Source: Wikipedia
In British English, a tout is any person who solicits business or employment in an importune manner (generally equivalent to a solicitor in American English).
A ticket tout is someone who engages in ticket resale for more than the face value of the ticket. In recent years some British ticket touts have moved into Internet ticket fraud.
According to the American Bar Association, touting is where a person advertises, promotes, or otherwise describes a security for sale without disclosing that the person is being paid to do so.
An example would be a person who frequents heavily touristed areas and presents himself as a tour guide (particularly towards those who do not speak the local language), but operates in on behalf of local bars, restaurant or hotels, being paid to direct tourists towards certain establishments.
In a similar fashion a tout could be someone who, acting upon his own initiative, loads or unloads the baggage from a bus, then demands payment for his services from the passengers.
In gambling parlance, a tout is a person who sells sports betting information to bettors.
I am sure you guys are familiar with insurance agents giving you tips about when to buy and sell ILPs or UTs. I remember before MAS clamped on this churning it was so rampant that you could hear every where agents doubling as stock brokers giving investment advice They made a lot of money. Touting the funds was seen as legitimate service and many of their customers did make money that many agents started making claim of specialist knowledge. But not before long after that, complaints flooded all companies and customers swarming the agents for explantion but they went completely silent.
ReplyDeleteIt is back and touting the funds takes another form. The agents are touting dollar cost averaging(DCA) as sure win to beat risk. Customers with lumpsums to invest are advised to break it up into regular monthly investing into regular ILPS because of the volatility of the market. Unknown to the customers the agents stand to make very high commission, some 26 months of the premium.This is a whopping sum compared to the one time front end charge of lumpsum investemnt.
I was nearly a victim when one consultant from ntuc proposed that idea to me, to invest in their Ideal Plan and lose my 45% in 'advisory' fee. Not an insult, what did this consultant know about investment and let alone advice. She was more like a koyok fund saleswoman offering flavour of the month advice. I didn't want to embarrass her. If I had gone along with it and exercise the freelook later that would probably make her looking like a fool but such is touting without brain
.Surprisingly I found ntuc agents getting more 'creative' these days. They have lots of easy money making ideas but for themselves and at the expense of the consumers,
if only conscience is their guide.