September 1999 Topics
Bandit Tow Truck Driver, Courtesy Victim,
Insult Laws, Kickapoo Cough Cure ( Kickapoo Joy Juice), Mumping, Soft Money, Stuffing, Sycophant,
and Whip-saw
 

Insult laws prevent civilians and journalists from exposing fraud.
 

Fraud In Other Words: Professional Jargon and Uncensored Street Slang
By Larry C. Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA
 

Bandit Tow Truck Driver
An unauthorized driver who cruises the streets looking for vehicle breakdowns and accident victims. The driver is the first point of contact for a larger insurance scam. He listens to police band radios to learn the location of auto crashes. The driver gets business by speeding to the scene first, and taking advantage of the confusion to offer advice regarding towing, insurance coverage, attorney services, waiver of deductibles, medical services, or a free rental car. A bandit driver convinces the motorist that he was summoned by the police or auto club. He may scare off legitimate tow drivers with a weapon or verbal threats. The bandit may intimidate the victim into making an immediate payment for the tow or excessive storage fees. He tows the vehicle to a garage that overcharges for repairs and gives him a kickback for the referral. The driver receives more illegal kickbacks for lawyer and doctor referrals. In another variation of the scheme, a fraudster known as a “capper” or “runner” arrives at the scene first, offers fast advice to the victim, and calls the bandit tow truck driver.
“Auto Club Says Don’t Be a Victim of Bandit Tow Trucks,” Business Wire, AOL News, June 10, 1999.
 

Courtesy Victim
A person who is too polite to tell a stranger that he is not interested in an offer asking for money. The person feels obligated to say “yes” to “cold calls” (solicitations) on the telephone or at the door. Con artists don’t hesitate to take advantage of people with good manners.
“Ten Best Self-defense Tips for Older Investors,” California Department of Corporations, http://www.corp.ca.gov/pub/tipsratt.htm.
 

Insult Laws
Laws used to prevent civilians and journalists from criticizing politicians and exposing fraud, corruption and political manipulation. These antiquated censorship laws are still in effect in Latin American countries. They can shield public officials even when supposed affronts to their honor result from responsible journalism. In Chile, the State Security Law empowers judges to remove books and newspapers from circulation on the suspicion that the material offends a public official. The authors may receive five year prison terms. Insult laws originated early in the century and worsened during military dictatorships.
Sebastian Rotella, “Chilean Journalists Still Under Thumb of Law,” Los Angeles Times, Arizona Republic, May 9, 1999, p. A26.
 

Kickapoo Cough Cure (Kickapoo Joy Juice)
A curative product invented by “Doc” John Healy and Charles H. Bigelow. It was sold at Indian medicine shows in small towns from 1881 to 1912. Their company made money by franchising the shows for rental fees and collecting royalties from the sale of the products. Magician Harry Houdini sold Kickapoo Joy Juice for a while early in his career. The medicine was made in Worcester, Massachusetts, but named after a tribe of Algonquin-speaking Indians in Illinois and Wisconsin. Kickapoo Cough Cure was made of sugar, glycerine, vegetable extractive, aromatic bodies, inorganic salts, water, and alcohol. The hucksters claimed it “possessed properties recognized by the medical profession as necessary to the proper treatment of diseases of the lungs.” The American Medical Association disagreed and fined the company.
Richard Newnham, Guinness Book of Fakes, Frauds & Forgeries, Guinness Publishing, Enfield, Middlesex, 1991, p. 70, 71.
"Houdini," American Experience, PBS, January 25, 2000.
Photo: National Library of Medicine.


 

Mumping
A 1970s British term for the acceptance by the police of small gifts or bribes from tradespeople. Mump is another word for beg.
John Ayto, Oxford Dictionary of Slang, Oxford University Press, New York, 1998, p. 194.
 

Soft Money
Counterfeited paper bills or inflated currency that cannot be redeemed in gold or silver.
Jay Robert Nash, Dictionary of Crime, Paragon House, New York, 1992, p. 356.
 

Stuffing
A management scheme to mislead the investing public. It gives the false appearance that a company’s business is continuing to grow at record levels. However, the company is stuffing its distribution channels by delivering more product inventory than its distributors can sell. Eventually the scheme falls apart as distributors balk at further shipments, prices have to be slashed, merchandise returns increase dramatically, suppliers need to be paid, and stock prices plummet.
“Complaint Alleges Safeskin Stuffed its Distribution Channels Says Pomerantz Firm,” AOL News, April 20, 1999.
 

Sycophant
A self-serving informer. A person who makes accusations in an attempt to advance himself or to win the favor of rich, famous and powerful people. An apple polisher. A whistleblower. The ancient Greek term sukophantes combined sukon (fig) and phainen (to show). It described an informer who turned in violators of an unpopular law prohibiting the export of figs from Athens. A sycophant is despised by the persons he denounces and the persons he tries to influence.
Robert Hendrickson, QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1997, p. 652.
 

Whip-saw
To cheat or be cheated in two ways at once or by the joint action of two others. The term alludes to a long narrow cross-cut saw. With a lumberjack at each end, it can cut manually in two opposite directions.












John Ayto and John Simpson, Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Great Britain, 1992, p. 285.
Photo: Mississippi State University Forestry Club
 

ã Copyright 1999 Larry C. Adams.
All rights reserved.
 

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