#1434 – The Expat Files: Scams, Seminars, and the Realities of Life in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play And now as I wander Hello there all you expat wannabes I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to The Expat Files, living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live, work, play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good, the bad, the ugly and the great And it's all right here so let's get started Alright back in the saddle again Just a little seminar update before we get on with the show Well we've finally picked the date It's going to take place in both Guatemala and El Salvador Starting Friday, August 15th and ending Friday night, August 24th

[00:48] So get ready for a full week of drinking through the fire hose Now as far as all the details I'll have to sign up an information sheet Up on our website expatplanb.com By the time you hear this show, at least I hope by the time you hear this show Once there you just click on the link in the center of the page that says Johnny's 2025 Expat Insider Seminar I should have that sign up sheet up and running by the time you hear this show Which first goes out on Friday, May 2nd And for all you guys and gals who've been emailing me to get on the early bird sign up list You'll be getting all those details sent to you a day or two early by email Of course there'll be an early bird discount because we want to get a good head count Early in the game to get a head start on making our reservations So you will get a $500 discount off the regular price

[01:35] If you're in the first group of people to sign up I'm not sure how long I'll keep that early bird discount offer though Depends how many people sign up in the first couple of weeks of May In any event, start thinking about it and get on it when you can You don't want to lose out on that $500 discount And of course once again you repeat offenders Get a $1000 discount if you sign up for this one So again, I repeat, we've green lighted a new seminar This will be seminar number 21 Oh and by the way I have to mention that previous attendees always say They get at least a 2 to 5 year head start on their plan B And believe me that's not something I made up It's not a marketing gimmick I've had dozens of previous attendees come right out and say it Speaking of previous attendees, you know after every seminar

[02:22] Practically all attendees send me an email to tell me their observations And comments about the seminar So called testimonials Now I understand testimonials mean less and less these days Especially since you could have AI write one better than a human So how do you know these days regarding anything? A product, a seminar, whatever Even Amazon review, yeah I've heard most all of them are now AI generated too So who you're supposed to believe? That said, I dug way back into my email seminar file And I pulled out just by chance one of those emails I got right after the seminar from an attendee And this one goes way back to my second seminar I guess that must have been 12 or so years ago now

[03:08] And here's what Mr. H said He said, good morning Johnny I found the information provided in those few seminar days more valuable And the many years I've spent researching and reading on my own Was an excellent seminar He says, your candid opinions and entertaining stories were rich with information You and Jose are excellent mentors Also he says, I want to give many thanks to the other attendees It was the most eclectic, intelligent and creative group of people I shall ever meet In fact he says, I have no answer for anyone who asked me how my trip went Because it was a trip like no other I happen to have been the scout for my wife And it's hard to explain the whole thing to her Except to provide impressions and bits of conversation I remember

[03:55] He says, however Johnny, I was disappointed to see that I had more trouble with US customs Than with local Guatemalan customs who spoke no English How weird is that? So that came from seminar attendee Mr. H I won't read anymore but I've got a virtual pile of testimonial emails like that from past attendees All of them written years before AI and chatbot could create fake testimonials at will Anyway I thought if you're interested in coming to the seminar you might be interested in hearing that Alright, on with the show You know everyone wants to get rich quick, don't we all? And generally when we're young we're willing to take a chance Throw some money at some scheme that seems to be too good to be true and later on we find out it is

[04:41] You long time listeners heard me talk about the 3 times I got screwed out of 10 grand Definitely more than 3 times but 3 specific incidents stand out The first dumb scam I fell for was taking a weekend options course Yeah, like you could learn how to beat the options market in a weekend While people spend their whole lives doing it for a living Lost 10 grand that way and that was when 10 grand was real money But you know when you're in your 20s and you get embarrassed by a loss like that It's not the end of the world, you pick yourself back up again Lick your wounds, start from ground zero, build up a little cash again and get sucked into another get rich quick scheme Second time it happened to me was I invested 10 grand in a guy's invention Now I don't know if I ever brought this up before, maybe I did But you new listeners have never heard this

[05:28] You know way back when I was a kid and young adult, Chicago subways and L trains Buses that works all Chicago Transit Authority, CTA operations ran on dollar bills So by the end of the day there were many little buildings throughout Chicago That were stuffed with millions of dollars and crumpled 1 dollar bills Collected from Chicago Transit Authority stations, CTA Well I know a guy, a machinist, a kind of a basement tinkerer Who actually worked for the Chicago Transit Authority and he knew how terribly inefficient that system was They had hundreds of guys on the payroll just sorting out and hand smoothing those dollar bills And repackaging them, counting them up, binding them and sending them to the banks It was a huge, monstrously inefficient operation that happened every day

[06:13] Anyway an engineering friend of mine said, Johnny you gotta go to this presentation This guy has a new invention He says the idea is completely wild, but if it works man Every single transit department in the country is gonna want this thing Every transit department in the world So I went to this little presentation, it was at somebody's house Couple engineers there, couple of older folks A retired couple with a little extra cash Anyway he had this little prototype all built He explained the problem, we got that right away He showed us photos of the counting rooms Where they had hundreds of thousands of dollars just on the floor in piles And guys picking them up, putting them on a big metal What looked like an ironing board Smoothing out the grooves and the crumpled dollar bills as best they could And then stacking them and putting them in boxes

[07:00] Doing a hand count and sending them off to the bank Well anyway this guy's idea, his invention He demonstrated it, and it worked You dump in a bunch of crumpled bills at the top Inside there was high humidity They got sprayed with a mist of water They tumbled for a minute or so through a tiny gas dryer Were collected on a conveyor at the other end And they went through a drying device and sort of got pressed Then counted and stacked And sure enough even the most crumpled ones Came out nice, flat and pressed Well as it turns out, all of us in the room have invested He must have got 50 grand that night Which was supposed to be used to make a full sized operational model That he could show around to the CTA management personnel Well that big prototype model worked, but it was way too slow

[07:48] Way too temperamental and in some ways way too dangerous So it never got off the ground There it was, another 10 Gs down the drain Nice try though, he wasn't a total scammer Then again when you're in your 20s it's not like you're in your 40s or 50s It's when you've got big responsibilities Kids, houses, car payments, boats, whatever Not a good time to take chances with money However, when you're young and stupid and have a few bucks That's a good time to take a chance on something that might really pay off Like for example, in my late 20s I got ripped off by one of my best childhood buddies Played in a band with him for years Nicest guy in the world Funny Life of the party, greatest salesman in the world Could talk people into anything So I put up five grand as the money guy for a business deal I was a silent partner He was running things and stealing from me Actually stealing from the business, same thing

[08:35] One day after about a year and a half into the business My accountant called me up and said You know, your partner's stealing from you What do you want to do about it? How good of a friend is he? Do you still want to keep him as a friend or do you want an enemy? Now you might say who needs a friend like that But I can see there's always temptation when you're running a business And the money's flowing through you And you've got a silent partner who doesn't even check in But once every six months Call me stupid, call me naive But I never accused him of stealing from me I just offered him a buyout And he took it And thus we remained friends, sort of And oddly enough I let that happen to me two more times Investing in a business with someone usually a friend And letting that guy rip me off Simply because I was always the silent partner I had other things going And didn't keep tabs at all on the day-to-day operations

[09:22] Thankfully most of all that crap happened when I was in my 20s You know, again, not too many responsibilities You can fall down, dust yourself off and get going again Now of course I could amuse you with a few more stories Of how I got ripped off throughout my life Again though, knowing that could happen I never stretched myself too thin Always had a little reserve You get ripped off a few times, you get smarter Or you hope to anyway So I always thought going bust is the worst case So if you go bust and lose what you got into it How's that gonna affect your life? So in all the little scams and ideas And get-rich-quick things I got sucked into When they didn't pan out or went bust That never really affected my general lifestyle In other words, they were always sidelines Never my main activity Until I came to Latin America anyway

[10:08] I still had a real job in my chosen career So then why am I bringing this up? Well, because I've got a doozy Of a boots on the ground story for you Happened just last week too Now these days there are just as many if not more Get-rich-quick schemes out there You know, starting with the old school Tried and true pyramid schemes like Amway And Mary Kay Otherwise known as multi-level marketing Since then, many new creative schemes and scams have popped up That you can hardly believe people even fall for Since a quick search on the internet Will tell you if they're legit or not But guess what culture is not at all Into doing that kind of research? Latin Americans Which brings me to one of the many pyramid schemes And scams that's going on all around me

[10:54] Here in Latin America And many people are getting sucked into it left and right Even when confronted with the fact that they're scams They still get involved Now of course I don't know of any gringlers Who are dumb enough to get sucked into some of the scams The locals get sucked into But maybe it's because they just don't know Spanish well enough so No Latino involved in the scam Ever tries to recruit a gringo Just too hard to explain to someone who doesn't speak your language Now if you've been listening to this show for a while You might remember about two years ago I was talking about a guy A Latino guy, I'd say he's about 40 years old Hanging around a lot of the coffee shops that I frequent sometimes when I'm doing my power walk First time I met the guy is I spotted him sitting with one of my gringo expat buddies Former corrupt Boston cop Bob

[11:40] So I pulled up a chair And Bob said, Johnny, stay a while I want you to hear this Then he gave me a sly little wink on the side Like, you're not gonna believe this He said, Juanito, tell Johnny about this investment thing you're into Now remember, this guy speaks almost no English And Bob speaks pretty good Spanish But as good as mine So all this is going down in Spanish now That's why most gringos and expats will never get sucked into things like this Anyway, the guy said, I've been investing in this lending company that's online And he pulled up their Instagram page or whatever He said, I've been investing with these guys for four months now And I've quadrupled my money I said, well, how does it work? He said, well, first, you send up a small bank transfer You know, they show that it's legit And in one month, they give you 20% interest back on your money

[12:29] Then Bob, sitting to the side of him, gave me another sly wink I said, right, 20% a month He said, yeah, I hardly believed it was true at first, too So I only sent him the equivalent of like $50 And sure enough, next month, I looked up my account on their site And there was 60 bucks there So I let it ride and put another hundred in Next month, sure enough, 20% overall I'd put in I said, wait a minute, wait a minute How can anyone pay you 20% on your money? How are they earning their money? He said, well, they lend it out at 40% a month He said, look, here in Latin America, lending is an unregulated business There are really no rules about how much interest you can charge I mean, look at payday loans in the States, he said

[13:14] How he knew about payday loans in the States, I'll never know But I assume he probably was up there illegally, got caught and deported Anyway, Bob, my gringle buddy, turned to me and said, Johnny, it won't help to try to convince him He's got all the marks of a Ponzi scheme He's making money and he just won't believe it Bob said I tried to tell him, but he just won't listen So anyway, about a month later, I ran into him and Bob again Same table, same little coffee shop This time he whips out that app, has a big shit-eating grin on his face He's got $8,000 in there Then Bob turned to me and says, I keep telling him Johnny, take some of that cash out of there It's going to be time when it all disappears But he won't listen, in fact, he's trying to get me to invest He spent 20 minutes just today trying to get me to invest

[14:00] And as for that $8,000, it didn't multiply with his dough alone He got some of his friends and family members on board So anyway, about a month or so later, again, they're sitting at the same table Our new Mr. Moneybags Latino guy is sitting there Big shit-eating grin on his face again He said, yeah, I took some money out Took the wife and kids on a nice vacation Spent some real money at a resort And with that, Bob gave me a wide-eyed look and a shrug Like, who knows? Maybe this thing's okay Maybe it is for real But still, I'm not investing Anyway, during that little discussion that day Our sharp Latino investor told us that he had four or five of his family members Invested in making money hand over fist too Well, wouldn't you know what, weeks and then months went by I would run into Bob here and there

[14:46] And finally I said, Bob, whatever happened to your investment buddy, Juanito? He said, Johnny, I don't know I haven't seen him since you and I were with him That's a couple of months ago already Bob said just a few days ago, I was wondering about Juanito myself So I went on that investment website He said, Johnny, that famous lending site, it's gone Disappeared Funny enough, Bob said so has Juanito He used to see him at least once a week Hasn't seen him in months Which means maybe he's too embarrassed to show his face Or maybe his relatives, who he got to invest in that thing Put him in hospital or maybe he's high-tailed it back up to the States Who knows? Though I kind of doubt Bob says he's got enough money to pay a coyote Which brings us to another one of Bob's friends Every time I walk by and see Bob, he's sitting down there with somebody

[15:33] An old decrepit gringo, a young Latina or Latino Anyway, Bob's real affiable in that way He'll talk to anyone Even a bum begging for money on the street And Bob, he won't give him money, but he'll give him food They usually reject that I'd say about two years ago, Bob introduced me to another young friend of his This guy's about 25 years old Real handsome, kind of nerdy, kind of introverted Latino guy In fact, when I first got introduced to him, he just graduated with a business degree Speaks pretty good English too And guess what, after business school, after four years of college He ended up working at a call center Because being in his English is pretty good, it paid a lot more Than an entry-level job with a four-year business degree Here in Latin America, that's the way things are Anyway, a super nice guy, but he's always asking me and Bob

[16:19] And any other gringo he can talk to For tips on how to make money, how to get rich And I said to him once Why is it you're always asking about how to get rich quick Usually you have to work hard, be persistent, and have a little luck And being that he's a shy, introverted guy, it took him a while to spit it out He says, I want to have money because that's one of the best ways I know For an introverted guy to hook up with a pretty girl Oh, and I should tell you, he doesn't even make enough money to have his own car He takes Ubers and rides a bike to the coffee shops Anyway, I hadn't seen him in a while and I finally ran into him again About a week ago And when I asked him how things were going A big smile came to his face and he said, Johnny I'm going to this big formal event on Saturday It's a brand new business opportunity He said, I got a friend at the call center who's making 150 bucks a month doing nothing

[17:08] He said he showed me on his app It just keeps on getting deposited in his bank account every month And he's not even a go-getter like me Yet he's making 150 a month doing nothing I said, wait a minute, wait a minute What kind of business are you talking about? He said the company owns electric scooters and electric bikes And you know how those things get rented out all over the world Especially in tourist countries And every big city where they've got nice parks and recreational areas I said, yeah, and Now remember, all this has taken place in English He said there's two parts to the LSSC company The passive part and the active part The passive part is the one I want to get in on it He said, yeah, invest a little money Buying the scooters for people who want to do the active part They set up a little scooter, kiosk, rental place

[17:53] Could be anywhere in your country, Europe, the States And every time a scooter gets rented They get a percentage and you get a percentage And I said, oh, and you know somebody who's making money this way He said, yeah, yeah, like I said A guy at a call center where I work makes 150 bucks a month And this Saturday at the Crown Plaza Hotel The company's having a big recruitment drive He said, you want to go with me as my guest? I thought for a second, no way What a supremely boring waste of time Then I thought, wait a minute, wait a minute Latinos are always falling for these get rich quick schemes I'm going to go with them Why not? It should make for a good boots on the ground story And here's how it went I went with them They had a full buffet, sit down dinner They spent an hour giving away really good prizes Microwave ovens, TVs, air fryers

[18:40] And that was the first indication it was a pyramid scheme It was all free, you just had to attend Somehow it reminded me exactly of how timeshare people suck you in Oh, and I forgot to tell you There were at least 500 people in attendance there Every seat was filled lots of young 20-somethings By the way, there was a five-page color pamphlet in front of each seat I read mine in Spanish, of course It was multi-level marketing, a thinly disguised pyramid scheme Turns out your initial investment, I think it was like 500 bucks Paid for a series of lectures you had to attend Where they teach you how to recruit other people into the organization Sound familiar? Well, anyway, I read through the whole pamphlet It seemed like no one else did They were all glued to their cell phones

[19:26] Instagram and TikTok, as addicted 20 and 30-somethings are prone to do And right then and there I said to my young buddy Have you gone on the internet and checked these guys out? He said no, I said I have I said I found dozens of former LSSC Canada employees Crying out on Facebook about this being a blatant scam Hasn't anyone in this room done their homework on this company at all? Then I got on my phone, went on the Brave browser and showed them a site There are dozens and dozens of people in English saying it's a complete scam They're saying where are those scooters we're supposed to be buying I've never actually seen one in person Who truly owns and founded this business? Where does the money come from to keep financing and paying dividends? On the consumer fraud site, the questions get answered

[20:13] For example, for the scooters themselves, the LSSC websites Use artificially generated images of their products With none of the recruiters ever having seen in person the products That are supposed to be rented out at kiosks throughout the world Oh, and those websites that reveal scams say that the managers of LSSC The so-called captains and executives Are just people who've managed to recruit a lot of other people Having not actually invested their own money in scooters themselves Isn't it suspicious that online you can find thousands of people calling themselves LSSC business owners with no kiosks that actually rent scooters to be found? Like any pyramid scheme, take Amway Your money comes from people you have recruited And their money to the next layer of recruits and so on

[21:02] Until the whole thing crashes and burns Taking down personal relationships of people you've brought into the program Destroying people's trust in you and your trust in others And your money with it It's true, when you first get in, you can make a lot of money If all you do is recruit, if you're a great recruiter Creating another layer that pays out to you But what happens when there's no real product? But they try to convince you there is The recruiters are smart though They get you to invest around 500 bucks to take a 5-day course Where they tell you the quote, secrets of the business And how to make the big dough What they do in those classes is teach you how to recruit From your friends and family Just like Avon and Amway Only Avon and Amway have real products to sell

[21:47] Now remember, everything's in Spanish No one speaks English, no one investigates anything on the internet Here's what I found on an International Better Business Bureau site While I was sitting there at the table Here's a quote LSSC scooter rental business is scamming refugee and third world And immigrant populations in the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean The LSSC used to be in Canada Which left after many investors lost all their money a couple years ago The same thing happened in Africa and in China He says, LSSC is a multi-level marketing scheme system In recent times, there have been growing concerns about LSSC Who's incorporated in only one state, Colorado The company reportedly targets vulnerable communities Specifically refugees, immigrants

[22:34] And third world residents with fraudulent and deceptive practices The following outline shows how LSSC scooter rentals Have been preying on this demographic And how people should protect themselves from such scams LSSC users use Telegram and Whatsapp And now they've moved to Bond Chat app There is no real LSSC scooter business running out scooters in the US Yet they're registered as a business in Colorado Which they highlight in their recruitment meetings over and over again Very impressive to third world people who think the US is the center of business and finance So to impress the recruits LSSC has business registration documents from Colorado state But have no scooter rentals there What third world recruits don't understand is that anyone

[23:20] Can register a business in Colorado or any state for 100 bucks or so Mighty impressive though to a financially ignorant third world person By the way, all the money gets transferred around through crypto wallets Not through regular bank accounts Thus they avoid banking regulations and norms as well At first every recruit who's put in money does see a paper profit But if you choose to withdraw your money and not let it ride They take a 20% fee That's a four times higher money transfer rate than Western Union charges Now here's the killer It says LSSC When they have a recruitment seminar in a new city Target the refugee and immigrant community leaders first Then they persuade the local community leaders with gifts Urging their endorsement of the business Then it says no one has actually been able to pinpoint project managers of LSSC

[24:10] Nor find the people whose names are on the original incorporation documents Then it says if LSSC sets up an event in your area You'll find there is no such substantial legitimate income generated as they claim It's generated from the investments of the new recruits joining the program Now remember they're targeting third world people who are financially unsophisticated Mostly people in their 20s and 30s People who are susceptible to get rich quick schemes and marketing scams Oh and as usual I was the only gringo in the room of at least 500 people Who by the way got their formal invitations off TikTok and Instagram There were separate tables separate groups set my table eight people Now I have to tell you this The guy to the left of me was on TikTok the entire time

[24:59] To my right the young nerdy call center guy who invited me Further down the table was a guy in a decent suit with huge gold chain And I noticed the medallion on one of those gold chains You know the focal point the pendant a miniature golden automatic pistol How classy is that huh? And the guy next to him when he got up to go to the bathroom I noticed he had his pants at half mast Still sporting that oh so elegant ass crack pants look And in the end I asked everyone sitting at that table If they investigated the legitimacy of the company on the internet beforehand They all looked at me like I was nuts But all said they knew someone who joined and was making money monthly By the way I kept my mouth shut about what kind of a scam I thought it was And while playing devil's advocate I walked up one of the speakers

[25:46] He was standing at the bar and I asked him Out of the 500 people here tonight what do you expect the turnover rate to be You know the people that invest He said about 30% By the way I also found out by hook and crook checking on the internet There's not one single LSSC scooter rental company An actual physical location or kiosk advertised anywhere on the internet Man all I can say is what a scam Like I told the young guy who invited me after the event And he said what do you think Johnny should I invest I said if you do there's a huge chance you're gonna lose your money But then again you're only 25 so it'll be a great lesson learned Hey when I was young I got scammed too So will he or won't he well I think he will because his eyes were wide

[26:34] And amazed by all the numbers and percentages he was hearing I'm almost certain he'll sign on Nuff said about that and finally comes this email from Marcus He says Johnny Marcus here you're dead wrong about Mexico I've been to Cancun and Playa del Carmen Mexico I've not once seen a cartel beheading A kidnapping An extortion attempt Poverty Street corner garbage dumps Or illegal immigrants trying to cross a border Johnny you're wrong Mexico is a great plan B destination It's a land of swimming pools Margaritas Swim up bars Time shares Beautiful senoritas Never ending guacamole and chips And mariachi bands Ah Mexico it's truly a magical paradise I know I've been there trust me And all that crime and poverty and cartel stuff is just fake news

[27:22] To keep Americans going to Disney World in Vegas You're lying about Mexico Johnny Signed Mr. K Hmm Mr. K what can I say Touche Mr. K You've been listening to The Expat Files Living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one on one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email Theexpatfiles.gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week long Expat Insider Seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a 2 to 5 year head start on your plan B Send me an email Theexpatfiles.gmail.com No spamos