jokes, I'm trying to lift your spirits.

Straight up, I think you should play the freeroll. Don't bring any cash with you, just play the freeroll. Don't scam. If you win, feel free to degen it away again ... maybe you will hit bottom. If you can walk away with the cash in your pocket, that's even better.

It might also help to know that regarding my gambling habits, I have two different personae. Online, I'm fearless to the point of being reckless. Live, I'm a super nit. I'll play almost exclusively small stakes limit games because I'm so risk averse.

So while I'll acknowledge that I had a gambling addiction and I have some addictive tendencies, I think mine were recoverable...or at least manageable. Once I realized that I'd never be anywhere near the top, no matter how smart I think I am, almost all of the air went out of that balloon and I was able to put it aside.