In an earlier post, I wrote about a company traveling around the country duping mostly retired people into extravagant vacation packages offered at discount prices if immediate deposits or pre-payment of reservation fees are made. I warned that the company was headed into other states not listed.
Well, either they recently surfaced in Tennessee as predicted or another scam operator has reared up. Instead of Elite Adventures, Florida based Royal Palm Vacation used the same con - a hotel room where pitch men solicited deposits for one of a kind vacation opportunities. Alert officials looked into Royal Palm and found they also operated under other names, as you can read here.
It can't be stressed often enough - scams exist in every area of life and almost always, the one element that MUST be present for them to work is greed. And not greed on the part of the perpetrators but on the part of the public who is conned. As I said earlier, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Think about it - why would a legitimate company need to rent a ballroom to sell highly coveted discount vacation packages in this day and age of the internet? Because they do not WANT people who use the net - it is too easy to check on them by looking for articles like this!
So they use snail mail or word of mouth or print advertising and of course are long gone to another region by the time you figure out you got nothing for something. So PLEASE, keep your eye on your wallet when you travel - both literally and figuratively. Don't let a pickpocket destroy your hard earned trip and don't let a smooth talking con man pick your wallet of hard earned cash for "trips to be taken later."
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