Cheated in Hurghada

I am so sorry to hear about your pain.  The risk of fraud is ever present for people that are away from home, it does not matter where you go.  Yours is a lesson to everybody to keep their guards up.  The "confidence" man or woman has a bag of tricks.  The worst is where you are not asked for anything, but offer thinking that everything is OK.

Yours is a story that seems to be heard often.  My first exposure was nowhere near as painful, albeit it did deprive me of what was almost the last money that I had, which could have kept me going for several more months.  Fortunately, I was able to get work, and got through it.

Something that any expat should realise, is that the levels of morality vary from one country to another.  I am Canadian, but have been living in South Africa for 35 years.  The event of which I speak occurred shortly after I arrived.  A person befriended me at the youth hostel where I was staying, who said he was heading for Cape Town.  I said I would love to go, and he offered to organise it.  Say no more.  I was left sitting at the airport while he flew to Cape Town with a girlfriend.  It was really embarrassing.

That is not a reflection of all South Africans, but it was the first indication that I was not in Kansas any more.  As indicated, I have been here for many years and love the country, its people, and have a South African wife.  Something that I am always aware of though, is that there are more bad apples here than where I grew up in small town Canada, and they come in all colours and races and a multitutude of nationalities.

OMG ,, Really i am very sorry for what happen to you ,, i wish you could overcome this problem soon ,,

What is possible to say... whatever how much time you are living without husband and no matter where you go - just try to know something about the country before the trip. Anything can happened to anybody but such type of stories is too famous to get involved in. Really. I respect you for the case that you told about this and wish you will forget about soon. But partially it is your fault. How you can believe that Doctor in such country have no money? How you can believe that man will ask money from you in country when his responsibility is to care for woman? And actually you come to meet him and get something for yourself and he is getting something for himself... that`s it...

you should go to police and claim him officially ..... and they will help you

there are similar cases happened with foreigners and also egyptians as well , and police interfered , and caught the guys

i agree with you
except in the part related to doctors earn money

here in egypt , not all doctors earn a lot ............ rather i would say , that doctors who earn a lot are few ...........  the most can just afford to live a modest life

All women should know that if a man asks two things (money and sex)before marriage, then he is a jerk.

I do not mean they have a millions... but to do not have money to by medicine for the family as written in this post - sorry - it is fun 

i wonder how a doctor have enough time to make such play and make such scam
may be he is not a doctor ....... and lie about job   it was all a lie

100% it was just a liar... it is his profession actually - to get money from women by this way.
Such people have everywhere... unfortunately...

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, but my advice to you, you Must report that to a police station, & I'm sure  they can get him, & get your money back, don't waste your right, you have a right, get it back

Of course you should report! It's  a threat and its supposed to deter you from doing the right thing and from doing what they fear most. Its sad someone would take advantage in the name of love, friendship or companionship. Its a hard lesson to learn but glad u posted it. Maybe other women, or men, will be quick to think when anyone asks for money or is quick for intimacy without knowing the character of the person.

It's so sad how it happens when we as people are lonely its so easy to want to believe things that don't make sense.....

OMG  , if i were their i would get this non-man and make his face unrecognized , this is a bad situation for you ausandra200, as Egyptian i would say sorry for this situation, and for all those see this post, don't think that you when coming to Egypt for a month that you will find LoVe here, may be but try to ensure for this love. try to meet his family. never ever give him money for any reason. Mid-Eastern habits prevent a real man to get money from his girl. so if he did anything abnormal , then be sure that this person is a piece of shit trying to cheat. you can enjoy your time and stay as you want, but when it's related to some thing personal you have to be more certain

It stinks that this would happen anywhere, and I want to share that there are lots of con artists in the US too.

Lots of times they're American guys and gals stealing from other Americans, their own countrymen. A con artist doesn't care who they steal from. They target whoever seems vulnerable. I used to watch a show called American Greed  where in each episode sometimes many times a single person would craftily lie and scheme to steal millions from others, organizations or individuals.  It's worth checking out if you want to see how things go down on the other side of the world: American Greed (The Show)

Sorry, but I have to rush to Egypt's defense, because this isn't something exclusive to Egypt, and y'all know there will be people jumping on this forum and pointing at how much scandal happens here.

No matter where you are you have to be careful!  And really, no matter where it happens, most likely if you don't notify the authorities you'll not get any retribution.  Please call them so this doesn't happen to someone else, and to claim your rights!

Go to the police.
He's a coward  and he cannot publish videos if u take him to jail.
on the contrary he can sell it and repeat the same with other victims if you keep silent.

You have to report him
Those actions have to be punished

I don't really know what to tell you, but I'm truly and deeply sorry for what happened with you, definitely wasn't your fault to be honest and caring with someone who don't know what these words means.. all I can tell you as your fingers doesn't look like the same so does the Egyptians they are not all bad but one again am so sorry that you only met the bad type of us and I wish I could be there to help you. God bless you and next time choose more carefully who you hang out with.

No-one seems to have said it, so I will say what's on all our minds. Come on guys, be brave. Here it comes.... What a naive, gullible fool!

Sometimes I think the woman in these cases must have an idea they are being conned, but ignore these feelings because they're been made to feel special,
I have many times seen young guys making moves on older women in Egypt and it is so obvious the guy is after one thing ££$$€€ so come on lady's
If you are a woman in your 40s. 50s or 60s and you are being sweet talked by some teenage guy it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out his motives

I wonder if something similar isn't going on with the man I'm seeing. He is much younger, ( 20 years) and while he hasn't taken any large amounts of money from me, he has 'borrowed' a couple of thousand LE (less than five).  He says he wants to marry me, but I'm hesitant.

He has been a great help to me, and done many things I could not have done for myself because of my poor Arabic, but I'm still wary. I won't give him a key, I won't let him come to my job, and I won't go to his city to visit him. I haven't spent anything I don't feel I can afford, and I refuse to be one of those women who loses thousands of dollars.

The big thing that sticks out in my mind is I had to have him go to the bank once for me.  I know the daily withdrawal limit, and knew even if he went that high, I could stop the card before he used it again. Anyway, when he returned, I asked how much he withdrew. He told me, but what he said was less than the bank said was taken out, as I checked it online. He swore innocence, said it was a bank error, but now I don't trust him. It wasn't a lot of money, but it's the principle of the thing. He insists he did nothing wrong, and still says he wants to get married, but I have to wonder. What do you all think?

Hi Bodicea77, I hope you are well and having a good day.

I think you know the answer to the question your asking.

so my advice for what its worth is this, If you have feelings for this guy and are looking to enter into a serious relationship with him you are going to get hurt, because as time goes on so will his lying and stealing, which could leave you in a bad place both emotionally and financially, so cut all ties now.

on the other hand if you just like the company, and the help he can give you from time to time you need to ask yourself. Can you put up with the lies? Can you put up with the small amounts of money borrowed never to be returned, if the answer to these questions is yes then just keep him on a VERY tight leash and enjoy yourself, you are fully aware of what his intentions are, and after some time he will move on but you are in control.

hope that makes sense

best of luck

Ladies....how do we get ourselves into these situations? Only a couple of thousand...less than five thousand LE???!#

Do you realize that's more than many people make in a month here? Why are we lending men money?  If this is sometime you've known you a long time, or God forbid a husband that you've been sharing a home and its been give and take many years OK.

Please be careful. If you need someone to assist you here in Egypt you can probably afford to hire someone and pay a part time salary to run errands for  you and stuff. But if you can't even trust him to visit you at work for example, what's the point?

I totally agree with you, Rachel.... it is impossible to woman be that "naive"... so... it seems situation a little bit differ than described here...
Before even think to go out of my country in far 2009 the first things I hear is such stories. It is that much well known that now for me really strange to hear that there is somebody involved in. From a countries with good educational system and with fully available information flow...

Want to say just  - switch on your brain or don`t complain after all is done... Maybe too tough but true!

Rachel

Sorry is not enough


All i can say , fight , you already lost a lot and you don't fear for lose more

Don't let him enjoy what he did to you

Report him in the police station and tell the embasy to be pressure in the case


It is not the first time to happen a story like this

Be the one who stop that

It was someone I considered a friend. Seems I was mistaken. I had no idea until now people made so little here. That, among other things, is why I became more and more suspicious. As I said, I refuse to be taken for large sums of money. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't being too harsh. Thank you for your input.

Unfortunately,you will never be able to stop things like this especially when it comes to vulnerable women "of a certain age " having been recently widowed.

Someone will be glad to work as your assistant for 2000LE monthly. That's an entry level full time salary here for an admin grad. So yeah....sorry if I'm off topic and best wishes! You'll find better!

Rachel if you can't fight , so forget and it was a lesson that you shouldn't trust to anybody easily

  good luck

*Chime In* Not to pick on anyone, but we've really got to stop saying bad things about Egyptians as a whole race.

We live in their country, for one.  If someone is in America and complains about us Americans or anything about our country, what do we tell them?  Get out!

Lol, seriously, from an objective standpoint, and after reading the other thread XB23 linked above, intercultural marriage is already a high risk.  It's not because Egyptians are bad, or because Americans are bad.  Both cultures have things that can be improved, but American women are really not what Egyptian guys expect.  We don't like to be told what to do, we are very independent, and have a different set of values bred into us since birth.  Same with Egyptian guys, they are not what American women can expect.  When you're all starry eyed and in love, it's easy to expect that you'll be able to deal with the differences.  But as the relationship wears on it takes a lot of effort and patience from both sides. 

In a world where people like things to be fast and easy, what do you think will happen?

If you want to be sure you're not being used, and you're a woman, don't share your money.  Ever. That's not the norm here. There are plenty of women here that don't work and have no money to share. Guys here know that, and if they want a wife, they plan to support her. And don't marry someone who wants to leave Egypt. You come sit in Egypt with him. If you share your money or you leave Egypt and and things don't work out, maybe you weren't being used, maybe you were. If your relationship fails, then all you can blame it on is your not getting along.

When your relationships failed and you were being used in your own country, did you declare shame on your whole country and population? Doubtful. Just stop blaming the whole country.  It's not the whole country's fault!

hello cbag
simply dont generalize

if you were a victim for a cheater before ; keep in mind that he is not represnting 90 millions

and not all egyptians use the name of god to deceive or to make benefits

i understand that you had a hard experience before .......  but this doesn't mean that all egyptians ; or even majority of egyptians are liars or cheaters

have a nice day

I apologize for the generalization.  What I meant was the crooks who prayed on vulnerable women.  I have many Egyptian friends in Egypt and they are good God fearing people.  I was just angry at the other person calling the victims stupid and should take the blames while defending  the scammers who had done horrible act of disgrace to some nice women who helped them.

Hi everybody,

Please note that some inappropriate posts have been removed from this thread.

It would be much appreciated if generalizations can be avoided on the forum please, it can upset a particular nationality.

Thanks all,

Priscilla 

It was the same for me with zain Haroun he started asking for money for things like food apartment clothes then new phones then new car then he asked for £6000 to build a caffee he told me later he gave the money to his father for a piece of land I have seen no proof of this a women sent me photos of them together having sex staying in a flat together she has a little boy 9 yrs old he is still messing me about threatening me If I go after my money he will hurt me badly

I know  that not all are the same but it's up to the good ones to prevent the lowlifes getting your country and your men a bad name

Your post is a sad one, and I feel very sorry for you, but unfortunately I have heard of many of these experiences from people coming to Egypt .  I live in Hurghada at least six  months every year and have been doing so for the last 12 years. I have two or three exceptionally nice, honest and helpful Egyptian friends . When they do work for me. I pay them and I pay them a fair and reasonable sum, even though they do not really need the money as they both have employment, although not very well paid.  " Friendship is friendship but work is work", I tell them and because I pay, I do not feel that I'm taking advantage of them when I asked them  to do things which I would normally have to pay other people to do as a matter of course
.               It takes a while to spot a cheater, but one of the most vulnerable situations to be in is being in love. Fortunately, I am married and have beenfor  25 years and I'm still very much in love with my wife.  A person like yourself who has been recently bereaved and having a man show  her considerable amorous attention after a reasonable period of time has elapsed after your bereavement is a particularly vulnerable person , but the warning signs are  when the men (or the women) start asking for money.
                Although several of these posts advise you to go to the police,  I can assure you that they will not   get your money back. You have no receipt, and even if the man admits taking the money from you, he may  just say that   no repayment was expected any will just say it was a present to him.  .                   My advice is to tell you all your friends about it as a warning, put out of many posts as  you can on various websites to warn others, but forget your money and treat this experience as just another of the bad experiences, we all suffer as we travel through this vale of tears call life
                   I have been cheated  twice in Egypt, once when I purchased my flat through an estate agent from hell who told me lies about the propertyand by another man I actually trusted and had known for a couple of years before I lent him any money . Fortunately I lent it to him with proper officially drawn up   receipt and  repayment plan, but am now involved in legal process to get the money back .
              I am certainly not going to generalise and say that  Egyptians are thieves and rogues but I have travelled the world and lived in many countries.  I will say that you are more likely to be cheated in Egypt, than you are in many other countries .

I am sorry to hear that, I know I am writing a late reply, but, really, this is a classic story of a good number of Arab guys who totally use foreigner girls!! .. I believe that foreigner girls should be more aware of this scenario, and know it by heart,,, not all Arab guys are bad for sure,,but this is a very common story that should be already known years ago,,,I really hope that you have recovered now and living peacefully!

I am really sorry to hear that this has happened to you.
Shaheer Subar