Friday, September 29, 2006   My friend Michael was scammed. It's
a scam that's popular in many countries, it targets men and it
worked like this:  Michael was hanging out by himself in a
touristy neighborhood when a polite, well-dressed guy approached
him and said, "Hey, are you new to Istanbul?"  The guy seemed
sincere and Mike is generally a good judge of character. The guy
said he was from out-of-town, wouldn’t it be fun to adventure
around a bit? Mike said sure.  They went to bar that the guy
chose and sat down for a few drinks. A few of the guy’s friends
showed up- at least one guy and two women. Everyone had a few
drinks and did a little dancing. When the bill came, it totaled
700 Euros. That’s when the guy stopped smiling and said,
“Alright, my friend, now you pay the bill.”  Mike didn’t have
the money. “No problem,” the guy said. “We’ll go to your house
and get it.”  They somehow threatened Mike (I didn’t ask
details). They took Mike to his apartment. There, they copied
his credit card numbers and too