Don't fall for this scam!

I have in front to me a letter that I received yesterday. It informs me of an 'Inside Gamble' that I can be a part of if I ring a certain 'personal mobile phone number' tomorrow before racing begins. There is no address on the letter, not even a PO Box number. The name on the letter is obviously fictitious and gives the sender's title as 'Dr'. Yet I am expected to ring this individual, 'to discuss how we might assist one another'. Even with all the warning signs, people fall for scams such as this one time and time again.

So, what would happen if I was to ring the number? Well, I don't know for sure but I have a pretty good idea. First thing obviously would be that I would have to give my name and address and phone number. I would then be added to the list of the gullable and greedy and I would receive no end of offers for horse racing betting schemes, tips and systems. That is even if I decided not to take up the 'generous offer' in which case I would no doubt recieve a letter in few days informing me how much I have lost out on.

The letter states that his 'last coup netted over £2 million' so obviously this letter is not an attempt to get me interested in taking out a subscription to obtain future information. No, I would be offered the 'inside information' for a price. The cost would likely be 'odds to' a certain amount as this tends to obscure from the uninitiated (who will be the only people to fall for this scam) the actual amount to be paid. So if the horse won at 20/1 and it was odds to £10 then I would have to pay £200! I would be most likely be told that the reason that the good doctor cannot put the bets on himself is either a) to avaid suspision, b) to prevent the price of the horse from plummetting by disguising the actual bets being made or, c) all his bookmaker accounts have been closed because he was winning too much money. (These individuals never seem to have heard of the Betting Exchanges!)

And lets be honest, some of those who subscribe to this junk will win. You see, the way it works is that the scammer will have chosen a very open race with a limited number of runners, say six or seven. He will then give a different horse to each person who takes his advice. One of the horses has to win. No doubt a motor cycle courier would be round to collect the money from those who were successful within a couple hours of the horse winning. Those who lost would probably be told that 'connections were disappointed' with the horse and that conditions at the course had not been right on the day. They would be told that there was another horse 'being prepared' and that this one will most definitely win. And so the cycle begins again.

If someone decides to complain there is nothing that they can do as they have no address or phone number. The authorities would also be helpless. You may think that I am being needlessly suspicious but if a person did have genuine information of this sort then there is no legal way that that it could have been obtained. No-one connected with a stable is allowed to offer it for sale in this way.

So next time you recieve a letter offering you untold riches by betting on 'a 'dead cert', put it straight in the recycling box where it belongs. At least it will then be doing some good.