Sports Picks Scams - The Scamdicappers
By Glenn Jacobs for www.sharkhandicapping.com
If you have spent any time betting on sports and placing your bets off shore or leaving your name and number with the Monday Night Football radio advertisers, then you have definitely received them – the calls from handicappers. Some are friendly, some are aggressive. But they ALL call you asking how you have been doing in your losing ways. They work to hook you on a “free” play then really work to get into you wallet, and sometimes VERY deep into your wallet, typically through the offshore books. In the end, you are the only one holding the bag and they have made a small fortune from you along the way – moving on to their next victim. Can you relate to this? Have you fallen victim to this before? Do you know someone who has? Let’s take a look at how these people operate, how they suck you in, the role of the offshore book and how they keep getting money from you.
The story we will refer to is a REAL LIFE story from a client that went through the ups, the downs and the damage it caused him – in his family, his work, and his finances. As of this writing I do not know of a place to go to nail these guys, but rest assured we will find it and let you, our members, know as soon as we can. Our hope is to not only educate people to avoid falling in the trap, but to also find a way to nail the son of a bitches that have no conscience and prey on others. Okay, done with the Monday Night Football soap box.
Setting the Stage of Our Story
For the purpose of protecting our friends identity, I will refer to him as Ken. Now, Ken was a rather successful person. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance, was successful in sales, returned to school and earned an MBA and then went on to a successful consulting career. He found a beautiful woman and waited until five years after their wedding to have their first of two beautiful children. Ken had started up a couple of companies, but always seemed to get out before just before the companies became successful. Then two shocking events happened: 1) The 911 attacks on the World Trade Center and 2) he was falsely accused of a criminal activity.
The 911 attacks caused his company at the time to lay off 30 people that held his same position, only two days after the attack. The week before the 911 attacks, Ken was scheduled to be in New York to meet with people at S&P. His hotel reservations were at The Marriott World Trade Center. Guess where his meeting was scheduled to happen on Tuesday morning on 9/11?, the restaurant in the Marriott. The day before Ken was to get on the plane, the meeting was cancelled and he never made it to New York. Lucky, right? Stay with me.
As for the false criminal accusation, it absolutely tore Ken apart. I mean, the guy could not focus on anything: he just lost his job, was concerned about supporting his family and he had to stop his regular work travel and get a job where he was required to stay in town until the criminal accusation could get cleared up. By the way, the local job paid about half of the salary he was making before 911 happened. This is where our story begins and when Ken started to get into sports betting – and, unfortunately, with the scammers, shysters and so called syndicates.
In The Beginning ……
So here was Ken: Torn apart in his career, his debts were piling up (from supporting his family on credit and from legal bills), his relationship with his wife was on shaky grounds, he barely saw his small kids, and he medicated himself to keep the anxiety at a tolerable level. He was constantly looking for a way to make some additional quick money to help with his poor financial situation, and his wife did not know how serious things were getting. Then Ken found the online sports books.
Like a Kid in a Candy … Well You Know
Now this was cool. You did not need to go to Vegas. You did not need to risk illegal activity by trying to find a local bookie. Nobody would have to know about it. It could be done quietly. And if everything worked well, the mattress could be full of something besides cotton! The hopes and expectations were high. But WAIT …… Ken still needed some money and needed to find ways to bet on the RIGHT games – you know the ones that are sure to win. He could not afford to lose ANY of his money. None of it!! Nada. ZILCH!! So he did what he knew how to do well – research.
He started out looking for sites that would provide information where he could do his own analysis. He was astute in the stock market and financial derivatives, so how hard can it be to analyze a game and pick a winner, right? RIGHT. Uh huh. He quickly found out how much work it is. In the financial markets, there is software that will use mathematical analysis, statistical analysis, price trends, money flow and a whole host of analysis tools that would allow him to quickly narrow his stock search down from 7500 stocks to about 20 to look at on a daily basis. During the trading day, he could even follow the big market makers to watch where the big and smart money were moving. Not in the sports betting business. There is what, over 1,200 basketball games a year, 240 pro football games a year; over 1,200 hockey games a year; and God only knows the number of college basketball and major league baseball games every year. There was no real software fast enough, developed, and available for him. In addition, you have Las Vegas. This is these guys entire LIFE – the sports books and line setters. They come up with the idea that it is not enough to know who will win or lose a particular game. The winner has to win by at least the spread; or the loser must lose by less than the spread. SHIT. Now there is a whole new dimension to this thing that Ken was not even prepared to take on. So what does he do? Calls in for the free Monday night game to two or three “sports experts” that are guaranteeing the Monday Night Football winner.
Now You Are ON the List
If you have ever called in for the “free” Monday night pick or the Saturday college football lock of the year or the Sunday NFL guaranteed winner, you know that no matter which one it is, they are always busy and need to get your name and phone number to call you back. Ken happily complied. You know why they really do this? Yep, so they can get your name and number as another compulsive gambler looking for a quick win. It also serves as a lead to circulate around their betting “advisors,” each one different from the last. Have you ever talked to one of these guys? Then you know the result.
So Ken got the first Monday night winner. The next day, the calls started coming. “Hey man, we gave you the winner last night. Now let’s get you making some money the rest of this week. All we need is $495 to get you going on our BEST plays. Monday Night was an easy one. So just send me $495 and we can get you going.” If you are cool with them (i.e. a sucker), they will tell you about the REAL master. “You know what Ken; let me hook you up with Bobby. He is the REAL master. Now when you talk to him, refer to him as Mr. C. He is a VERY rich man and only takes a select few people on. I will let him tell you about it because he doesn’t even tell ME!” So you set up the time to call, they guy again tells you how great a person this guy is and that you better show respect because his butt is on the line if he refers an asshole to Mr. C.
I could go on and tell you all the details of how Mr. C works, but you probably wouldn’t read all of it. The short of it is that Bobby only releases maybe 2 or three plays for an entire weekend (or so he says). But those plays are guaranteed winners, so you better get the next three mortgage payments on the game. Oh yeah, by the way, you have to show Bobby you are for real and Fed Ex him anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000 CASH (depending on how much he can get out of you) before he will give you his first game on the weekend. And if you are cool with him and bow down, he will make an “exception” and let you by with $1,500 now and then you will have to pay him big from the winnings. BUT, if he makes you $10k to $15k over the weekend, you wouldn’t mind sending him $5,000 to $7,000, would you? OF COURSE YOU WOULDN’T!
Oh yeah, remember the three Monday night calls made? Well there is three of these things going on that week. So Ken picked one of them he liked talking to the most and sent him $2,500 (which of course he didn’t really have). And the fun began.
Talk About Hot Streaks!!
Ken paid the money, put up another $1,000 in an offshore sports book, which of course Mr. C told him to use because it was easy to pay him from. Saturday produced two wins; the first won $1,000, then the second doubled it up and won $2,000. So now the account was at $4,000 and Ken was feeling good … until the next morning. Mr. C told Ken he had to pay $2,500 for the NFL games that day. He had two sure wins, but needed the money to pay for the information. So Ken sent him $2,500 directly from the offshore sports book. He won two more! The first produced $2,000 and the second produced another $3,500. So now the account was over $7,000!! Not bad for a weeks worth of work. Until Tuesday (there was no Monday night play). Tuesday comes around and Mr. C says, “Hey man, we had a hell of a weekend! I made you over $8,000 this weekend!! Now it is time to step into the serious money. Send me $6,500 today and I will win you over $15,000 this week. Hey, by the way, you need to get another $3,000 out to the account so we can play 3 – 5 dimes a game.”
Remember, Ken’s account was $2,000 even though he won $8,500 over the weekend. But he sent the money anyway. He did not have any more money, so MR. C had to work with the $2,000 the following weekend. Friday produced another winner. Saturday produced two more winners. Ken sent Mr. C $3,000 on Saturday so they would be set for the Sunday games.
Sunday comes. The account is at $13,000. Ken feels good and Bobby has him right where he wants him. The first game on Sunday was a winner – winning 5 dimes. The afternoon game was the LOCK OF THE YEAR. Now way to lose Mr. C. says. But you have to send me another $3,500 from the account. Then it happens …. The fucking game lost. He laid $14,000 on the game and the fucking game lost!! All the winnings are gone!! This was the game that would put Ken into the big time. He could pay Mr. C 10k a week and make 30k a week for himself. This was heaven. Then it was lost!! Wiped out! GONE!
Bobby explains that the damn field goal kicker was supposed to blow it. He was paid to miss any field goals late in the game. From 20 yards he almost did miss, but it squeaked in!! “That damn kicker has a shit load of answering to do, let me tell you that Ken. But hey, let’s move on to next week. You need to get another $2,000 into the book and you need to send me another $2,500 so we can play this weekend” (but remember, he may make an exception for you again). “Get it to me by Thursday.” The pressure was now on. Ken was hooked. He would do anything to get back that streak and make the big bucks; be a real player. He tasted success (or so he thought) and he wanted it again.
Now They Have You
So this same pattern continues. He sends money and Bobby has a terrible streak – which, of course, is not at all his fault. After another week, Ken tells Mr. C to take a hike.
Surprisingly, another person calls – seemingly just in time. This one, calling himself Tommy, has heard of Bobby and knows that the guy is a joke. He goes on streaks. But he is a con artist. Stick with me – Tommy says – and I can show you how to really win and play with the big boys. “Every year, I get my biggest players together in Vegas for the Super Bowl. I pay for everything – flight, hotel, parties, girls … the whole shootin match; on me.” And the cycle continues.
Ken went through this for over two football seasons. He went through 5 of these guys during football, NBA, baseball and then football again. One “syndicate” player even told Ken that he would put up $50,000 for Ken so he could get some REAL capital. All Ken had to do was send him a fraction of that -- $5,000. The game won (it was a Lakers game during the NBA playoffs) and Ken was celebrating with his friends because the next day he would have 50K. Do you think he ever saw a dime? NO. Not a cent. All in all when it was said and done, Ken dropped over $60,000 to these guys and used offshore and local books so he could bet enough. On his largest game, Ken had over $20,000 at stake. Did it win? No. Of course not.
How could this happen? Keep reading.
Here Is The Scam
If you are following this you are probably saying “WOW, what a flipping idiot this Ken must be!!” Remember, we are talking about a highly educated, successful business person here. He was making director level pay and had some to burn when he started. So here is what was happening from the “experts” side of things.
First, there is the sports book. It is offshore, but it is hardly independent. There are offshore books that will allow you to set up your own book and use the company’s money to back the bets. Hell, Ken even set his own up! At the end of the month, you get a commission on the net revenue to the house – i.e. the gamblers losses. So when it was getting toward the end of the month, Bobby, Tommy and the rest of the guys had to make sure that the book was in the black. So everyone they had been giving winners to had to lose; and lose BIG. So they collected a commission every month on the bettors they were advising. Now remember the money that they were getting paid after each game? That was their CASHFLOW so they did not have to get cash sent into the US from the offshore account. So even if they break even on the book, they have earned tax free cash flow. Hell, one of them even owned a Western Union to collect his money. Get it? They basically owned the book, owned the information, and they owned Ken too. Without that last one, nothing works for them.
Here is the second part – the money Ken sent for the “inside information.” There is NO INSIDE INFORMATION with these guys. No player payoffs. No ref payoffs. It was all bullshit. They were just your average cappers that would go on streaks – and they ALL do. It is a streaky business. So over the course of the two years, Ken paid these guys over $60,000 – that is money out of his pocket -- and does not include the cash they earned for the offshore book commissions.
The Lessons From This Story
There are several lessons he learned from this experience. Talk about an expensive college education!!! This education cost him more than his graduate program at a prestigious, private school.
Lesson 1: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER call into the radio show advertisers that are offering the guaranteed lock or the ones that ask for your name and number so they can call you back because they are “too busy.” If the company advertising on the radio is legit and serious, they will be prepared for the phone traffic from the radio campaign and talk to you when you call in.
Lesson 2: There is no such thing as “inside information.” Many people may have relationships with sports book managers that will claim inside information on where money is going. They will claim to have “exclusive” information directly from the teams involved that assures the handicapper the win. The ones that charge you the big bucks will tell you that the players are paid off or that there is information about an injury that no one else knows. Trust me, that is bullshit!!! Some information is better than others. There are firms that will pay a couple of scouts. But there is NO guaranteed wins in sports betting. It is plaid out on the field.
Lesson 3: Like anything in our lives, moderation is KEY. If you cannot afford to lose the money, don’t play. If you always want to bet your whole bankroll on a game, get out. And if handicappers constantly call you and ask you for money before they show you what they can do, hang up on them. As a matter of fact, if they are calling you, they are probably not someone you want to work with. The ones that have truly been in this business a long time and are successful operate on simple advertising and mostly word of mouth. If you are successful, you will tell your buddies; and they will tell their buddies. That is how it works best.
Lesson 4: Watch two movies before you start gambling on sports. The first is called “Bookies” – about two guys that start and run a bookie operation. The other is “Two for the Money” – with Matthew Mac and Al Pacino. It is about the exact operation that we are talking about here. Watch these movies with a sharper eye than just entertainment.
Lesson 5: Gambling can destroy your life – in a VERY short period of time. Remember, when Ken started, he had some disposable income. When the events we talked about happened, he became desperate to make some money; and fast. Where did he get the 60K? Second mortgage on the house, 20K from credit cards, he refinanced his wife’s car and then convinced his wife to borrow 20K from his in-laws.
Where Are They Today
All but two of the “experts” Ken dealt with are either out of the business or just continue to switch their numbers and names – or maybe they are in prison by now. Did I mention that they used the pre-pay cell phones? Clever. They continue to con people like you and me and prey on people that are already desperate or are simply deep into a gambling addition. They will continue to try to demoralize people. After hearing Ken’s story, I often wonder how many suicides, divorces and bankruptcies these guys cause. But they keep on making a shit load of cash and feed their own compulsive habits.
And Ken? Today he has pulled his life back together. He went through a divorce two years after his false criminal accusation. He went through bankruptcy 8 months after his divorce. And he now works for about half of what he was making prior to the 911 attacks. Almost the trifecta – and he was near suicide before he sought counseling. And thank God he did. He is really a decent guy. Now he is in a better place than he has ever been in his life and in addition to his career, he has spent time rebuilding relationships he thought were lost. That is what I call a recovery!!