FRAUD AND EXTORTION
SHANGHAI CHINA December 2016
On a cool December night, I wandered down to the huge promenade along the river. On the street side is the Bund, the most famous street in China lined by old colonial buildings, banks and hotels. Across the river is a spectacular array of China’s highest skyscrapers lit at night. It is a popular place for tourists.
I started walking along the kilometre-long promenade. An attractive Chinese woman in her thirties walked beside me “I just need someone to talk to. I have not seen my son for some time and am feeling depressed.” She worked for an international company building swimming pools for hotels and had just returned from Sydney Australia. She was staying at an expense account-paid hotel that she pointed out. It was 18:30, and she was hungry and wanted to get something to eat. “I will pay for half.” After dinner, on exiting the restaurant, she grabbed my hand. “I would like to go to a bar near here. It’s a normal Chinese bar but the beer is a little expensive.”
We arrived at a place with no sign or a street number. There was a counter and a long bench and we were ushered into a room with a TV and music and a beer was placed in front of us. We sat on the couch and she immediately asked to see my penis. We started to make out. She was very eager. Soon a prostitute came in and made advances. I said I only wanted my new friend and the prostitute left. We started making out again, another prostitute arrived and we kicked her out too. We resumed our passion until a third prostitute came in. My ‘friend” left to go to the bathroom.
After, the prostitute rapidly dressed. As soon as she closed the door, three big Chinese guys entered. One spoke English. “Do you know how much you owe us?” They showed me the ‘menu’ – 18,000 RMB for the services. and 18,000 RMB for the room and beer or about US$6,000. That was blatantly crazy and I argued. “Don’t you look at the menu when you go to a restaurant?”. I continued to whine. Every time I stood up from the couch, a big tough guy roughly pushed me back down. “We are the Chinese mafia and Chinese men pay this all the time.”. The arguing continued and they reduced the bill to 30,000 RMB (US$5,000).
They searched me, found my credit card and took me out to the ‘lobby’ to use a credit card machine. 12 prostitutes were sitting on the bench. It declined the transaction as it was a Union Pay machine and wouldn’t accept foreign cards. The boss thought that I had exceeded my credit limit, took me back into the room and wanted me to call Visa to have my limit raised. I talked to the Visa agent saying “I am being held for extortion in a brothel by the Cosa Nostra.” She transferred me to security. He could see the attempted transaction. I said I was worried for my safety and asked for the transaction to be completed. “Wait 5 minutes and try again.”
Back at the credit card machine, the transaction went through. They photographed both sides of my card. “Come back any time, the beer and the taxi are free.”
I walked 30 minutes back to my hostel through a rough neighbourhood of bars and brothels. I phoned Visa who cancelled my card and asked for a police report.
The next day, I went to the local police station and they referred me to a station on the other side of the ‘bar’. I wrote down the addresses of the buildings on either side of the bar. At the police station, I explained the extortion on my credit card and gave the captain the address, He rolled his eyes and left.
I sat in the waiting room for an hour when a Chinese man in his 30s sat beside me. He introduced himself as the manager of the bar. “How much do you want to leave?”. I said 25,000 RMB. “No way” and the bargaining started. After 10 minutes, he offered 10,000 RMB. He pulled out a stack of a hundred 100RMB notes (the largest Chinese denomination). I counted them and checked that they were not counterfeit. I signed a note “The bar has forgiven 10,000 RMB. Finished” and signed my name.
I sat for a while thinking that this was ridiculous. The amount I had paid was unrealistic. I asked to see the police officer again. A female officer appeared and I said “Is this how you treat tourists?” I said I wanted more, and she brought me into an office. The manager of the bar appeared in a minute. He was upset and wanted the original 10,000 back. The bargaining continued in earnest. He finally agreed to another 5,000 RMB, pulled out another wad of a hundred 100RMB notes, and counted off fifty. I checked them and signed a second note “The bar has forgiven 15,000 RMB. Finished” and signed my name.
I again thought how crazy the amount was and called back the police officer. She asked, “How much do you want to leave?”. I said another 10,000 RMB She went outside and returned with another hundred 100RMB notes without me seeing the manager. I checked them and signed a third note “The bar has forgiven 25,000 RMB. Finished” and signed my name. It appeared that the manager had come with the entire 30,000 RMB.
The police officer said “Chinese law has no way to deal with this. What you did was illegal and what they did was illegal. Next time you have to be smarter.”
I left with a huge wad of bills, returned in the dark to my hostel and left Shanghai the next day. Visa contacted me requesting a note describing what had happened. “I was held for extortion at a bar in Shanghai for 25,000 RMB on my credit card.”, signed it and sent it to Visa. It took me several visits to Chinese banks to exchange all the money for US currency.
The transaction never appeared on my credit card. I made US$4,200!
The extortion was crazy. The amount of money was crazy. How often had they gotten away with this? I don’t believe they had many customers go to the police.
This confirmed my unbelievable luck. Everything always turns out for me.
If you want to know the address, contact me personally and I will give it to you. It was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me in 18 years of travel. But maybe you think it worth the risk?
SOUTH AFRICA April/May 2017. I took a 5 ½ month tour from Morocco to Cape Town in the 2016/17 winter. It was a great way to see West Africa. The only company offering the tour for a few decades has been Oasis Overland from Somerset England. !7 travellers were in an 18-ton yellow overlanding truck. We cooked on a wood fire and camped in tents for the entire time. Showers were rare and we were filthy most of the time.
I left the trip in Namibia as we had only seen part of the country and arrived in Cape Town as the main group finished seeing South Africa. I rented a car from Budget to drive around South Africa over 17 days ending in Johannesburg. Two young guys on our trip, M and T, wrote asking to join. M was an only child from a wealthy family near Toronto Canada. T had just graduated from high school and was from England. They bargained hard to pay as little as they could get away with. “Ron, you’re rich,” Mark asked if Toby could go free. We finally settled on them paying half for gas, the car rental, the fees for Krueger National Park, and miscellaneous common expenses.
They had been incredibly cheap throughout West Africa. Others commonly shared food, M and T always took but never gave back.
I got along with them well throughout the trip. We played frisbee frequently and swam in the ocean together. M had adopted T as the little brother he had never had and they were very close for the whole trip.
We met at the Budget office and climbed Table Mountain. I asked them to buy a cheap paper map. M didn’t want to pay for a map. After the purchase, they carefully divided the $3 cost between them and ‘squared up’. They paid for all the gas, each time carefully paying half. They didn’t even trust each other!
We continued through South Africa seeing everything on my extensive itinerary including Lesotho and Eswatini and ended in Krueger National Park.
I did all the driving on the left side of the road. I had warned them that after starting, I might reflexly drive on the wrong side and to warn me. It happened twice in the 17 days. I followed the speed limit despite all the SA speed freaks zooming by. I like camping and we cheaped out by ‘sleuth’ camping many times. I thought that would appeal to them as they were so parsimonious. But at a youth hostel, they were angry at me for camping out so much.
Six weeks before, I had booked and paid for the camps in Krueger National Park. Without my foresight, they would not have gone to Krueger.
By the time we were in Krueger, they still owed me money. On our last day, I went on a safari in the morning. When I returned, they were gone.
When I returned the car to Budget in Joberg, Budget found damage, wanted to charge a cleaning fee and charged an extra day when I was an hour late. The total amount M and T owed including the Budget overcharges came to $379. It was a relatively small amount of money but the principle was what mattered.
I wrote M and T several times asking for my money. M’s reply said I was a terrible driver going through yellow lights, speeding, driving on the wrong side, and not locking the car. He believed these were reasonable reasons for stiffing me. I found their parents’ email addresses and wrote them both describing their children’s behaviour.
I wrote a post on my website entitled Mark and Toby – Thieves. M’s parents threatened a lawsuit. Yearly, on the anniversary of the “theft”, I wrote them nasty emails. I was determined to at least get “my pound of flesh”.
Now 6½ years later, I still haven’t seen a dime and no apology. They both will have graduated from university and probably have jobs and an income.
NIGER, BURKINA FASO, MALI, MAURITANIA, ALGERIA, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC September/October 2022
In the summer of 2022, a traveller from (E) on her way to 193, organized tours to 7 countries in West Africa to share the costs of group travel. Everyone in the first group were “friends” in a Facebook chat group for a few years. She put in a tremendous effort to organize the trips. She found a guide, advertised for people to join, and dealt with individual preferences, problems, and drop-outs. All was very time-consuming.
We had both applied for a visa to Niger and had mailed our passports to the Niger Embassy in Ottawa in July. The embassy doesn’t reply to correspondence or answer the phone so you never know the status of the application. On September 5, I flew to Ottawa to get our passports.
· Niger September 30-October 9 2022
Niger was the first country of the seven countries on E’s tour. She had initially tried to negotiate a tour with Yaou, the only reputable guide in Niger to go to Gerewol, a famous courtship festival held annually in October and the focus of our trip. She encouraged us to use another guide, Adamou Issa Ibrahim, who was $400 cheaper than Yaou. The cost was US$2450 for the 10-day tour. We trusted her decision.
I arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger on an earlier flight than E. Adamou was supposed to meet me at immigration to get E’s Hong Kong passport but never showed up. At Niger immigration, E presented the visa letter of invitation with a forged Canadian passport number. It was detected by Niger immigration and all our passports were confiscated.
Everyone in the group had difficulty paying the 50% deposit before the tour. No bank transfers worked and we all eventually paid by Western Union. However, E was paying cash, half on arrival in Niger and half at the end of the trip. When tips were questioned, she said “I never tip but hold back money if the trip has problems”.
After seeing Niamey, we flew to Agadez. The Old Town Agadez’s mudbrick buildings and famous mosque are a World Heritage Site.
Adamou wanted more money as the fees to attend Gerewol had increased from $600 to $1200 per person (the actual fee was $35). The normal army security cost $800 per day but was not available and we needed to hire a much more expensive private company called Finis. He demanded $6700 but agreed to $3000, which he promised to pay back in Niamey. Rick said, “Adamou isn’t making any money.” E immediately paid $2,300 and each of us paid $100. Adamou gave E his wedding ring as security. We paid the balance owed for the tour with cash (I held back $500).
We left Agadez accompanied by normal army security – 2 heavily armed trucks full of soldiers. One of the Land Cruisers had no air conditioning and it was hot. Rick, the only member of the group who spoke French rode with Adamou and the rest of us were in the Land Cruiser with AC. Rick became friendly with Adamou and actively advocated for Amadou.
We drove 120 km to Ingall about 200 km north of Abalak, the location of Gerewol. At Ingall, we entered a walled compound with several tents.
There were 11 men with elaborate facial makeup and 10 disinterested women who appeared to be about 14 or 15. They did the typical dances, chanting, and had animated facial expressions with wide open eyes and blowing motions trying to impress the women. Photos were welcome and we didn’t feel intrusive.
At 9 pm they started again with girls tying knots in the men’s dangling turbans and showing much more interest. We understood that most paired up for the night. This was not Gerewol but an almost identical courtship ritual involving two local villages.
This was confirmed by someone who attended Gerewol. The facial makeup was not quite as good, and the selection process was different because of the small number of participants.
The local community of Ingall took an active part in the courtship ritual. There was great dancing and music. This was neither fake nor private, but I believe was genuine.
Adamou asked for the $500 I still owed him. In another tent, I handed him five US$100 bills. A few minutes later, he said I had only given him $400. I complained but no one believed me and demanded I give another $100. Rick criticized me for not counting out the bills individually.
We confronted E about how much money she had paid. It took her two days to produce two bank transfers using TD, a Canadian bank. One was for $600 in August and another for $1200 on Sept 28, the day the trip started. Why would she pay $550 more than required for the deposit? I believe that the transfers were cleverly forged.
On October 5th, we continued south via Dosso to Niamey. We missed seeing several sites on the way. In Konni, the Land Cruiser with no AC died. Rick rented a car and continued on his own. We never saw Adamou again. Before Niamey, Koure National Park with its habituated giraffes was on the tour agenda. Because of a terrorist attack several years before, Koure required a special permit and armed security. As we had neither, we drove by.
Back in Niamey, E paid a US$500 bribe to get our passports back (TIA – This is Africa)
and they arrived at 9 am. We had to pay for our last night in the hotel and our taxi to the airport both included in the tour cost.
Although the evidence is circumstantial, I believe Yaou would not agree to E paying less or nothing for his tour, but Adamou gave her the tour for free. The $2.300 paid in Agadez was the first she paid.
I don’t know if E knew we were not going to the real Gerewol. She did not know the dates or fees.
Adamou’s extortion was carefully planned from the beginning. Without our passports and the threat of not seeing Gerewol, we were left at the mercy of his lies, increased fees, poor vehicles, missed sites and broken promises. Complicating the mess, Rick’s advocacy lent a sense of legitimacy. As the “trip leader, ” E dealt with Adamou ineffectually.
From what happened in the remaining six countries, E negotiated deals to pay less than her “clients”, and either didn’t admit it or denied it. We all told her some benefits were reasonable but we needed to be informed. Once the trip started, she took no responsibility and left it up to her “clients” to sort out whatever mess occurred. She had an interesting knack for picking poor guides.
• Burkina Faso. After Niger, three left the Niger group on their own agendas. All eight had made a contractual agreement to pay for the trip through Niger, BK and Mali. Both BK and Mali were seen with the same tour company.
The week before, there had been a “peaceful coup” in BK’s capital, Ouagadougou. The only violence had been against the French Embassy. Two others were joining us in BK. Because of the coup, M from Germany and Eric from the US had their flights into Ouaga cancelled. M cancelled his tour, but Eric rebooked flights, taking six days to finally reach Bamako, Mali, just before we were scheduled to leave.
The coup raised several potential security issues – we received a stream of advice suggesting that the entire country – anywhere past Ouaga – was dangerous. A Thai tourist had disappeared at the BF/Mali border the week before. Despite these warnings, our two guides reassured us that all was safe. Four of us continued to Bobo and crossed the border into Mali 100 km south of where the Thai tourist had been kidnapped.
The guides were using a 9-passenger van and claimed to be losing money. The four of us would have to pay more. We arranged a meeting over dinner, but E never appeared. We wrote the three that had left detailing what each owed to complete their contractual obligation. They ended up paying their share.
Our guides were unlicensed. It was never clear who was the “boss” or if they were partners.
· Mali. We went to Djenne, its largest mud mosque in the world and a WHS. J from Brazil in the original group had gone to Togo and Benin for 3 days and was driven to Djenne. We received many warnings that Djenne was a no-go zone including from Phil, the owner of the Flying Camel Hotel in Bamako. Phil is the authority on Mali.
Things went without a hitch and we arrived at a hotel in Bamako. Eric had finally arrived after his 6-day flight ordeal. What a great guy – he still paid for his share of the BK/Mali tour despite being the poorest of us all. His only benefit was two nights in the Bamako hotel.
On the morning we were to leave Bamako for Mauritania, Amadou, our guide phoned and said that E owed him $500. I understood that she had not paid for the hotel in Bamako. He threatened to call the police and E paid $500.
Only E, Eric and I from the group continued to Mauritania. We were joined by a friend of Es from London and flew to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
· Mauritania. The 7-day tour to the north of Mauritania E had arranged cost $1,200 with a guide named Dahid. The standard price for this tour was $750. While in Bamako, I searched for other companies and arranged a tour for $750. I was joined by Arzu from Philadelphia. I contacted E and encouraged the three of them to join us. When she told Dahid, he threatened to meet her at the Nouakchott airport with the police and have her arrested. They stayed with Dahid. From the price difference, I also believe E had arranged another backroom deal to pay nothing. Because I had left their tour and 2 vehicles were still necessary, Dahid’s price increased to $1500.
My final cost was $910 as the hotels in Nouakchott were not included, $600 less than they paid. We had a spectacular trip as our guide/driver/owner Ali and cook Ahmed could not have been better. Ali was a spectacular desert driver and I learned a lot about driving in a lot of sand. We desert camped all but one night. Having a cook worked out well. Arzu took the iron ore train 6 hours between the mine and Choum.
Our best experience was the monoliths Ben Amera and Aisha. They are the second largest monoliths in the world after Uluru in Australia. Aisha had a great area of boulder carving done by a team of artists for the Millennium. We camped next to Aisha – very quiet, and cool, with no bugs, and great dark skies.
E said she hated their entire trip. They had wasted a day waiting in the sun for the iron ore train which no one eventually took. Reports at my hotel in Nouakchott said that Dahid was “not representative of Mauritania guides” and a crook. He didn’t drive E to the airport and she came with us.
· Algeria. The shit show continued in Algeria. E and I were the only ones on this tour and flew to Algiers together. The original tour price was $1,700 transferred into the guide’s European bank account. When we were in Mauritania, I had an informant who wrote that E had arranged with the guide to pay $1100 and me $2200. Then there was a bewildering series of price changes. E wrote that we were going on separate trips and the price increased to almost 2700 each! The guide emailed me that I needed to add $500 to my original $1700 for $2200, just as my informant had said. I wrote back that I would not pay any more than E or would quit the trip. He then said his email was a mistake, and that my cost was $1,700. E had only paid $1,375 and needed to pay the balance or would not be going on half the trip. Our guide appeared to be completely honest and I’m sure was caught between E’s backroom maneuvering as she continued to try to extort money from me.
I had a spectacular trip, easily my best African country. After seeing the north, we flew to Djanet in the Sahara and camped for 5 days. It is an amazing landscape of sand and rock formations including several arches. The area also has 15,000 rock art sites of mainly giraffes, elephants and cattle that had not been seen here for 10,000 years. The pictographs are finely detailed paintings in overhangs. The petroglyphs are large animals wonderfully pecked on boulders.
Our guide showed us 10-15 rock art sites per day finding his way in the maze of canyons and sand. Both he and the cook were great guys. The food was tasty and I slept in the open all five nights. E was in a foul mood. As she has ADHD, she paced around our camps endlessly. In the north, she only wanted to eat sharamas.
E continued to Cameroon for 2 weeks with a new group of travellers. I don’t know how things went there.
I had already been to Cameroon and flew to Paris for 7 days of normalcy. I then flew to Sao Tome/Principe and then to Banjul, the capital of CAR to join the Cameroon group. A PCR was required by CAR – it cost 110€!! At CAR immigration, they didn’t ask for it.
· Central African Republic (CAR)
One of the poorest countries in the world, it is also one of the most corrupt. The Wagner Group provides security and we saw them many times driving around Banjui in their heavily armored vehicles wearing balaclavas.
CAR has few attractions, none in Banjui itself, but outside the city is a spectacular waterfall and visits to pygmy villages. There is a great national park in the south but it requires charter flights, expensive accommodations and safaris.
Our guide “no first name” Jude X X was very mediocre. One meal in Bangui was at a restaurant and we paid for our pop but the food was good. All the rest were buffet picnics and of poor quality. He didn’t do anything not included on the itinerary – get SIM cards, hotspot his SIM card or help others with problems. He didn’t deliver on the pygmy villages – we arrived at one but couldn’t see the other because we didn’t have a 4WD.
He was little different than the guides arranged by E on this seven-country tour through West Africa.
I wrote the Jude asking if E was paying the same as everyone else. This group consisted of her true friends and he replied that she was.
We were charged for an extra night in the expensive hotel.
After this 7 country fiasco ended, I submitted a report to the FB group Every Passport Stamp without naming her. She had already been expelled from EPS for getting financial gains from trips she organized. I was kicked out of the Vancouver FB chat group. I asked a common traveller friend who saw E regularly about what she was saying about me. “Did you see what he wrote about me?”
She still had about 25 countries on her way to 193 which she finally finished in December 2023.
I feel very disappointed about being cheated so badly in Niger, both by E and also our guide. The eight of us – all supposedly friends – did not see Gerewol, a world-class spectacle only because E wanted to pay nothing. She had no qualms, regrets or guilt about scamming her friends.
E is a rich woman. She owns two apartments both with the highest real estate values in Canada.
I wonder if she still has Adamou’s wedding ring as a souvenir.
ASSAULT
Thankfully, this rarely happens to travellers. I have never been physically assaulted in my 18 years of travel, but this was a different kind of assault.
On June 15, 2023, I arrived in Moroni, Comoros by air. The city is 18 km from the airport. I had read that cheap share taxis were often available on the road outside the airport. A taxi at the airport wanted 20€ but quickly came down to 10€. I walked out to the highway to get a share taxi. I was picked up in 2 minutes.
This was the craziest taxi ride of my life. There were 6 Muslim women in the car ranging from 30 to 60 – 3 in the back, 2 in the second row and one in the front. I got in the second row next to a heavy woman about 30. She started to stare at me. I laughed. The front passenger started to stroke my right leg. The one next to me put her hand on my crotch and started working my genitals. The one in front held up 6,000 CF (about $13) saying that I could have her for that. The older lady in the second row started to make masturbation motions. The one on my crotch didn’t stop and I made no protest. How far could this go? The whole car was laughing uproariously all the time. To see how crazy it could get, I fondled her breast. She stroked my hair and made kissing motions (although we never kissed). I put my hand inside her long cloak and bra. 18 km is a long way to go. They eventually drove right to my hotel. I had lost the 10€ bill and paid US$5. That was the end of it. Crazy.
THEFT
Pickpockets
I have been pickpocketed four times. Pickpockets are very good. They often work in groups with one person distracting you. They bump into you while someone is in your pockets. Uncommonly, mustard or ketchup is thrown at you. Someone takes you to the bathroom and relieves you of your wallet and money. The wallet is quickly passed to another confederate who disappears.
The only guaranteed way to prevent pickpockets is with a “secret pocket”. These are a passport-sized pocket sewn into the inside waistline of every pair of travel pants I have. I have a sewing machine and make my own using soft nylon.
It’s also important to have pants with several pockets, some with zippers that make access hard. Many women’s pants have almost no pockets and none that are secure. Trekking pants have the best pockets.
Always put things in the same pockets. Routine is important. I have carried as much as $4,000 in my secret pocket to start some year’s travel.
• Beijing, China August 2015. This was my earlier travel and my first trip to China. I flew from Ulan Bator, Mongolia to Beijing. I withdrew some money from an ATM at the airport and boarded the subway to go into Beijing. I put my wallet in my back pocket and it was gone when I got off the subway. This was a real rookie mistake.
• Barcelona. On my first time in Barcelona, I went in the evening to the urban legend, La Rambla. It was packed with tourists. When I got home to my hostel, my new iPhone was gone. I felt nothing other than being jostled by a guy. I had in my front pocket, another rookie mistake.
• Uzbekistan. I was pickpocketed on a bus and lost my wallet. This caused innumerable problems as Uzbekistan is a black-market money country and you must bring cash.
• Goroka Festival, Papua New Guinea. Sept 16-17.2023. On day two of the festival, I returned to the bandstand area with two young Americans. Robbie was determined to get to the front and we worked through the tightly packed crowd until he was about 30 m from the stage. A group of guys picked him up and floated him above the crowd, then did the same to Michael and me. It was a lot of fun but totally out of control. I felt someone get into the zipper pocket of my pants (where I had the equivalent of about US$20 in kina) and yelled to be put down. The guys carrying me tried to grab him and punched him several times, but he was small and fast and amazingly got away. I then noticed that the zipper pocket on the outside of my shoulder bag was open and my cigarettes and phone were gone. A concerned group of guys escorted us off the field and we returned to our dorm rooms.
My mistake was going into the crowd and bringing my phone. I should have put it in my secret pocket or inside my shoulder bag. The crowd was so huge that it was an obvious red flag for pickpockets. I never expected to be carried along by the crowd and lose control of my shoulder bag which is normally difficult to pickpocket.
I bought a new phone in Brisbane.
THEFT
Virtually everywhere has places to avoid especially at night.
One must be careful and show common sense wherever you go. In the evening, leave everything in your room except for a small amount of cash.
Many people have poorly informed ideas of travel and think crime only happens in dodgy Africa (maybe one of the safest places to travel). People incorrectly evaluate risk – they rarely think about travelling in a car, one of the most dangerous things we do. Or realize that if you want to get robbed, the best place is Barcelona!
Barcelona is probably the worst place in the world for personal crime. As one of the biggest tourist destinations, tourists are prime targets for thieves on the Metro and La Rambla. They are unaware and have bad security habits. There is a large Romani population here and Barcelona has attracted people from all over to relieve you of your property. Thieves work in groups – one distracts you, another pickpockets you and passes the wallet onto a third confederate.
Report to the police but don’t expect to get your property back, it is only for a police report for insurance purposes.
Wallets, phones, passports, cameras, and packs must all be in places thieves can’t access – secret pockets sewn into the inside of pants are the safest. Bring only enough money to spend on that evening. Don’t bring your big SLR. Vehicles with foreign license plates and rental cars are prime targets, the most likely to leave things in the vehicle. Locals leave nothing visible and their vehicles unlocked to avoid having windows smashed.
• Quito Ecuador. December 2012. Old Quito is gorgeous – full of colonial architecture. However, it is notorious for personal crime. I met a nice woman from Venezuela and we went for a walk during the day. She had a small SLR camera and gave it to me to take photos. We were at the edge of the old part of the city and ventured about 50 metres onto a small bridge. Two young men grabbed the lens of the camera and the other the shoulder strap. It was impossible to prevent them from taking the camera. They ran like hell. We reported the crime to the police but they could offer no help.
The new part of Quito is much worse for personal crime. You are virtually guaranteed to be robbed. I knew one fellow who was robbed twice in one night.
• Barcelona. February 2019. On my two-year trip driving around Europe in my VW California camper van, I parked it on a quiet street next to the opera house. When I returned after dark, the right rear window was smashed, and my Kindle left in the open on the bed was gone. Glass was everywhere. These are smash-and-grab operations, he didn’t take the expensive sleeping bag or puff jacket. Thankfully I had put my computer on the floor between the seats before I left. After 45 minutes of cleaning up all the glass, and as I ate dinner, a Roma kid on a stand-up three-wheeled scooter pulled up to the van on the sidewalk. As soon as he saw me, he turned around and hightailed it. I thought he was disappointed in what he had stolen and had returned to see what else might be available. A Kindle is virtually useless. I called Amazon to deactivate it and slept here with only the pull-down blind covering the window. I had the window taped with cardboard and called all over to see how soon I could replace the glass. It cost €800.
• Salvador Brazil. February 2022. Brazil is known for personal crime. Tourists must be on their guard, especially in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. I took an Uber to see some sites. I stopped at a store to get cigarettes. While out of the car for a few minutes, the driver drove away. As I had not paid him, I had left my day pack with my computer and Kindle in the car. The Uber app is useful for contacting drivers, but he didn’t respond. I contacted Uber – Uber drivers are private contractors and Uber has no control over disciplining them. The tourist police were a farce.
I find it impossible to travel without a computer and a Kindle and decided to go home. A PCR was required and mine was positive. As a 10-day quarantine was required, and my flight home stopped in Cancun, I flew to Mexico City for 10 days and then home.
• Central African Republic November 2022. CAR is 192/193 in GDP and probably 193/193 in GDP (ppp) second only to Burundi. Poverty is grinding with virtually all the economy informal. As it is landlocked, almost everything arrives by plane or truck from Cameroon – and thus CAR is surprisingly expensive. Our 2-star hotel was 70€ per night.
I was only here to get another country and a passport stamp. Our “tour” saw Bangui, Boali Falls (quite spectacular) and one pygmy village – hardly worth the price.
Banjui is well known for thieves and corrupt police. Carry and show passport and visa copies rather than the originals which can be extorted. The port/market area has the worst reputation and is best avoided because of pickpockets. A tourist was kind of “robbed” by a guy walking past who snatched a 500 ml water bottle. That’s pretty desperate stuff.
I was sitting in our passenger van with the window open. I had been taking a video out the window. A guy reached in and took my phone on my lap. I ran after him and offered a fellow running behind me 10,000 CFA ($17) to get the phone back. He returned with it in about two minutes. Several guys grabbed at my pockets as I walked back to the van.
BANKING
I travel with four credit cards and three debit cards. I have needed that many more than once.
Credit cards. I have had credit cards hacked so many times I have lost track. In May 2024, I had both a Visa and a Mastercard hacked on the same day in London (England surprisingly seems the worst for this). I rarely figure out how the hack occurs.
Usually, your card company notifies you of suspicious transactions. Your card is cancelled. Getting another card is relatively easy as most credit card companies courier cards in 5 days to wherever you are. Credit card companies are very good at protecting you and no hacks cost me money.
Prevent some of the hacks by ensuring your computer connection is secure. Google is fairly good at recognizing insecure websites. A VPN protects you well and should be used anytime you bank online and for all purchases.
Debit cards. I have rarely had my debit cards hacked. The only time was at an ATM at a bus stop before taking a ferry to Ilha Grand, Brazil, a popular tourist destination. There was a skimmer in the ATM that read my card. I had a daily withdrawal limit of $400 – three $400 withdrawals were made over three days.
Having debit cards cancelled is more difficult as banks only send debit cards by snail mail. I am never anywhere long enough to receive them. The cards are mailed to your home and whoever picks up your mail can courier them to you.
PayPal
• Indonesia. I used PayPal over an insecure line. It was hacked and $6,000 was transferred to a pending transfer account on PayPal. I froze it but getting the money back into my bank was difficult. I eventually had to courier a statement to my bank (cost $96).
CORRUPTION
In third-world developing countries, the police are often corrupt. Government remuneration for public services is sometimes poor for low-ranking officers like constables. They frequently seek out bribes to earn a more livable income. Westerners always feel entitled, aren’t used to bribes, think they are illegal and refuse to pay them. Realize the locals also frequently pay bribes, usually small amounts that can be bargained down. It is not advisable to offer a bribe immediately, instead treat it as a last resort. Suck it up and travel as the locals do.
Some other bribes are illegal and malicious. Kenya and Tanzania win the prize for the most corrupt police.
• Benin. November 2022. I was transiting a flight from Sao Tome to Cameroon with a destination of Central African Republic. I had a long layover at the Lome airport. I smoke and where there is no provided smoking room, I smoke in bathrooms. I have done it hundreds of times. Handicapped bathrooms are the best as you are alone. It is clearly against the rules. When bathroom attendants are present, it is difficult. A few times, attendants have accepted small bribes to allow you to smoke.
The Lome airport waiting area is a massive room with one bathroom in the corner. There were an unusual number of NO SMOKING signs. I went into a cubicle and had half a cigarette. There were no cameras nor attendants but when I exited, I was immediately stopped by an airport employee. I was taken upstairs to the ‘captain’. He sternly said, “You have broken the rules and will not go on your flight.” This penalty was excessive for half a smoke. I argued and whined but to no avail. He repeated the penalty of losing the flight several times.
I was taken into a large, handicapped bathroom with several officers in attendance to watch the show. I finally asked how much money he wanted (they avoided broaching the subject of a bribe). He said “100 dollars.” This was also a little severe. I said I didn’t have $100 (there was much more than that in my secret pocket). I emptied my pockets and had about $15. He belatedly accepted that, and I was free to go.
This was an obvious extortion that they had executed several times. All the employees were in on it. I have no idea how they detect smoke when they are not in the bathroom.
I wrote the airport trying to expose the extortion racket. I never received a response.
• Nairobi, Kenya. I had just arrived in Nairobi from South Sudan. I left the hostel and walked on the sidewalk next to a huge open space surrounded by high blue corrugated metal sheeting. I lit a cigarette as I walked the few blocks to the cathedral. A policeman said it was illegal to smoke anywhere in Nairobi and demanded a $100 payment. I argued and he countered “No one is above the law, it is not an excuse that you don’t know the law”, on and on. It became apparent that I was not going to give up and asked how much money I had. The fine went down to 2000KS (about $14) and I finally paid 1000KS, “for lunch for me and my 4 friends.” pointing at the trees. I errored in not getting his name and badge number.
I subsequently asked around if it was illegal to smoke anywhere in Nairobi and got conflicting answers. The guards at the cathedral said that the way to deal with bribes was to get his name and badge number and report him.
I looked up the law. Smoking was illegal but only near the front of buildings. The policeman was enforcing the law illegally.
• Kenya May 2023. Kenya has possibly the worst police corruption. There was an obvious speed trap – with no town, there was a 50km/hr sign that I didn’t see and had radar immediately after it. I was pulled over. I asked for the radar reading and he produced an image that I was going 74. The only thing that ended the discussion was “I don’t have any money, or Mpeza (he asked for that) and only a credit card”. Instead of the $50 fine, I paid 500KS (about $4.50) and he accepted the bribe.
In Elforet, Google Maps suddenly disappeared and navigating without it is impossible. I double parked but was not obstructing traffic. I was required to enter the SIM card pin, then the PUK and I eventually had to replace the SIMs. A cop wanted to arrest me for stopping on the road. I argued a lot, refused to let him get in the car to drive to the police station (I told him we are never to let police in our car surprising him) and he finally let me leave.
• Arusha, Tanzania May 2023. Arusha had a hard-to-understand parking rule with no signs. I was clamped and given a 63,000 TS ($24) parking fine outside the Central Market. I was clearly at their mercy with the clamp on my wheels. This was a scam conducted by guys with no affiliation with the town. I should have asked to see the police. Arusha was a big messy African city with clogged traffic and not much to see. I was there to get my permit for Nogongoro Park. Avoid it at all costs.
