Complaint Review: Pavlos Angelatos

"One aspect of caring about people is respecting their property and protecting their money. Be mindful to return lost objects, to give suggestions about how to buy things economically, to prevent damage to possessions, and to prevent needless waste. Your caring for the material and financial concerns of another person is a matter of your spirituality.

If you see that someone has left his possessions unguarded in an area where they might be stolen, bring them to a safe place and then tell him that it's wise to be more careful.

If you personally have had some loss through negligence or through the dishonesty of someone else, use this as an opportunity to help save others from similar loss. This can be a helpful reframe. "My personal loss puts me into a position where I can do kindness for others." The more people you help, the greater the benefit you have from your original investment. True, this wasn't an investment that you willfully decided on. But once you have had your experience, the distress will be minimized by the knowledge that you are able to help others in ways that you wouldn't have thought of without your own loss."

-Zelig Pliskin

As if the life of Pavlos Angelatos wasn't strange enough! Now he appears as the financial backer of this Greek everest expedition. But even in this he commits another fraud. Follow my reasoning here and you will see what I mean.

If you are familiar with the movie Catch Me if You Can, it might help to explain Pavlos Angelatos. The plot involves a young man who overcomes his circumstances by pretending to be an airline pilot, a doctor, and a bank examiner. He creates a string of deception in each identity. He also creates a string of bogus cheques and gradually creates a pattern for the FBI to catch him.

Pavlos has created a string of fallacious business to business operations that are as criminal as those in the movie, but has managed to keep on going in spite of the best efforts of the Attorney Generals of several states.

He's managed to get the scammed business to write the cheque and then send out a worthless directory or some leads' for mortgage companies. The scam works because you pay up front.

He seems to have exploited economic development programs to get reduced rent and subsidies for his telephone operations in Montral and Halifax. I have the news articles about how World Wide Source or Oratel will supposedly create new jobs and that they are getting assistance.

And now old Pavlos wants us to believe that he is graciously funding an all-Greek expedition!

It CAN'T be all Greek if WE FUNDED IT!!!

So I have a request for all the good folks involved in Greek Mountaineering. In the spirit of truth, let the team carry the Canadian flag -- after all think of all the economic development money Pavlos has used for locating his call centres! Between Montral and Halifax/Dartmouth, Nova Scotia we're talking major funding here!

Of Course we want the United States flag carried because at $399.95 a pop we deserve some recognition, even if it WASN'T the brightest thing we ever did with our money! Not to mention the flag of our state of Georgia, since it is a very real possibility that the Olympics may have to be held closer to Athens, Georgia (in the old venues at Atlanta) as the construction crews in Greece are all behind schedule.

They've already given up on having a roof on the swimming pool and Santiago Calatrava's roof for the Olympic stadium is looking pretty unlikely at best according to an article in the Washington Post. And how about the flag of Nepal -- the Sherpa people do the actual work in a climb! Thus we respectfully ask that the Greek flag be only in addition to those we have mentioned.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but mention Nepali jails... they can be wretched! Could we find suitable accommodations for Pavlos in one as part of this celebration!