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| The '''art student scam''' is a [[confidence trick]] in which young people pretend to be art students and try to sell mass-produced prints, which they represent to be paintings of their own production.<ref name=moyes/> In several early instances of the scam the sellers represented themselves as Israeli art students, but the scam is international with instances reported of Chinese, French, Chilean, and other nationalities pretending to be art students and the scam being reported in Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the United States since at least 2000. The art is often sold door-to-door, without the need for sham exhibition sites or art stores.<ref name=moyes/><ref name="ABCAustralia">{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/18/2220627.htm |title=Foreign students caught up in fake art scam |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=April 18, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Canada">{{cite news |url=http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/08/19/10523156.html |title="Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness |publisher=[[Calgary Sun]] |date=August 19, 2009 |first=Renato |last=Gandia}}</ref><ref name="Australia">{{cite news |url=http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/oil-painting-scam-hits-the-border/1494344.aspx |title=Oil painting scam hits the Border |publisher=[[Border Mail]] |date=April 22, 2009}}</ref><ref name=NZ>{{cite news|publisher=[[The New Zealand Herald|NZ Herald]]|date=February 4, 2004|last=Dye|first=Stuart|title=Brush with law reveals art scam|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3547311}}<br>{{cite news |publisher=[[Star News Group]] |date=January 18, 2006 |first=Narelle |last=Coulter |url=http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/8437 |title=Door slammed on ‘original’ art scam}}<br>{{cite news|publisher=[[Waikato Times]]|date=January 19, 2010|first=Belinda|last=Feek|url=http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/waikato-times/mi_8054/is_20100119/warnings-art-scam/ai_n48688542/?tag=content;col1|title=Warnings out over art scam}}</ref> In the early 2000's, "agents of the DEA, ATF, Air Force, Secret Service, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service documented some 130 separate incidents of 'art student' encounters" across the United States, which raised unproven allegations of Israeli spying.<ref name="Ketcham2002">{{cite journal|last=Ketcham|first=Christopher|date=May 7, 2002|title=The Israeli "art student" mystery|journal=Salon.com|publisher=Salon Media Group|url=http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html|accessdate=July 26, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Haaretz"/><ref>{{cite news |title= Scam art ripples Peninsula 'Students' up-sell cheap, mass-produced works door-to-door|newspaper=Peace Arch News |publisher= |location=The (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada) |date= Tuesday, August 10, 2004 |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmd= |bibcode= |doi= |id= |date= |page=1 |work=News|quote="An Israeli art scam with suggested links to espionage and fundamentalist fundraisers may have turned up on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. At least half a dozen locals-probably more-were likely duped by the hoax, which has for years puzzled North American authorities.Young Israelis posing as art students travel door-to-door hocking mass-produced art as their own. The works are worth little, but still sell for hundreds of dollars to naive customers."}}</ref> | | The '''art student scam''' is a [[confidence trick]] in which young people pretend to be art students and try to sell mass-produced prints, which they represent to be paintings of their own production.<ref name=moyes/> In several early instances of the scam the sellers represented themselves as Israeli art students, but the scam is international with instances reported of Chinese, French, Chilean, and other nationalities pretending to be art students and the scam being reported in Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the United States since at least 2000. The art is often sold door-to-door, without the need for sham exhibition sites or art stores.<ref name=moyes/><ref name="ABCAustralia">{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/18/2220627.htm |title=Foreign students caught up in fake art scam |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=April 18, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Canada">{{cite news |url=http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/08/19/10523156.html |title="Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness |publisher=[[Calgary Sun]] |date=August 19, 2009 |first=Renato |last=Gandia}}</ref><ref name="Australia">{{cite news |url=http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/oil-painting-scam-hits-the-border/1494344.aspx |title=Oil painting scam hits the Border |publisher=[[Border Mail]] |date=April 22, 2009}}</ref><ref name=NZ>{{cite news|publisher=[[The New Zealand Herald|NZ Herald]]|date=February 4, 2004|last=Dye|first=Stuart|title=Brush with law reveals art scam|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3547311}}<br>{{cite news |publisher=[[Star News Group]] |date=January 18, 2006 |first=Narelle |last=Coulter |url=http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/8437 |title=Door slammed on ‘original’ art scam}}<br>{{cite news|publisher=[[Waikato Times]]|date=January 19, 2010|first=Belinda|last=Feek|url=http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/waikato-times/mi_8054/is_20100119/warnings-art-scam/ai_n48688542/?tag=content;col1|title=Warnings out over art scam}}</ref> In the early 2000's, "agents of the DEA, ATF, Air Force, Secret Service, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service documented some 130 separate incidents of 'art student' encounters" across the United States, which raised unproven allegations of Israeli spying.<ref name="Ketcham2002">{{cite journal|last=Ketcham|first=Christopher|date=May 7, 2002|title=The Israeli "art student" mystery|journal=Salon.com|publisher=Salon Media Group|url=http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html|accessdate=July 26, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Haaretz"/><ref>{{cite news |title= Scam art ripples Peninsula 'Students' up-sell cheap, mass-produced works door-to-door|newspaper=Peace Arch News |publisher= |location=The (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada) |date= Tuesday, August 10, 2004 |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmd= |bibcode= |doi= |id= |date= |page=1 |work=News|quote="An Israeli art scam with suggested links to espionage and fundamentalist fundraisers may have turned up on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. At least half a dozen locals-probably more-were likely duped by the hoax, which has for years puzzled North American authorities.Young Israelis posing as art students travel door-to-door hocking mass-produced art as their own. The works are worth little, but still sell for hundreds of dollars to naive customers."}}</ref> |
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| ==Israelis==
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| ===North America===
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| ====Allegations of espionage====
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| News outlets in the [[Pacific Northwest]], specifically in [[Seattle]] and [[Vancouver]], reported young people posing as Israeli students selling art in the region as early as the summer of 2000. Reporters Brit Hume and Carl Cameron, in a Fox News Special Report, first reported the possible connection between the 'art students' and alleged Israeli spying in a programme discussing broader allegations of Israeli espionage..<ref>{{cite video | people = [[Carl Cameron]] | date = December 11, 2001 | title = [[Special Report with Brit Hume]] | medium = Television | publisher = [[Fox News Channel]] | time = 2:10}}</ref> In the 2000-2001 U.S. version the 'art students' reported to be from either the University of Jerusalem or the fake Bazala Academy.<ref>{{cite video | people = [[Carl Cameron]] | date = December 11, 2001 | title = [[Special Report with Brit Hume]] | medium = Television | publisher = [[Fox News Channel]] | time = 2:10}}</ref> Other stories referred to false claims to be studying at the Hebrew University or the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and to be raising money for art supplies or scholarships, or to be students from an Israeli kibbutz on an exchange with the University of California Berkeley.<ref>Wilton, Suzanne, "Art-sales-scam ringleaders ordered to leave Canada", ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'', Vancouver, B.C.: Aug 7, 2004. pg. A.8.</ref><ref name="Seattle">{{cite news |url=http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4007381.html |title=Information On An Israeli Art Scam |publisher=[[KOMO-TV|Komo News]] |date=August 30, 2006}}</ref>
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| After the scam hit many facilities and private homes of staff members of the [[Drug Enforcement Agency]] (DEA), the DEA suspected an espionage program. Both the DEA<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1387069/US-arrests-200-young-Israelis-in-spying-investigation.html |title=Telegraph.co.uk: US arrests 200 young Israelis in spying investigation | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | first=Ben | last=Fenton | date=March 7, 2002 | accessdate=April 25, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Sunday Herald">{{cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060423065411/http://ww1.sundayherald.com/37707|title=Sunday Herald (UK) via Internet Archive: Were they part of a massive spy ring which shadowed the 9/11 hijackers and knew that al-Qaeda planned a devastating terrorist attack on the USA?}}</ref> and the [[Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive]]<ref name="NCIX">{{cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070124104741/http://www.ncix.gov/archives/nacic/news/2001/mar01.html |title=Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive: Suspicious Visitors to Federal Facilities (archived at Internet Archive}}</ref> released reports about the suspicious behavior of supposed Israeli art students. The latter distinguished between two possible groups: "One group has an apparently legitimate money-making goal while the second, perhaps a non-Israeli group, may have ties to a Middle Eastern Islamic fundamentalist group."<ref name=NCIX/> The 60 pg. DEA report stated that the 'art students' entered secure areas of government buildings and several military bases, including two with stealth aircraft and other secret operations, and took photographs.<ref name=insight/> The internal DEA report was leaked in 2001, and was the basis of the media coverage.<ref name="Haaretz">{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/spies-or-students-1.45243 |title=Spies, or students? Were the Israelis just trying to sell their paintings, or agents in a massive espionage ring? |first=Nathan |last=Guttman |date=May 7, 2002 |publisher=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref> Several dozen Israelis in their twenties, including supposed art students, were deported for undertaking paid work not allowed by their visas.<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/06/internationaleducationnews.highereducation|title=Israeli student 'spy ring' revealed|publisher=[[The Guardian]]|date=March 6, 2002|accessdate=March 6, 2010 | location=London}}</ref> [[The New York Times]] along with the Washington Post "Post hit up their go-to people inside Justice and FBI and CIA" and couldn't confirm the story, numerous officials are said to have laughed it off.
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| On March 6, 2002, the same day that the Guardian published an article entitled "Israeli Student 'Spy Ring' Revealed," the Washington Post reported that the [[United States Department of Justice]] described the allegations of spying as an "[[Urban legend|urban myth]] and the 60 pg. dea document as possibly the work of a single disgruntled employee. <ref name=Guardian>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/mar/06/internationaleducationnews.highereducation|title=Israeli student 'spy ring' revealed|publisher=[[The Guardian]]|date=March 6, 2002|accessdate=March 6, 2010 | location=London}}</ref><ref name="Forward">{{cite news |url=http://www.forward.com/articles/5250/ |title=Espionage Ruled Out in Case of Bad Art |publisher=[[The Forward]] |first=Seamus |last=McGraw}}</ref><ref name=Seattle1>{{cite news |url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020307&slug=notspies07 |title=U.S. officials dismiss report of Israeli spies |last=Mintz |first=John |coauthors=Dan Eggen |date=March 7, 2002 |work=Seattle Times |accessdate=October 18, 2008}}</ref> [[Salon.com]], however, wrote that the nature of the memo made its authorship irrelevant, since the memo was a compilation of field reports by dozens of named agents and officials from DEA offices and government facilities across the United States. The report included names, driver's license numbers, passport numbers and in some cases the Israeli military id numbers of the 'students'. Military service is compulsory in Israel; however, some of the 'students' were still on active duty and "many of the students, the DEA report noted, had backgrounds in Israeli military intelligence and/or electronics surveillance; one was the son of a two-star Israeli general, and another had served as a bodyguard to the head of the Israeli army." <ref name="Ketcham2002">{{cite journal|last=Ketcham|first=Christopher|date=May 7, 2002|title=The Israeli "art student" mystery|journal=Salon.com|publisher=Salon Media Group|url=http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html|accessdate=July 26, 2010}}</ref>
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| Five days after the ''Post'' article, on March 11th, the investigative magazine of The Washington Times, ''INSIght on the News'' quoted a senior Justice Department official as saying "We think there is something quite sinister here but are unable at this time to put our finger on it."<ref name="Ketcham2002" /><ref name=insight>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_12_18/ai_84396672|title=Intelligence agents or art students? The DEA and Justice Department believe there was something sinister behind unusual visits Israeli 'art students' paid to employees of law-enforcement agencies|date=1 April 2002|work=Insight on the News|last=Rodriguez|first=Paul M.|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref> Another federal source suggested that "The higher-ups don't want to deal with this and neither does the FBI because it involves Israel." <ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_12_18/ai_84396672|title=Intelligence agents or art students? The DEA and Justice Department believe there was something sinister behind unusual visits Israeli 'art students' paid to employees of law-enforcement agencies|date=1 April 2002|work=Insight on the News|last=Rodriguez|first=Paul M.|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref> Salon also interviewed a "high-level intelligence agent" and "Washington insider" referred to Salon by what "turned out to be a veteran D.C. correspondent who has close sources in the CIA and the FBI ." The intelligence agent, codenamed Stability, claimed that the ''Post'' article was a plant by the FBI to kill the story.<ref name="Ketcham2002">{{cite journal|last=Ketcham|first=Christopher|date=May 7, 2002|title=The Israeli "art student" mystery|journal=Salon.com|publisher=Salon Media Group|url=http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html|accessdate=July 26, 2010}}</ref>
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| Haaretz treated the spying allegations as inconclusive and noted with regards to the ''Post'' article, "Even this report was not enough to finally kill off the affair. Two weeks later, the New York Jewish weekly, ''Forward'', published a report connecting the spy affair with the arrest in New Jersey, on September 11, of five Israelis whose behavior was defined as suspicious. The five were employed by a moving company and did not have valid work permits. According to ''Forward'', the FBI concluded that the five were on a spy mission on behalf of the Mossad, and that the moving company was nothing more than a front. This story also died out quietly."<ref name="Haaretz"/>
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| Israel's repeated response to claims of spying are that they are "nonsense."<ref name="Haaretz"/> To this, journalist John Sugg writing in the Atlanta based newspaper ''[[Creative Loafing]]'' commented that Israel's denial was "predictable" and that "Israel in the past has belligerently denied wrongdoing until long after the truth was obvious."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://clatl.com/2002-03-20/fishwrapper.html|title=Update: The spies who came in from the art sale|last=Sugg|first=John|date=20 March 2002|work=Creative Loafing Atlanta|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref> The [[Anti-Defamation League|ADL]] noted the popularity of the allegations among white supremacist and far-right [[conspiracy theorist]]s, and argues that "For anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists ... a conclusion was easy to reach: the alleged spy ring was "proof" of Israel and the Jews' inherent treachery and utter disregard for non-Jewish human life."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/9-11conspiracytheories.pdf|title=Unraveling Anti-Semitic 9/11 Conspiracy Theories|last=Tobias|first=Glen A.|coauthors=Abraham H. Foxman|year=2003|work=Anti-Defamation League|publisher=Gorowitz Institute|accessdate=11 August 2010}}</ref>
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| =====Organized crime theory=====
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| An alternate theory to espionage is that the "art students" were connected to Israeli organised crime, known to play a major role in the [[MDMA|Ecstasy]] trade in the United States. A DEA official suggested that they were engaged in surveillance on the DEA.<ref name="Ketcham2002" /><ref name=Forward/> A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington said that Israel had cooperated with the US on the Ecstasy case and although denying the spying claim said "That's not to say that there isn't any organized crime involving Israeli citizens."<ref name=insight/>
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| ====Canada====
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| The deportation of another group of Israeli art scammers from Canada in 2004, again for working in violation of their visas, generated another bout of speculation about spying, but Canadian officials said that the scam did not focus on government officials and offices. [[Chip Berlet]] commented that while the original espionage theories were possible "It strains credulity that once you have an operation blown, you’d simply recycle it."<ref name=Forward/> The scam recurred in 2009 in [[Calgary]],<ref name="Canada"/> and [[Warman, Saskatchewan]]; eight people claiming to be students from Israel, Germany and France were arrested and 100 paintings were seized by the [[RCMP]] and Border Services.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newstalk980.com/story/20090904/21900|title=Scam 'Artists' in Warman|last=Slobodian|first=Erin|date=4 September 2009|work=News Talk 980|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref>
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| ===Australia and New Zealand===
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| People posing as Israeli art students were reported in Australia and New Zealand from as early as 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.designfederation.net/general/beware-of-door-to-door-art-scams/|title=Beware of “Israeli” door-to-door art scams!|last=Rogers|first=Sy|date=2 March 2009|work=Design Federation|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref>
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| <ref name=moyes>{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/east-bays-courier/3403169/Warning-on-art-scam|title=Warning on art scam|last=Moyes|first=Sarah|coauthors=Michelle Robinson|date=5 March 2010|work=East And Bays Courier|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref> The paintings are worth around [[AUD]]5, but are passed off as being worth hundreds of dollars.<ref name="ABCAustralia"/> Three backpackers, an Israeli and two Chileans, were taken to court in Dundedin for the scam in 2003, but were discharged as the judge said that they were "minnows" in the organisation. They made [[New Zealand dollar|NZ$]]15,000 in three weeks from the scam. The NZ Consumers' Institute suspected that an Auckland man was the organiser of the operation.<ref name="NZ"/> A 23-year-old man was arrested in New South Wales, Australia, for operating the scam and 50 oil paintings were found in his car.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/13/2445638.htm?site=idx-nsw|title=Police arrest 23yo over alleged art scam|date=13 December 2008|work=ABC News|accessdate=29 July 2010|location=Australia}}</ref> An adviser for the New Zealand [[Ministry of Economic Development (New Zealand)#Organisation|Consumer Affairs Ministry]] said that "All around the world, students from various countries are doing this". She suggested that the scam's organiser may place advertisements in backpackers’ lodges to recruit students.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/3399549/Door-to-door-art-scam|title=Door-to-door art scam|last=Robinson|first=Michelle|date=4 March 2010|work=North Shore Times|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref> The scammers have also claimed to be Greek, Argentinian and French.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/local/news/bogus-student-touting-art-fakes-around-clive/3912395/|title=Bogus student touting art fakes around Clive|last=Thomson|first=Alister|date=12 April 2010|work=Hawke's Bay Today|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/local/news/art-sellers-painting-a-suspect-picture/3912676/|title=Art sellers painting a suspect picture|date=18 April 2010|work=The Northern Advocate|accessdate=29 July 2010}}</ref>
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| ==China== | | ==China== |
The art student scam is a confidence trick in which young people pretend to be art students and try to sell mass-produced prints, which they represent to be paintings of their own production.[1] In several early instances of the scam the sellers represented themselves as Israeli art students, but the scam is international with instances reported of Chinese, French, Chilean, and other nationalities pretending to be art students and the scam being reported in Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the United States since at least 2000. The art is often sold door-to-door, without the need for sham exhibition sites or art stores.[1][2][3][4][5] In the early 2000's, "agents of the DEA, ATF, Air Force, Secret Service, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service documented some 130 separate incidents of 'art student' encounters" across the United States, which raised unproven allegations of Israeli spying.[6][7][8]
China
Many of the prints sold are mass produced in Asia. Sometimes referred to as "Hong Kong horrors", they are essentially posters mass-produced and printed on rough paper, making the lack of brush strokes less apparent. In a New Zealand scam, a man was believed to have travelled to Asia to purchase the prints. The approximate $200 sale price was reported to be divided up with $60 to the backpackers selling the prints, $20 to the local organizer, and $70-$110 retained by the ringleader.[5]
In China, scammers approach tourists at popular attractions such as the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.[9] The scammer speaks English well enough to get into a conversation with the foreigner. The scammer claims to be an art student whose works are on display at a nearby exhibition which is part of the scam and sells mass-produced art reproductions at exorbitant prices. There are warnings about this scam in tourist guides.[10][11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named moyes
- ↑ "Foreign students caught up in fake art scam". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 18, 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/18/2220627.htm.
- ↑ Gandia, Renato (August 19, 2009). ""Israeli art scam" preying on people's kindness". Calgary Sun. http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2009/08/19/10523156.html.
- ↑ "Oil painting scam hits the Border". Border Mail. April 22, 2009. http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/oil-painting-scam-hits-the-border/1494344.aspx.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dye, Stuart (February 4, 2004). "Brush with law reveals art scam". NZ Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3547311.
Coulter, Narelle (January 18, 2006). "Door slammed on ‘original’ art scam". Star News Group. http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/8437.
Feek, Belinda (January 19, 2010). "Warnings out over art scam". Waikato Times. http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/waikato-times/mi_8054/is_20100119/warnings-art-scam/ai_n48688542/?tag=content;col1.
- ↑ Ketcham, Christopher (May 7, 2002). "The Israeli "art student" mystery". Salon.com (Salon Media Group). http://dir.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index.html. Retrieved on July 26, 2010.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Haaretz
- ↑ "Scam art ripples Peninsula 'Students' up-sell cheap, mass-produced works door-to-door". Peace Arch News (The (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada)): p. 1. ""An Israeli art scam with suggested links to espionage and fundamentalist fundraisers may have turned up on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. At least half a dozen locals-probably more-were likely duped by the hoax, which has for years puzzled North American authorities.Young Israelis posing as art students travel door-to-door hocking mass-produced art as their own. The works are worth little, but still sell for hundreds of dollars to naive customers.""
- ↑ "The famous art show ripoff in Tiananmen Square was recently cleaned up for the Olympics. This was a pretty funny one, where English-speaking 'art students' would strike up conversation with overseas visitors and tell them they happen to be in town for an art show across the street. The show was closing today when I first heard the spiel in 2006, it was closing today when I returned to Beijing in 2007, but the pre-Olympics cleanup really seems to have closed the collection of knockoff art." [1]. See also [2].
- ↑ Frommer's China, Wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-52658-3, p. 140. [3] "You should also be leery of any English-speaking youngsters who claim to be art students and offer to take you to a special exhibit of their work. [...] The art, which you will be pressured to buy, almost always consists of assembly-line reproductions of famous (or not-so-famous) paintings offered at prices several dozen times higher than their actual value."
- ↑ China Tourism Scams
Template:Scams and confidence tricks
