User:TheInquiringMind

S.O.S Man

SOS Man – Also can be referred to as a con man, con artist, scam artist.

A SOS Man is a term coined by Carolyn Bean in the early 2000s to describe the “venture capitalists” and “entrepreneurs” she encountered while working on Bay Street in the early 2000s, although the term was actually developed just after the Bre-X scam in 1997. The phrase is two-pronged:

1.      “SOS Man” stands for “Snake Oil Sales Man”, and describes the individuals who actively promote valueless and/or outright fraudulent investments ;

2.      The “SOS” is also used to describe the individual’s source of funds as unearned. Instead, about 99% of these individuals were men who received large amounts of cash for “start up” money from close relatives including parents and spouses.

A primary characteristic of the SOS Man was the adamant belief and vigorous promotion of their false successes when, in fact, they tended to lose all or most of the initial and subsequent funding. The individuals typically had no business training, and were usually unable to articulate a simple business plan beyond vague outlines but are able to paint pictures of vast rewards as soon as the investment came to fruition. In other words, these individuals identified themselves as the “idea guys” in any and all ventures. Many of the individuals were the sons or nephews of prominent investment banking managers (although a small number were simply excellent salesmen), all of who preyed on vulnerable and gullible people with cash to invest.

While the pyramid scheme s are considered another example of the activities of the SOS Man, Ms Bean’s experience tended to be based in penny stock scam s in the Oil & Gas and Mining industries. Unsurprisingly, after each disastrous scheme was discovered, the SOS Man was always able to obtain more “funding” for the next hot investment.