I have just returned from a month long business trip in Rio and wanted to give a little heads up about an old scam.
I have hit every angle of Rio's mongering scene with only a couple of disappointments. One being the following..
Saw this very petite 90 lb. blonde at the cafe outside of Help, turns out her name is Deborah. You will probably see her standing with her red headed cousin, I think her name is Michella, and maybe a brunette. They are all very petite
Deborah said they don't work alone until they get to know you and the price is quite reasonable for 2 or 3 girls. $200 for 2 and $275 for 3. So I was like, what the hell and took all 3 back.
So we have a few drinks and head back to my apartment to hang and drink a bit more.
When it came to action time the price went to $300 per girl, so I told them to get lost and gave each girl 100R or $60 but they didn't want to leave.
When they finally left they said they would get the police.
They did.
5 minutes later the door man rings up and tells me the police are here and I need to come down.
Long story short I paid another 50R to each girl and went to bed.
The police got their cut and left.

So if you see the petite blonde named Deborah or the red head, don't go there.

Did you do any research on ClubHombre prior to your trip? Did you not think that would in way, shape or form turn out good for you? Because if you could pull duplas for R$200 - I assume that's what you meant to post and not US$200 - then that alone should have told you it was a scam. Actually, bringing two girls you don't know back under any circumstances is a fairly stupid idea, regardless of price. I mean, "they said they don't work alone until they get to know you". Did that not ring a gigantic bell with you, raise the biggest red flag imaginable?

Well, they could have drugged you and stolen everything from the apartment, so paying up is only the second-worse thing you could have done. You did about 12 things wrong, chalk it up to cluelessness and move on with life.

Good heads up Orange.. Sorry for your experience.. It could've been worse. Even tho its expensive i think its best to do multiple girls at the termas, a reputable agency or if you know the girls well.

i don't have any experience in rio (mainly asia for me) but this story explains why i tend to avoid freelancers. i prefer paying bar fines.

all in all, it sounds like you made out okay on this one.

Why would you pay them 100R to leave?!! How long did they stay in your apartment?!! At the most you should have given them 10R, so they can take a cab back to the front of help! Next time a girl starts talking that "I will call the police bull shit!" just leave your place and take a cab to Balconey or another destination, come back a few hours later. If the police do show up, just tell them that you do not know that girl. And never ever let the police into your apartment!!!

This report is labeled incorrectly in my opinion, since pretty much there was no way bringing 3 unknown whores back to your apartment could have ever ended up as a positive experience. Regardless, if the girl was so-called 90lb spinner with blonde hair.

Even experienced and known termas girls have told me around Carnaval time, they would do the same shit to first-timer gringos -- that is raise prices once back in the apartment or scream for the police. They say it is pretty much a foolproof plan, since a gringo doesn't speak much if any Portuguese, wants no problems at all, and has money too.

These same girls are actually pretty cool girls -- but they have the attitude that if a guy wants to be stupid, then stupid is what he shall receive.

The only positive in this report is that the guy went downstairs and DID NOT let the police upstairs. NEVER let police in your apartment. It is actually preferred that you go downstairs or or perhaps call the girls' bluff and go to the local police station. The "real" police don't really give a shit about these whores, next to street kids they are about as low on the society level as it gets. They probably don't have all their paperwork in order, can't prove a permanent address, have drugs on them, etc, etc that they will tell you go fuck off knowing they have bigger than problems than scamming a gringo out of 100R. I am sure there are plenty of these Help whores now that know some kind municipal/rural type police -- these guys are bad news. These are the guys that have been known to do unscrupulous things.

There is a police station down on the same street as Monte Carlo and another one down at the corner of NS Copa/Francisco Sa. The tourist police station is up by Shopping Leblon. They will gladly kick a whore to the curb before getting bad press about throwing some gringo in jail over a couple bucks.

Anyway, the author of the report got off pretty lucky....there were a dozen other outcomes that could easily resulted in something worse.

Orange did a good job reporting this mess, whether or not he did stupid things to bring it on himself.

I like to think that I would avoid this situation, but hearing how it didn't work out for him was a help.

Interesting anecdote. The idea of bringing a couple of Help girls over to the apartment appeals to me but my main concern is the girls stealing my stuff (very common problem with dupla freelancers) so my counterstrategy is to conduct business at a love motel; however, I didn't realize these shakedown scams were also common.

First of all, I give these girls the talk that I know all the tricks, and if there's any funny stuff or changing the price, our deal is canceled and they're out of there with only my "just go away" money.

Would it have been better to not even come down to talk to the police?

Do you think these kinds of shakedowns might also occur at a love motel? And if so, should I do anything different? I suppose management at these places are not going to be very helpful!

And regarding love motels. . .
I can't remember the name of it now but there is a love motel in Copa that's been reported here for a time as having some shady stuff going on (like stealing credit card #s, jacking up prices in cahoots with the garotas) so it might be better to go to one in Ipanema or Centro instead of the overpriced ones in Copa; maybe also research these places in the daytime and clarify prices.

Love motels are a good way to go, personally I wouldn't trust half the garotas in Help to bring home solo. I would pay cash at the love motel, and while you still need to keep an eye on your wallet and stuff - like bring it to the bathroom when you shower, etc - it's certainly nice not to have to worry about someone stealing your computer or the TV or something.

As to the cop/hooker shakedown combo, I would think they would be less willing to do it at a motel or hotel. Of all the times I've heard of it being done, it's always been in an apartment. The point for them is to assume you're stupid and in fear of going to jail if you don't pay. Which is 100% bullshit and something a motel/hotel would most likely not allow to happen on their turf.

Orange, thanks for the heads up. I think we all or at least I know I have at times done things which on reflection were silly or dangerous.
However you shouldnt get flack for reporting it on the board as it made me think twice.
Thanks again, gald it didnt work out too bad.
The old play of going to the police yourself with hookers in tow works well... have done that once... they very soon cool their heels when they see your serious.. by the way I bet you the police were working in with these girls.. probabaly a scam they do 5-6 times a night.

I have had the same situation before with girls wanting to call the police - I told them, ok call the police. When they did, I told the police the girls were trying to rob me. After a bunch of back and forth I ended up paying nothing!

On another occassion the girl just gave up - but that was in a motel in Copa and after some back and forth cussing!

I also agree he should not have gotten any flack whatsoever for this post! Price in itself is not a clear indicator of things bound to go wrong! There are girls to be had for R$100 - R$150, so a dupla for R$200 - R$300 is possible. I would actually say I have had more good experiences with cheaper girls then with expensive ones.

I would say that the lesson to be learned is that it possible to get caught in these situations. Someone with experience and the ability to communicate in Portuguese, the situation can be favorably resolved. For newbies, this of course, is much harder. Plus us veterans get hardened and don't tend to back down like a newbie would.

I think this so common..... Another very common scam is quoting a price and then once the girls get back to the hotel they claim they quoted the price in Dollars or Euro's, versus Reals.

(Message edited by lovingmarvin on September 27, 2009)

might be the same i was warned about at balcony,one of the waiters told me she used to put cinderella?in your drink and then leave with half the apartment.this one was about 1.65 cm blondish rather thin non visible tatoo.smoking.said to use cocaine by one of the waiter.tried to get a photo.