European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january .4, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 9 get Rich scams tantalize East germans Berlin apr psst Hans Here s your Chance to invest in a Chinchilla ranch. Send Money to the first pame on this list and in two weeks you la get it Back 100 times Over. See How easy it is to get Rich. On top of All the problems confronting the 16 million people of Eastern Germany As they confront capitalism Here come the frauds the Price gouges and Chain letter organizers trying to trick Gullible new Consumers. Consumer organizations and police Are issuing warnings to Eastern germans who under the former communist government had no need for insurance or the Chance to try fancy investment deals. But since july when the West German currency replaced the i convertible East German Mark Many East germans have come into Large amounts of real moneys As their savings were converted. _ they became targets for Shady As Well As legitimate business deals and most had Little experience in sorting Good offers from bad ones or How to shop for a reasonable  some Eastern germans Harbor dreams of sudden wealth in their country a fast transition to capitalism often leaping at what appear to be chances for big Money. / a. A. A. A a a. A a a they Are a new target group for fraud a said Thorsten Piepgras an adviser in Berlin with the consumer Central a nationwide group that protects Consumers tests products and publishes a Magazine offering advice to Consumers. Piepgras said Many Eastern germans Are prey for shyster who a use their Gross inexperience and Lack of knowledge to trick them because of their  one ruse according to the. Consumer Central in a recent warning notice is the reappearance of Chain let ters which had been absent for decades in Germany. Such schemes Are also called a a pyramids or  advertised in local newspapers around Eastern Germany they Beckon people to join a self help groups. Membership requires them to Send anywhere from $6 to $2,000 to one or More Bank accounts and to recruit others to the scheme. Members Are then told to watch their own Bank accounts grow As their names reach the top of the Pyramid and new members Send them Money. A there is Assurance of profit Only for the organizers and most of them live abroad a the consumer Central warning states. According to Stern Magazine whole towns in Eastern Germany have gone crazy Over such schemes. Bad Duben a sleepy Hamlet near Leipzig with 9,000 residents has half its families trying to sign up new Chain letter participants the towns mayor Hans Gunter Lange was  saying. The mayor Lias had a Rock thrown through his window since he spoke out against the Chain letters. Stern reported. Police in Eastern Berlin have put up posters in Public buildings warning against Chain letters and other dubious get Rich Quick schemes that come in the mail or appear in newspaper personal ads. A a done to let yourself a be  read the warnings.  Central says people also can be duped by harmless looking ads Foi part time work that instruct respondents to Send Moncy for a list of jobs it said police Are also trying to track Down the author of an and offering bogus investments in chinchillas another trap for the unschooled consumer is the so called a Coffee trip offering to take customers to a supposed bargain Sale with Coffee and a snack thrown in. The products Are mostly of Good Quality consumer Central says but they Are overpriced. The organization has set up offices in Eastern Berlin and elsewhere in Eastern Germany to give advice to people confused by offers of insurance or investment opportunities As Well As to let new Consumers read the organization s test results of cars Home appliances and other  minister Calls army stabilizing Force Moscow up a defense minister Dmitri Yazoo acknowledged wednesday that soldiers returning from Eastern Europe face a critical housing shortage but he said the army is a stabilizing free in soviet society. Yazoo also said the soviet Union has destroyed almost All the missiles it prom i cd to eliminate under the intermediate Range nuclear forces treaty with the United states and has nearly completed a 500,000-troop reduction promised by president Mikhail Gorbachev. Statements from senior soviet officials however Yazoo. Said the army will help maintain order at Home despite the Steps toward disarmament abroad. In the latest in a series of hard line Yazoo admitted that the troop reduction realized mainly through bringing soldiers Home from Eastern Europe is fur the. Straining the crippled soviet Economy with 177,000 families of servicemen on waiting lists for lodging. A a some of the Homecoming troops Are being housed temporarily in makeshift tent cities and the wives of soviet soldiers in Eastern Germany have staged protests Over the Prospect of returning Home to live in such conditions. Yazoo said the government has stepped up construction of permanent housing for the troops and plans to build about 500,000 apartments Over the next five years. Construction of 22 million Square feet of housing will be funded by Money from the German government As part of the agreement by which the soviet Union accepted German reunification Yazoo said. A drive to build special lodging Tor sol Diers May spark resentment from soviet people Quot Many of whom wait years to receive an apartment. The  inter lax n news so re ice reported thursday that Leningrad residents angry Oyer housing shortages raided a new apartment building for senior communist parly and government officials. Members of 19 families forcibly entered the building on new years Day complaining that they were not Given promised housing in 1990, inter lax said. All the people had been on waiting lists Tor lodging for at least 10 years it said. How just one phone Call can give you a daily connection to loved ones serving in operation desert shield. With just one phone Call families remaining at Home in Europe can have a daily connection to the news and events affecting their loved ones serving in operation desert shield with the convenience of a Home delivery subscription to the stars and stripes. Available in most government and government leased housing areas daily Home delivery of the stars and stripes newspaper won t Cost you a Penny More than the newsstand Price. 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