Quatloos! > Investment
Fraud > Offshore
Planning > Offshore
Unsecured Credit Cards
We're still amazed people fall for this. Yes, they
are a scam to get your initial membership or sign-up fee, whatever
you want to call it. Salesman telling you this is ridiculous? O.K.,
make him put up in escrow in a US bank an amount equal to your initial
membership or sign-up fee, which he will be repaid back double when
you receive your card and see that it works (you don't care about
doubling the saleman's money-- after all you've just gotten $5,000
for free). But, if the card never shows up (and they never show
up) you haven't lost your money.
Worse, what some artists do is take your application information,
and apply for cards in the U.S. in your name, so now you have to
prove to the credit card companies that you didn't defraud them
-- as well as spend years clearing your credit.
Now, there are some very good offshore secured credit and debit
cards from some very reputable offshore financial institutions,
such as Barclays. But anybody who markets the unsecured offshore
version is more than likely a scam artist.