On two separate occassions this happened to me. The first time, I was clueless, the second time, I knew what was coming and didn't fall for it. BUT I witnessed a twist on the scam within two days at the same casino (Flamingo, LV) last week. I want to give you the background on the first time I got scammed, so you can recognize the patter by the conman.
I was at the Eldorado in Reno last year, playing single line VP. I was alone. A young man approached me; he's maybe 27, give or take. He tells me he's broke but he's been trying to find someone to whom he could share his friend's tip and if I won, could I 'do him right.' Fair enough. Let's go. He gets me over to the Ultimate X multiplay bank. He can see my voucher is only about $75.00 or so. I didn't mind risking that amount on a plan or play. He said this:
"My friend works for the company (IGT, I think) and he says that when you play this game, you begin at the lowest denom (.05c 3 play). When you hit 2 pr or better, you increase your denom and play till you hit again and then increase your denom."
By the time we got to the .50c denom the game sucked royally and I was not willing to continue with it, so I quit and walked away.
A year later, I'm at Bally's (LV) and a young man approaches me and tries to get me over to the Ultimate X .25c denom. I forgot his premise (lie to get me to play the machne), but I refused and went over to security and asked the guard if he knew why anyone would try to get someone ELSE to play this game. I'd only ever played it at the Eldorado with the 1st scammer (who I didn't know was a scammer, till I met up with the Bally's security guard). Luckily for me, THIS security guard knew how to play VP as you'll see, the guards at both Bally's and Flamingo this week had no clue about VP.
I asked the security guard why someone would want me to play this game on my money and keep my winnings. He explained to me that the scam is to get the player to get the full house or the flush and then convince the player to leave the game so the scammer's associate could play the 12X or 10X hand. Ahhhh. I got it. glad I didn't fall for it (again).
Fast forward to this week and I'm playing a game 2 machines over from the Ultimate X game at Flamingo(3/5 play 25c min). I see a man cajoling an Asian man over to the Ultimate X game game and all the while, he's telling this confused looking man that he'll 'just show him how to play' and take off. The victim was confused asking him why the scammer was making him play this game. The scammer kept saying, "I'll just show you how to play and go." So they sit down with the victim's $100. They're playing .25c 5 hand play Ultimate x at $12.50/hand the man's cash is down to $75 quick as a flash. He asks the guy why his money is going so fast and that's when I stepped in and said, "Stop playing sir. You don't know how to play this type of machine and each hand is costing you $12.50 and this guy is scamming you to get you to hit a multiplier hand and then convince you to leave the machine." He was even more confused. But the scammer knew I was aware of what he was doing and he left. At that precise moment this woman walks up to the victim and calls him by name and its like old home week. They'd worked together 40 yrs ago and she hadn't seen him since.
He was even more discombobulated by THIS turn of events and simply gave up and asked me what happened. I explained to him, while the lady listened, about the Ultimate X scam. "OMG," the lady said," I saw this same thing yesterday right here at Flamingo but it was different." Really? What she said was even worse. A scammer approached an elderly lady who was sitting next to this woman and convinced her that Ultimate X was going to make her rich. It was at this same bank. He begins pushing the buttons on her machine and gets her over to the next machine. After a couple hands the elderly woman says, "Wait a minute, I had over $100 on my ticket and now it's only $25?!?!" He said that the UX game was expensive and she'd lost. She insisted she hadn't played long enough to have lost all that money and she wanted him to leave her alone. Well, the lady whom I had just met explained to the old lady that she suspected the scammer had swapped her voucher out for a smaller one. Since neither woman could prove anything, they didn't make a complaint.
I made one, tho for what I had seen and included what the lady had reported to me. Neither of the Flamingo guards even play VP and has no clue about UX. WTF? How can these guards have a job in SECURITY AT A CASINO,when they can't spot a con? I was in a slots tourney downstairs at Bally's and had only a few minutes to try to educate these guards about the conman...Whether they understood the con or not, I don't know. But after my session at Bally's I went to the security dept and explained to two other guards (who also don't play VP) about the scam and to be on the watch. They took my info and that was that.
I want you LVA members paid and non paid to be aware so this doesn't happene to you. Good luck!
Jane
I was at the Eldorado in Reno last year, playing single line VP. I was alone. A young man approached me; he's maybe 27, give or take. He tells me he's broke but he's been trying to find someone to whom he could share his friend's tip and if I won, could I 'do him right.' Fair enough. Let's go. He gets me over to the Ultimate X multiplay bank. He can see my voucher is only about $75.00 or so. I didn't mind risking that amount on a plan or play. He said this:
"My friend works for the company (IGT, I think) and he says that when you play this game, you begin at the lowest denom (.05c 3 play). When you hit 2 pr or better, you increase your denom and play till you hit again and then increase your denom."
By the time we got to the .50c denom the game sucked royally and I was not willing to continue with it, so I quit and walked away.
A year later, I'm at Bally's (LV) and a young man approaches me and tries to get me over to the Ultimate X .25c denom. I forgot his premise (lie to get me to play the machne), but I refused and went over to security and asked the guard if he knew why anyone would try to get someone ELSE to play this game. I'd only ever played it at the Eldorado with the 1st scammer (who I didn't know was a scammer, till I met up with the Bally's security guard). Luckily for me, THIS security guard knew how to play VP as you'll see, the guards at both Bally's and Flamingo this week had no clue about VP.
I asked the security guard why someone would want me to play this game on my money and keep my winnings. He explained to me that the scam is to get the player to get the full house or the flush and then convince the player to leave the game so the scammer's associate could play the 12X or 10X hand. Ahhhh. I got it. glad I didn't fall for it (again).
Fast forward to this week and I'm playing a game 2 machines over from the Ultimate X game at Flamingo(3/5 play 25c min). I see a man cajoling an Asian man over to the Ultimate X game game and all the while, he's telling this confused looking man that he'll 'just show him how to play' and take off. The victim was confused asking him why the scammer was making him play this game. The scammer kept saying, "I'll just show you how to play and go." So they sit down with the victim's $100. They're playing .25c 5 hand play Ultimate x at $12.50/hand the man's cash is down to $75 quick as a flash. He asks the guy why his money is going so fast and that's when I stepped in and said, "Stop playing sir. You don't know how to play this type of machine and each hand is costing you $12.50 and this guy is scamming you to get you to hit a multiplier hand and then convince you to leave the machine." He was even more confused. But the scammer knew I was aware of what he was doing and he left. At that precise moment this woman walks up to the victim and calls him by name and its like old home week. They'd worked together 40 yrs ago and she hadn't seen him since.
He was even more discombobulated by THIS turn of events and simply gave up and asked me what happened. I explained to him, while the lady listened, about the Ultimate X scam. "OMG," the lady said," I saw this same thing yesterday right here at Flamingo but it was different." Really? What she said was even worse. A scammer approached an elderly lady who was sitting next to this woman and convinced her that Ultimate X was going to make her rich. It was at this same bank. He begins pushing the buttons on her machine and gets her over to the next machine. After a couple hands the elderly woman says, "Wait a minute, I had over $100 on my ticket and now it's only $25?!?!" He said that the UX game was expensive and she'd lost. She insisted she hadn't played long enough to have lost all that money and she wanted him to leave her alone. Well, the lady whom I had just met explained to the old lady that she suspected the scammer had swapped her voucher out for a smaller one. Since neither woman could prove anything, they didn't make a complaint.
I made one, tho for what I had seen and included what the lady had reported to me. Neither of the Flamingo guards even play VP and has no clue about UX. WTF? How can these guards have a job in SECURITY AT A CASINO,when they can't spot a con? I was in a slots tourney downstairs at Bally's and had only a few minutes to try to educate these guards about the conman...Whether they understood the con or not, I don't know. But after my session at Bally's I went to the security dept and explained to two other guards (who also don't play VP) about the scam and to be on the watch. They took my info and that was that.
I want you LVA members paid and non paid to be aware so this doesn't happene to you. Good luck!
Jane
