Comments on: One Bizarre Night — Poker Scam in Saigon http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/ Traveling Cheap, Taking Pics, and Telling Lies Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:34:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: greg franklin http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/comment-page-2/#comment-18643 greg franklin Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:45:34 +0000 http://johnnyvagabond.com/?p=3469#comment-18643 Hi Foks, I wrote here in december about my scam experience in Saigon. I thougt i would tell you of another scam in Budapest, Hungary. While walking on Vaci Ut, The upmarket shopping street in Budapest, I accidentily bumped into 2 young attarctive women. They told me they were on holiday in Budapest from another city in Hungary, They asked me if I would like to join them for a drink. They brought me to an outdoor glass elevator on a side street maybe 2 minutes walk. On exit we were on a roof terrace of a jazz bar.. Anyway to cut a long story short, They bought a round of drinks and then I bought the next one, I do not drink and only had water. Then the waiter gave me a bill for over €200. I got made and said this was not a fair price and that I only was liable for one round of drink. They girls got very aggressive and used extemely foul languae. They and the waiter said they would call the police as I refused to pay. I gave them €40 and said that was all I would pay, and with them still shouting I left. I later contacted the Budapest police and they told me that this is common and that ethically wrong but that the prices are displayed ( I never saw them). If I had called their bluff and asked for the police they would not have continued harrassing me. That was 5 years ago and last year while in Budapest 2 other girls tried the same ruse and I went along to the club amd then told them I had to leave before a drink was ordered ( I wanted to check to see if the same scam was still going on). It shows how in more advanced country such scams are going on with the authorities turning a blind eye to this. The moral is :that money scams are active worlwide on naive tourists with local police forces or tourist authorities disinterested in the welfare of foreigners to their countries. This also shows the professionalism of the Saigon scammers when after my Budapest experience I was taken in again. Hi Foks,
I wrote here in december about my scam experience in Saigon.
I thougt i would tell you of another scam in Budapest, Hungary.
While walking on Vaci Ut, The upmarket shopping street in Budapest, I accidentily bumped into 2 young attarctive women. They told me they were on holiday in Budapest from another city in Hungary, They asked me if I would like to join them for a drink. They brought me to an outdoor glass elevator on a side street maybe 2 minutes walk. On exit we were on a roof terrace of a jazz bar.. Anyway to cut a long story short, They bought a round of drinks and then I bought the next one, I do not drink and only had water.
Then the waiter gave me a bill for over €200. I got made and said this was not a fair price and that I only was liable for one round of drink. They girls got very aggressive and used extemely foul languae. They and the waiter said they would call the police as I refused to pay. I gave them €40 and said that was all I would pay, and with them still shouting I left.
I later contacted the Budapest police and they told me that this is common and that ethically wrong but that the prices are displayed ( I never saw them). If I had called their bluff and asked for the police they would not have continued harrassing me.
That was 5 years ago and last year while in Budapest 2 other girls tried the same ruse and I went along to the club amd then told them I had to leave before a drink was ordered ( I wanted to check to see if the same scam was still going on). It shows how in more advanced country such scams are going on with the authorities turning a blind eye to this.
The moral is :that money scams are active worlwide on naive tourists with local police forces or tourist authorities disinterested in the welfare of foreigners to their countries.
This also shows the professionalism of the Saigon scammers when after my Budapest experience I was taken in again.

]]> By: Joshua Guo http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/comment-page-2/#comment-18094 Joshua Guo Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:19:17 +0000 http://johnnyvagabond.com/?p=3469#comment-18094 Johnny, I wish I had read these blogs before I went to Saigon last December. I was the latest victim of this Poker 21 scam and lost about $3,000. These crooks used almost identical stories and tricks. It happened to me on December 22 last year. Approach by a middle-age man with a pair of glasses by the name of Sonny Boy, saying his sister, Ekang Intos, was going to the U.S. in January as a nurse and that their 75-year-old was concerned, I went to his brother-in-law's two-storied concrete house in District 6 to tell them about life in America. The house is located in a quiet neighborhood in an otherwise hustling and bustling downtown. Into the front door is a living room with a 32" TV set set in between two love sofas. I was treated with a lunch. Then came Sonny's brother-in-law, Dan and Ekang. He is a thin, tall and thoughtful guy and speaks perfect English. Like you wrote, he told me the exact story about his experience as a casino dealer. This time the rich guy was Aziz, an owner of 10 ships from Brunei. Aziz gave him only $200 for a win of $$135,000. He was pissed off and wanted a revenge with my cooperation. He showed me how he would shuffle his cards without changing any order and how he would give signals. Not long afterward, Aziz came with a stack of cash in the amount of $140,000 and exchanged it for chips of blue for $20, red for $100 and green for $500. I played with Dan's money. Sure enough, I won every hand except one time push. Then came the final hand as Dan had to report in his hospital. For the last hand I had 11 for the two cards and then drew a card to get a twenty-one. Aziz had a ten showing and Dan showed me the hidden card was ten. So I bet all of my chips. Following my bet, Aziz raised his be to have all his chips in. I was short of $41,000. Aziz would not accept my proposal to have all my chips as the maximum bet. He said the same thing that he would like to win. He also said that, as a businessman, he would like to see the cash in hand when Dan jumped in to guarantee the balance. I ended up with going to a gold shop, probably the same gold shop described in the blogs, with Sonny and Ekang and cash $2,000 with my Citibank credit card without realizing that the gold shop charged me a commission of $660. The name of this one-man operated gold shop is Tiem Vang Hoang Mai. It was obvious that the man was knowing exactly what was going on. They also pushed me to get more cash from my Chase Bank and American Express cards, but fortunately these financial institutions would let me withdraw any cash from an ATM machine in a foreign land. Back to the house, Dan offered to get a loan from a friend of his in the casino while I would be away for a two-day trip on the Mekong River Delta. At Dan's suggestion, we sealed the handbag where all the cash and the receipt from the gold shop plus some US dollars and Vietnamese Dong from my wallet were kept until 9 pm on December 25 after I have returned from the trip. It was not until I left Saigon for the trip did I realize it was a scam. But by the time it was too late. When I returned from the trip, I called Dan several times. He made all kinds of excuses saying he was still short of several thousand dollars, and that he was coming to my hotel with my money but the traffic kept him from getting to my hotel, etc. Finally he hung up on me. I reported the matter to the hotel staffs (Asian Ruby 3 Hotel) and asked them to connect me with the police station, but they were reluctant to get involved saying such scams had happened so often. At my insistence, they talked to the Ben Thanh Police Station; however, the police declined my offer to go there in person. Since my return to the U.S., I have filed a claim with my bank. They are conducting an investigation and would advise me of the result before I pay the due. I also have had several correspondence with Ekang. Her e-mail address is: i.ekang@ymail.com. I have submitted a detailed report to the Ben Thanh Police Station. I intend to write a letter to Le Thanh Hai and Le Hoang Quan, the Party Secretary and Mayor of Saigon to alert them of such alarming scams in their city. I wonder whether it will serve our purpose by such bold moves. Johnny,

I wish I had read these blogs before I went to Saigon last December. I was the latest victim of this Poker 21 scam and lost about $3,000.

These crooks used almost identical stories and tricks. It happened to me on December 22 last year. Approach by a middle-age man with a pair of glasses by the name of Sonny Boy, saying his sister, Ekang Intos, was going to the U.S. in January as a nurse and that their 75-year-old was concerned, I went to his brother-in-law’s two-storied concrete house in District 6 to tell them about life in America. The house is located in a quiet neighborhood in an otherwise hustling and bustling downtown. Into the front door is a living room with a 32″ TV set set in between two love sofas. I was treated with a lunch. Then came Sonny’s brother-in-law, Dan and Ekang. He is a thin, tall and thoughtful guy and speaks perfect English. Like you wrote, he told me the exact story about his experience as a casino dealer. This time the rich guy was Aziz, an owner of 10 ships from Brunei. Aziz gave him only $200 for a win of $$135,000. He was pissed off and wanted a revenge with my cooperation. He showed me how he would shuffle his cards without changing any order and how he would give signals. Not long afterward, Aziz came with a stack of cash in the amount of $140,000 and exchanged it for chips of blue for $20, red for $100 and green for $500. I played with Dan’s money. Sure enough, I won every hand except one time push. Then came the final hand as Dan had to report in his hospital. For the last hand I had 11 for the two cards and then drew a card to get a twenty-one. Aziz had a ten showing and Dan showed me the hidden card was ten. So I bet all of my chips. Following my bet, Aziz raised his be to have all his chips in. I was short of $41,000. Aziz would not accept my proposal to have all my chips as the maximum bet. He said the same thing that he would like to win. He also said that, as a businessman, he would like to see the cash in hand when Dan jumped in to guarantee the balance. I ended up with going to a gold shop, probably the same gold shop described in the blogs, with Sonny and Ekang and cash $2,000 with my Citibank credit card without realizing that the gold shop charged me a commission of $660. The name of this one-man operated gold shop is Tiem Vang Hoang Mai. It was obvious that the man was knowing exactly what was going on. They also pushed me to get more cash from my Chase Bank and American Express cards, but fortunately these financial institutions would let me withdraw any cash from an ATM machine in a foreign land.

Back to the house, Dan offered to get a loan from a friend of his in the casino while I would be away for a two-day trip on the Mekong River Delta. At Dan’s suggestion, we sealed the handbag where all the cash and the receipt from the gold shop plus some US dollars and Vietnamese Dong from my wallet were kept until 9 pm on December 25 after I have returned from the trip. It was not until I left Saigon for the trip did I realize it was a scam. But by the time it was too late. When I returned from the trip, I called Dan several times. He made all kinds of excuses saying he was still short of several thousand dollars, and that he was coming to my hotel with my money but the traffic kept him from getting to my hotel, etc. Finally he hung up on me. I reported the matter to the hotel staffs (Asian Ruby 3 Hotel) and asked them to connect me with the police station, but they were reluctant to get involved saying such scams had happened so often. At my insistence, they talked to the Ben Thanh Police Station; however, the police declined my offer to go there in person.

Since my return to the U.S., I have filed a claim with my bank. They are conducting an investigation and would advise me of the result before I pay the due. I also have had several correspondence with Ekang. Her e-mail address is: i.ekang@ymail.com. I have submitted a detailed report to the Ben Thanh Police Station. I intend to write a letter to Le Thanh Hai and Le Hoang Quan, the Party Secretary and Mayor of Saigon to alert them of such alarming scams in their city. I wonder whether it will serve our purpose by such bold moves.

]]> By: Rich http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/comment-page-2/#comment-18018 Rich Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:36:07 +0000 http://johnnyvagabond.com/?p=3469#comment-18018 This is a GREAT story Johny. Glad that you made it out unharmed. Jeesus. Don't be greedy. Here are some warning about cons in the Czech Republic if I could help others avoid cons. None are as intricate as the one you ran into though! Christ. Good story :) http://www.richtrek.com/2011/12/money-cons-romance-scams-in-prague.html This is a GREAT story Johny. Glad that you made it out unharmed. Jeesus.
Don’t be greedy.

Here are some warning about cons in the Czech Republic if I could help others avoid cons. None are as intricate as the one you ran into though! Christ. Good story :)
http://www.richtrek.com/2011/12/money-cons-romance-scams-in-prague.html

]]> By: Jill http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/comment-page-2/#comment-17630 Jill Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:25:23 +0000 http://johnnyvagabond.com/?p=3469#comment-17630 i've been to Bali; it's a very nice place. just always be wary of the money changers. (we lost about 400sgd to them and never realized until we returned to our hotel to re-count the money) always go to the ones inside malls. i’ve been to Bali; it’s a very nice place. just always be wary of the money changers. (we lost about 400sgd to them and never realized until we returned to our hotel to re-count the money) always go to the ones inside malls.

]]> By: Chris http://johnnyvagabond.com/featured/poker-scam-saigon/comment-page-2/#comment-17618 Chris Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:10:51 +0000 http://johnnyvagabond.com/?p=3469#comment-17618 It happened to me too in 2005 in Bangkok. They took me to a house in the northern surburbs of Bangkok. This time the "sister" was young and pretty and Mr. Lee was from Brunei. Fortunately i was not been drugged (although i had some food and a beer at their house) and i could walk away as soon as the "man from brunei" showed up. I'm pretty surprised that the same thing goes on, at so many places over so many years. It happened to me too in 2005 in Bangkok. They took me to a house in the northern surburbs of Bangkok.
This time the “sister” was young and pretty and Mr. Lee was from Brunei.
Fortunately i was not been drugged (although i had some food and a beer at their house) and i could walk away as soon as the “man from brunei” showed up.
I’m pretty surprised that the same thing goes on, at so many places over so many years.

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