As posted elsewhere, I got arrested.  I thought a little additional detail would be helpful for others.

I've learned to think of some things as potential warnings of rip offs- overly perfect looking studio pics, nothing explicit in the add, and for a certain variety of rip offs, non explicit pics.  For this reason the Cop trap add looked good- it offered something specific (GFE + Extras!) and the photos, while not showing face or any tender bits, did show a real pic from a hotel room and a recognizable woman in some slinky underwear.

In retrospect the explicitness and lack of anything overly naughty or identifying were likely aspects of the police MO.  Also a price too good to be true (100 for GFE) to bait the trap and get a quick response.

Also she was all business on the phone,friendly but not tired or sexy or whatever, and asked immediately what I wanted, and called back when I sounded unsure about the time.  The ad was removed the next day.

They set up stings for limited times only, and so want efficient response.  They are unlikely to offer 24 hour service, nor have a history of add making for one persona.  Lady cops don't want to take pics of their kibbles and bits, and they don't want to show their faces.  If she places adds regularly, and shows her face, and shows some real naughty skin, its likely she's no cop.  no guarantees, just my experiance.

Once you go in the door, you will be arrested, no precautions will help other than not showing up.  Forget the envelope or the LE check grope, they're bs.  They will try to get  you to verbally agree to solicit, but it doesn't need to be much- put it this way, if its enough for you to communicate with a real girl, its enough for them: 100 kisses for an island trip may be cute, but its no more protection than saying 100 dollars for anal sex.  A mumbled 'sure' in response to an offer for some euphamism 'you want french?' is enough, but again, even if you zip you lip and try to bolt, you're trapped bud.

In another thread someone minimized getting arrested, probably released immediately with a court date etc.  Well, YMMV, but in my jurisdiction I was locked up for 16 hours, 8 in a large filthy 'holding tank' cell and 8 in a 2 man greasy filthy stainless steel box, no window no view, 6 ft by 7 ft by 7ft high.  I was offered one drink in that time, in stifling heat.  I was kept cuffed for 2 hr's at the start, behind my back, and it was painful.  All that just to process me and release on citation for a preliminary court appearance. Then had to get from central processing back across town to the station I was originally held in to reclaim my property, without my wallet or even shoe laces. And you don't have a right to a phone call, its a favor they might grant, so good luck if somebody or a boss is expecting  you somewhere.  They owe you nothing in jail, you're not a customer, you're an animal at the total mercy of the system.

Anyway, be cautious and follow you gut, and use all the caution before you show up.  Just because there are a million explicit adds online doesn't mean that this is 'accepted' by society or LE.

Add on the court time, which isn't scheduled around your work schedule, and all the costs (well over a grand all told )and trying to lie all this away with my wife, and this is a very big deal, though nothing compared to hard time.  Anyway, jail is worse than you think, and shouldn't be minimized.

I hope it scares some of the people who think they can take short cuts and just click on any old gal on CL with impunity.

It also illustrates some of the MO of LE in setting up a sting.  The photo is probably something they just cut and paste from anywhere.

You're very lucky to be able to hide this from the SO, most are not so lucky.

I agree jail cells suck (I've been in one too.), but I prefer them to divorce court.

And as for handcuffs, I prefer them to alimony.

At least handcuffs come off before death do you part.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience.  If you really want to avoid a bad experience use the reviews.  An ad (any type of ad!) is not a good way to guess.

Many of your warnings are standard fare for a large percent of excellent providers - having pro photos, no face or naughty bits, nothing explicit in the text, not being 24/7 available.  Professionals may actually want to protect our  own privacy, and a smart provider will refuse to suggest that there are any illegal services being offered.  Maintaining our safety is important to your safety... you may want to think twice before booking time with someone who has no sense of need for privacy, who is indiscreet, and who is offering illegal services

As to a provider having no regular ad posting history being a warning, of course!  It may be LE, it may be bait-and-switch stock photos, it might be posted by a pimp or a ROB... again, use the reviews.

Thank you so much for sharing this information!  I'm sorry you had to go through that and hope it's all behind you before too long.  Very cool of you to give us all a head's up.

...that ANY ad can be LE. Most of us have it in our heads (or at least I did) that LE will post explicit ads, mentioning specific acts for a certain dollar amount, so it's obviously a prostitution scenario. The style of ads you describe, however, is the exact opposite.

It's important for us all to realize that LE is getting savvier with their tactics all the time. Regardless of whether the ad is explicit or pure as snow, if the photos are candids or professional shots, if the rate is a fifteen minute bargain or three hour HDH experience, DO YOUR RESEARCH.

No reviews or otherwise not established? Pass or strongly reconsider.

For ladies without any reviews, I have some criteria to eliminate LE. It may not be 100% fool proof, but here's what i look for:

1) The lady needs to have some nude pic shots (butt, frontals, boobs) and face shots. I don't think LE will use fully nude or face shots for a sting. I get suspicious of no-face pics.

2) She has to have repeated ads over a few months with "different" facial and naked pics. She may not be LE, but she could be using fake pics.  I will never call a lady with a new ad and use the same pics over and over. I like ladies who say "new pics of me".  If she has a website or a nicely prepared slideshow with music and graphics, most likely not LE. Why would LE take their time to make that?

3) If her phone number is from out of town, I search for ads in that region.  I found a girl with a phone in a city in VA and so I searched that city and found her ads their too.  LE won't be in 2 citiies at the same time.

4) 2 or 3 glossy airbrushed pics raise a red flag. I ask for more pics.  If there are none, it's not likely I will meet an airbrushed model.

5) If her rate is so low that its ridiculous, that's a red flag. Real providers will have to pay for their hotel, and $40, $60, $80 is suspicious.  I've seen true providers who does $100 for half-hour in my area, but are rare. But $150 to $200 is more relaistic.

6) If she explicitly advertise too many stuff of her menu on BP, that could be a red flag as well.

7)  I don't like ladies who only put a one-liner, or their name + their number and no face. Could be LE.

8)  When you call her on the phone, you really need to make a judgement call on what she says. If she volunteers her menu, she may be LE. If she sounds cautious, she may be real.

9)  When you get to the hotel, scout around for cop cars or even unmarked ones.

10) When you enter the room and cops are there, say "Oops I must have the wrong room" ..haha.

Anyone wants to add their 2 cents on avoiding will be nice.

Be wary!

I meant to differentiate between two types of ads.

Some of the Rip Off types on BP eros etc will have non naughty photos but perfect shots of a beauty, either face but fully clothed or a little naughty and no face, and vague verbage about companionship... I've confirmed this because some have been on the TER rip off list.  The rip off list describes rip offs that involve the look at ID, then call in, then ask "what do  you want" ...anyway, I've come to identify that as a RIP OFF ad.  

It was my wariness about the RIP OFF AD that made me fall into the trap of the COP TRAP AD. The Cop Trap ad was the opposite. It was explicit, or rather used explicit euphamism and a euphamism price to establish the 'contract' (exact text from memory: 100 FOR GFE + EXTRAS!).  It was not a copy and paste pic- that was the real cop lady, and she had the real lengerie she was wearing laying out in the room.  So the real pic from a hotel room looked NON RIP OFF to me.  But, it was a non explicit pic- no face, no naughty bits.  Cop Ladies don't want either of them.

Now other police elsewhere  might use clipped pics, but they probably wouldn't use someone's real looking pic, because that might be identity theft and they would be careful about that.  So these ones at least took a real, non rip offy looking, yet no face not kibbles and bits pic or two.

And again, if she has a history of ads, with changing photos over time, changing text, showing her face, well, that's probably not a cop.

I understand other ladies may do the same, and reviews are best, some guys will still have a couple drinks at the strip bar and then check out BP, so dif ads might at least help.

BTW, to whoever, I am TRYING to lie my way out of this with the wife, not done.  Yes, cuffs and jail are minimal compared to the ultimate cost I fear, which keeps me up at night as I try to scheme how to hide court costs, lawyer fees, time at 'John School' etc.

Anyway, I was an idiot.  My gut even warned me ahead of time.  So, BEWARE, CAUTION, DANGER.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

On scouting for cop cars, in my sting, they just corralled us in a near bye room and didn't bring any cars near until it was time for transport, they ain't dumb.

OH, btw, I realized my gut was right and that something was surely wrong when I noted that the door had no privacy/ security latch thing, so you couldn't lock the snatch guys out and her in...just before they rushed in screaming at me.  Again, not necessarily universal, and I think by the time you can see the interior lock, you're trapped, but fwiw.

Oh, another 'odd' thing, my cop lady was not only verbal about 'what you want?' on the phone in an atypical way, she was very explicit about location, gave address right away, hotel name etc.  Not something a girl trying to make it hard for cops or hotel security to find her does, though requiring two calls is obviously no protection for a girl....(cop calls from headquarters 15 minutes later 'ok, i'm at that corner'-'OK, i'm in room xxx in the Hotel 666 across the street')  But for cops trying to efficiently draw in their prey, a clear address the first time helps...

Sorry, you are dealing with this.

Does your local paper print the arrest? I have seen several times that people have been arrested for the hobby or providing in our local paper.

sexy pic, high heels, short skirt, bent over, no face or naughty bits.
The offers were strangely specific like
75 balloons to suck your lollypop.
I saw them over 2 days, day post only.
Second day I emailed using BP reply saying "Your ad is written selling an specific act for money. LE could arrest us both with no other evidence needed."
The ads were gone within a couple hours and have not been back.

I dont mean to hijack the thread , I apologize if this is considered hijacking, but in everyone's collective experience does LE set up stings in apartment complexes? I've only seen 4 TER reviewed providers and all of them were incalls in private residences. My own general rule of thumb is stay far far away from hotels. Am I being stupid and naive? Anyways I constantly monitor everyblock.com and local news sites for prostitution arrests especially a day or two before I schedule an appointment. So far everything has worked out well. In the last 3-4 years all the stings in my area have taken place at hotels. At least those that LE has decided to make public. Only one arrest was of a provider that worked out of her home but she didn't seem reviewed and for some odd reason videotaped her encounters without the consent of her clients. Im also assuming that residing and hobbying in a large city (chicago) would lessen the risks of a sting given that cops probably have bigger fish to fry. Does any of this make any sense or am I just lulling myself into some false sense of security.

My experiance:  I haven't seen individual girls working from their apartment much, but had patronized a full body rub down service or two that operated out of garden apartment complexes.  Again on myths picked up, it seemed that these businesses intended being very explicit that their service was private modeling / erotic massage only, no full service, protected them as a brothel, since there were no permanent incall location, multiple girl brothels advertised that were full service.  So I patronized, buying their sense of protection.

But again, as with envelopes and LE check gropes and euphamisms, I now doubt that's any protection, sexual contact for sale is sex for sale in the eye of the law, no matter how Clinton parsed the word (at least protection from arrest, maybe protects the business owner in case of serious prosecution).  I think STINGS, where the ladies are cops, will be in hotels, setting up an apartment is too much a pain.  But, a private residence can become noticed by neighbors, especially if there is any degree of volume of service, and so there can be a Raid.  Local news has reported those time to time in my area.  So I will not go back.  What are the odds of being one of the couple guys actually there when they bust in the door to round up girls and johns? Low, but then, what are the odds of showing up to the one STING out of thousands of legit ads?  

Its a risk, make your call.  I don't think location is as much protection probably as mult reviews by reviewers with histories, and in general non fishy-ness and a history in general.  In fact, for a real girl, the hotel incall for one of two days has little chance of building up notice by anyone, unless its a hotel just lousy with providers and hobbiests.  More risk of sting, less risk of raid.

I'd guess that the ultimate safety from LE, for the guy, lies in a girl with a history, lots of reviews by reviewers with history, OUTCALL to a hotel, and maybe from a well reviewed agency with a long history.  Hard to believe in a coopted agency sending out individual girls on stings, with all her back up, all drawing over time pay, to nab one guy- when they bring down an agency.  Busted agensies make the news anyhow, good cop PR, so seems unlikely they'd supress that to nab one guy at a time at huge cost.

Now, for the girl, Outcalls is how they do stings for them, in my room holding we guys drawn to a phony INCALL were also cuffed girls drawn to a phony OUTCALL.

Cool! Lotsa good advice digdirkler. Thanks! I agree that store front businesses that go beyond massages are asking for a raid. Ive heard of a few places being busted when undercover cops solicited the masseuse for sex and she obliged. I never have and never will venture out to any of those places. The providers I've visited all have multiple reviews by hobbyists with extensive histories. The first lady I visited had an incall in a questionable neighborhood and she wasn't lying when she said that it wasn't pretty but at least it was clean. I remember being scared outta my mind (yeah im a pussy). Anyways I never went back and have extensively research every provider since. The ladies (2) Ive frequented lately both work out of their apartments which are located in pretty nice neighborhoods. Both places are always nicely furnished and super clean. They also seem to be relatively low volume providers since they're always available when I call. Like you said digdirkler it would seem to be too much of a hassle for LE to set up a sting at an apartment complex. Regardless, this hobby is unfortunately illegal and there will always be a certain amount of risk involved which why TER is so incredibly valuable. I know I probably wouldn't be a hobbyist wihtout a resource like TER.

I VERY rarely try to see a provider at a hotel unless there are several good reviews.

I agree that a private residence is a better safe bet

Also - as a general rule if the ad and especially the picture is just far too good to be true I don't even go there.  While I would love to spend my days frolicking with providers who look like they just stepped off a Vivid cover art shoot, the odds are that is NOT who you are going to see, and that usually screams assuredly ROB and possibly LE to me at least.