The furor surrounding the leaking of the data from the Ashley Madison website is still erupting. The data has reinforced what everyone already knows, that there are around ten times more men than women seeking sex outside marriage. So why are men surprised; shocked, to discover that they have been trapped into a sex scam.
What? A sex scam! Who would have thought that such a thing would exist?
The internet has become a sex tool like no other opening doors for easy access to lovers, or for those craving to explore their inner sexual fantasies; it's a risky business and can be costly.
Here I am working as a professional outsider of the sex industry, running a service that leases apartments to lovers and others for an hour, or two. What a privileged is has been to see the industry from both sides of the coins, those who work and the targets of the schemes.
Fake profiles, they are well known. It's the money scams that can hide under the banner of assured secrecy, knowing that a man will think very carefully before going to the authorities to make a complaint.
"No! Harriet, it's not a scam." Brianna was a mature sex worker who when times were tough had joined the 'Agency' involved in a scheme she called 'dating'.
As we lazed in the sun her husky voice broke through the cloud of smoke that hung around her lips. She'd found a new gold mine and claimed to be grossing around $1500 per day.
Each month the Agency would give her a list of names they'd collected through online dating sites.
"Harriet, the surgeon's fallen in love with me! Here, here look at this text. He's offered to pay 'Rain's' vet bills". This was her aging dog whose teeth needed attention; she could have offered her own at the same time.
Ongoing payments were the icing on the dating cake but came after delicate negotiations between the agency and the client.
Yet most of her money came from booking a hotel room, meeting a man for a date in which he would offer to pay at least 50% of the cost of the room. Then an hour later onto the next date, repeat, repeat, repeat for up to 6 times that day.
Barry had been looking for an affair when for the first time in 'ages' a woman responded to his email. "She looked gorgeous, so why not, we agreed to meet. She'd had a lot of work (plastic surgery) done, but the small talk was fun. Then suddenly she threw off her blouse and said 'well, we both know what we're here for.' She grunted a few times, the sex was terrible."
After he'd finished she rushed him out to the lift. He was a little dizzy still then he realized he'd left his glasses on the pillow. Although he was half blind when the lift door opened there was no escaping seeing the image of another man opened the hotel room door. It took a long while for him to process what had happened but left him annoyed to say the least.
Other sex scams are even more audacious. A lovely man received an email from Mistress Mavis who demanded upfront "absolute immediate obedience, you will worship my divine body".
He was a man who liked a giggle so engaged his Mistress. "I had to demonstrate my seriousness about 'the lifestyle' by paying for an online order of equipment. Not to worry it will provide for many 'passionate encounters'".
"I told her 'As you know I'm a very successful property investor (not true) so money is no problem. Where can I send the $2000'"?
Without any subtly Mistress Mavis sent through a bank account for 'Arthur Rolland' or something like that and Goggle Images immediately threw up the photo of a middle aged, chubby man with a wickedly curious smile.
Scams go both ways and sex workers are not without being bitten.
