Bad Times Are Good Times for the Con Artists

Tough economic times are fertile ground for a venerable American entrepreneur: the con artist.

With more people with less money or out of work during the recession, get-rich-quick or get-a-job-quick schemes are booming nationwide, authorities say.

“Right now it is a prime market for swindlers,” said James Allen Fox, a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston. “When times are good, there are many ways to strike it rich legitimately. When the times go sour, people from the shady side come out and offer opportunities.”

A sweet fishing hole for swindlers is the large pool of consumers unsuccessfully casting about for loans during a recession-induced credit crunch.

Lisa Guide of the New Jersey Consumer Affairs Bureau pointed to an outfit called National Credit Savers of Alabama, which mailed out thousands of postcards bearing the Visa and MasterCard logos.

The organization claimed that respondents would acquire an “approved and guaranteed gold card.” The company never delivered a major bank card, but rather a credit line good only for purchases from an overpriced catalogue.

To find that out, many credit-hungry customers called a 900 number for $15 that linked them to an eight-minute recorded sales pitch. It ended with another 900 number to call.

Persistent consumers calling the second number could pay up to $85 in fees for the catalogue card, touted as the “approved and guaranteed gold card.”

The Alabama group paid a $3,500 fine to New Jersey and agreed to refund anyone who makes a claim.

Getting jobs quick also has a strong appeal in tough times. Dozens of scams seeking to profit from the reconstruction of Kuwait have been reported nationwide.

In Union, N.J., Omne Maintenance Engineers advertised jobs “rebuilding Kuwait for $57.50 an hour.” About 4,000 people responded to the ads, which became the talk of union halls and local bars for construction workers laid off during the downturn.

But the company had no jobs to offer and apparently wanted to start an employment service.