Bait & Switch
Bait and Switch can apply to any aspect of life where consumer goods are offered. In a punting context it refers to fake photographs (photos of a different person such as: a celebrity or pornstar, old photos or photos of a different prostitute) used as "bait" to lure the punter into visiting them. By the time the punter has invested time and money in seeing the prostitute he might go through with the punt, despite being tricked. In recent reports many prostitutes that work from the same house may offer a different prostitute to the one pictured on the profile, this sometimes occurs with agency websites as well as independents.
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Consensus of most UKP posters
Bait and Switch is very bad behaviour and should be discouraged. It is very unhelpful to give B&S people money, even when the switch is to an equally attractive girl. As long as punters give them money, they will keep doing it. If all punters walked when the girl booked is not there, the practice would die out. While clearly this is not going to happen in the short term, it is still the right thing to do.
Common Examples of Bait and Switch
- Multiple prostitutes working from the same location.
You want to see Lucca who is a slim, size 8 blonde, Kyra answers the door she's size 8, but brunette and looks different. Kyra claims she is Lucca or that Lucca is sick and she is the only girl available. Lucca could be a genuine working girl, but this scam relies on the punter seeing the (often less attractive) girl offered, which some punters could be disappointed by.
- Old photographs.
If the photographs are very old (five or more years), many would class this as bait and switch. The woman may have gained or lost weight, changed hair colour and gained more wrinkles since they were taken, making it wholly inaccurate. It isn't a problem though if the photos have a date listed when they were taken in the description.
- Pictures of a different woman.
The photographs have no image matches, but the person you see during the booking is not a 22 year Asian woman, but is in fact nearer 40 years old. In some cases the punter won't walk and he may have a good time, but many believe the prostitute is taking the piss.
- Using celebrity photographs instead of real images of the escort.
In the past punters have seen AdultWork profiles use pictures of Kim Kardashian, model Noémie Lenoir and Jenna Jameson. Given the fact you will never see these women escort. It's a scam to sell the private gallery and the woman does not actually escort. In some cases it could be an actual escort (Not a gallery scam) and she will rely on the punter not walking when he finds out that he has been duped. Rarely men walk and the prostitute laughs all the way to the bank.
Examples of Scams by Agencies or Groups (multiple profiles)
Individual Escort Scams
- bellelondonescorts / PrettyLondonGirl - Evelyn - London Scam
- Profile of Newcastle B&S artist Ruby 1993 with links to UKP threads
- Gorgeous Cinthyaa - example of Romanian Bait and Switch Scam in Aldgate, London
- shamyla@hot Bait & Switch, Stratford, London
- @@ KYRA HOT @@ (bait and switch) in London
- Polish Bait and Switch in Northampton (Camilla_Sweetheart)
- Camilla_Sweetheart again - using multiple AW profiles
- Thai Bait and Switch on Vivastreet
