Okay so recently I had a friend from Europe who got scammed in Goa. I was shocked to hear when she shared with me her wretched story. We cannot do much about what happened to her except for her to try and get as much of her money back from the scammers, but we did decide to share this story with the world through my blog so as to make people aware of what could quite easily turn out to be their reality on a bad day. The following is a letter that my friend wrote to an official in utter despair. She prefers being anonymous.
Dear Sir,
I am a traveller from Europe who got scammed when traveling in Goa. I was enourmously stupid but now found out it must have happened to many othersbefore me. It is extremely frustrating for me, especially as I am a professional person back home and have seen all the ‘red flags’,but these people where so professional in talking me into this.
In Anjuna, I had an Indian friend who runs a restaurant there. Through him, I met an Indian business men called Amar. He told me he lives in Paris most of the time but has business in India as well. He had rented a house in Goa where most of the meetings took place. He asked me to buy jewellery from him (just on paper without payment), worth 40,000 euro, to send it to Australia (a travel destination I would go to in 2-3 months time). He would save duty of 100,000 euros on this. This would be the export duty he has to pay if he brings jewellery to his shops abroad. If I returned the jewellery in Australia and we ‘cancelled’ the sales contract (the contract without payment), he would pay me 24,000 euros. Anyway, as the deal should be without payment but just on paper after some persuasion I agreed to do it. We packed the jewellery together and gave it to the post office in Panjim. I was not sureif it were real diamonds, but as I did not have to pay I did not think too much about it.
Amar had told me that probably the customs department will call me to ask how I paid for the jewellery, but usually they would be happy by checking if I had enough credit card limit. Next day a person called and said he was from custom and threatened me if I could not prove the payment they would come and arrest me. He said I might have stolen the jewellery and now was trying to get it out of the country. So after much discussions with Amar and his friend for 2 days, in which they explained to me I was in real trouble with customs and police if I can’t show a proof how I paid for the jewellery, I made the payment – 40,000 euros went via bank transfer and 8,400 euros (for insurance of the parcel) via credit card. It felt completely wrong to make this payment, but I was so scared of going to jail in India. The payment went through my bank account late Oct, so did the credit card payment. What made me feel a little secure is the fact that a bank transfer and credit card payment could always be traced. Anyway, Amar had promised to send the money back directly to my account as the payment was only made to prove to customs I had bought the jewellery.
We also drew up a contract at the notary in Arpora, to make the deal look official. The notary contract says I have been handed the jewellery, but not that it was given to the post office. Australia is not mentioned at all. At the notary, Amar had no proof of ID that I found extremely strange, but he made some phone call and the notary stamped the contract.
The credit card payment was made to a jewellery shop in Panjim. They made me sign some documents that I have bought gold, but I never received this. Amar had told me we do the transaction solely for proving to customs that I have paid 8,400 euros for insurance of the parcel, but as the people in the jewellery shop would not know about the business they should think I buy gold. I am sure the people in this jewellery shop will remember and they also have got cameras.
Amar also advised me to report my credit card lost so I could reclaim the money from the card company. I reported it lost at Calangute police station, but realized that it would be fraud to claim it from Mastercard. So I did not report it lost to Mastercard and Amar promised to cancel the credit card transaction after customs cleared the parcel. Then Amar told me I would have to go to Australia instantly to finish the deal as now the money was paid. He said I have to pick up the parcel andreturn the jewellery to his people in Australia and at this stage he would give me my money back and pay the promised reward. I really did not want to go but he put a lot of pressure on me. He said he will leave for France on the same day and therefore I need to leave earlier than him in case anything goes wrong at the airport. He bought me a ticket and forced me on the next flight early morning the next day.
My Anjuna friend told me that the police in Calangute questioned him about my credit card which I reported lost and then used it after I had left the country. I do not really believe this, but thought I can trust him. He said they found him because they traced back the calls from my Indian mobile phone but I can’t believe the police in Calangute can do this within just 2 days. So someone was paid to threaten him or he himself is lying. He also informed me that this guy who helped Amar had been taken by the police. I do not believe this is true. In the meantime I have informed Mastercard about the scam but I do not know if it is too late to claim the money back. First reply was they cannot do anything, but I have insisted into looking into it again as it was a payment for which I never received goods.
In Australia, I found out about similar scams in India. I have reported to the police in Sydney, but they only can take a report but not do anything else as it happened in India. The jewellery arrived finally (but without the promised documents) and I took it to a jeweller who told me it is fake. I went to the Indian consulate and the counsel general was kind enough to waive the 60 day period before I could come back to India. So I came back to India last week. The jewellery is still with customs at Mumbai airport who will put together an official valuation which will be far below the amount I have paid.
I asked Amar for so many proof, such as offical bill, certificate for the jewellery – he said they would go with the parcel. With every question I asked I was told ‘This is India.’ I wanted to see his passport, but he said this is with a consulate for some visa. I know I have been stupid to carry on without having any proof.
I came back to Mumbai last week. Next day, I called my Anjuna (not really trusting him anymore, but worth trying) and told him the stuff was fake. He then called some friend of Amar and only 2 hours later Amar, who had not been in touch for over a week, kept calling me. He said I cannot speak to his friend about the situation as he does not want other people involved. He said he does not have the money anymore but had to give it to people who would otherwise kill him. He promised to pay everything back to me but now he would not have no money. To ‘proof’ he was going to pay the money back, he sent me 900 euros via Western Union (sent from Thailand). He says this is all the money he has now. Other than that, he spoke to this family friend who is willing to help pay the money back. Additionally, Amar said he had traced my mobile and knew I was in India. And he knew which day I had arrived. I do not know if he has this police connections or if it was just a bluff. Anyway, I find it quite scaring.
I do not have addresses in Goa, but I have the company registration of Amars business (but checked with the registry in Mumbai who do not know about the company), copy of contract from notary, number of bank account of Amar (not his own company, but a jewellery shop in New Delhi what I found quite strange), credit card payment. Amar booked also my flight and hotel in Sydney, so that must have to be paid somehow. In additon I have 3 Indian mobile numbers of him – he probably needed proof of ID when he got them. The details of the bank transfer are in one of the attachments. Receiving bank was Citibank, Western Avenue Road, Panjabi Bagh, New Dehli 110026. From your point of view, is there anything I can do? I would be very happy to receive some advice.
Please listen to your instincts while “helping” someone, especially in a country like India. If your heart says no to something or someone, listen to it. And believe me when I say, “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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