I'll write todays post in english since I think some non Swedes will be interesed in last days events also..
It all started two days ago, with the guy who wanted to increase his english skills as mentioned in the last topic. We meet him 10 meters from our hotel, this was the first time we ever walked around without a guide/driver.
Anyway, this guy took us to his friends in a basement. They were building a new jewellery store, some shelves were finished with a lot of nice trinkets, rings and stones. We did not really want to be there but they was trying to be social and nice to us, talking about the Indian way of making friends. We saw some bollywood movies, they treated us with pizza and they talked about how rich they were and how big their five generation company was.
After a few hours Chen asked us:
"What would you say if someone offered you a job for 10 000 Euros for three days of work?"
Then they explained that the customs took 250% charge of the Jewellerys worth if the company exceeded its export limits and that by the help of people with tourist visas they could send the jewellery in our name and use this "loop hole" to avoid paying tax.
This all sounded great so the next morning we told our driver that we found some friends that we wanted to travel with and that he could drop us off at the trainstation (our job offer was ofcourse secret because they did not want any trouble with the government). While at the station two of the guys picked us up shortly after our chauffeur left and brought us back to the store.
This is where things slowly increased in sketchyness..
1. We would now earn what we had on our accounts in cash when we delievered the parcel to their contact in Thailand, i.e. 100% profit.
2. They would have to pay an insurance for the gems of 2000 Euros..
3. In a worst case scenario they needed our card information so that they could show the customs that we had indeed payed for the merchandise..
This sounded "ok" not as good as the last offer by the younger brother of the Boss. He then copied our passport info.. The boss was also busy, some guy from Nepal supposed to be the boss over the stores there needed to see him and a guy with a lot of jewellery and nice clothes explained that he came from Utah etc..
This is where things took a downturn.. The boss said that now the insurance was payed and if we left today he had to take the money directly so that the customs would not suspect anything. We wanted to leave but they had our luggage in one of their rooms and if we left now we would have to pay for the insurance and leave empty handed. The boss also changed to a more angry/less patient temper.
Through some induction of panic and stress they finally made us bring forth the cash.. We did not know what to do, no driver a loss of 1000 Euros each or pay the 2000 Euros and gain a potential profit.. Everything went extremely fast from here, "we had to catch the flight in time".. Unwillingly we payed them and got on the flight with some jewellery as insurance for a safe deal. On the plane I was certain we had been scammed so I took the jewellery to the flight personel and asked them if it was real or not. They lead me to some people in the back of the plane that could help me. They stated that the jewellery was indeed real however the quality was far from good. We keeped on talking and they started laughing at what just happened to us, everything seemed so obvious in retrospect that we had been pulled by the tail.
The guy turned out to be the number one bollywood actors brother and offered to help us if we got into trouble, flashing a 2cm thick stack of 1000 or 10 000 rupees (100R = 17kr). They told us that you never could trust indians atleast not as a tourist.
These guys made me realize that even though most people can be scum bags there are a select few that shine and those I call friends.
A great thanks to my amazing parents and sister + friends for your support.
The laughter of my father when I told him really cheered me up, it helped me realize what a great friend from school (Robin AKA Snuffle) just told me: "skit i pengarna, det finns alltid mer av det i världen" (translation: don't think about the money, there is always more to find in the world).
Long post today. Don't feel bad about us even though we do (how could we be so stupid!) and just laugh and learn from this crazy event.
I love you all!
It all started two days ago, with the guy who wanted to increase his english skills as mentioned in the last topic. We meet him 10 meters from our hotel, this was the first time we ever walked around without a guide/driver.
Anyway, this guy took us to his friends in a basement. They were building a new jewellery store, some shelves were finished with a lot of nice trinkets, rings and stones. We did not really want to be there but they was trying to be social and nice to us, talking about the Indian way of making friends. We saw some bollywood movies, they treated us with pizza and they talked about how rich they were and how big their five generation company was.
After a few hours Chen asked us:
"What would you say if someone offered you a job for 10 000 Euros for three days of work?"
Then they explained that the customs took 250% charge of the Jewellerys worth if the company exceeded its export limits and that by the help of people with tourist visas they could send the jewellery in our name and use this "loop hole" to avoid paying tax.
This all sounded great so the next morning we told our driver that we found some friends that we wanted to travel with and that he could drop us off at the trainstation (our job offer was ofcourse secret because they did not want any trouble with the government). While at the station two of the guys picked us up shortly after our chauffeur left and brought us back to the store.
This is where things slowly increased in sketchyness..
1. We would now earn what we had on our accounts in cash when we delievered the parcel to their contact in Thailand, i.e. 100% profit.
2. They would have to pay an insurance for the gems of 2000 Euros..
3. In a worst case scenario they needed our card information so that they could show the customs that we had indeed payed for the merchandise..
This sounded "ok" not as good as the last offer by the younger brother of the Boss. He then copied our passport info.. The boss was also busy, some guy from Nepal supposed to be the boss over the stores there needed to see him and a guy with a lot of jewellery and nice clothes explained that he came from Utah etc..
This is where things took a downturn.. The boss said that now the insurance was payed and if we left today he had to take the money directly so that the customs would not suspect anything. We wanted to leave but they had our luggage in one of their rooms and if we left now we would have to pay for the insurance and leave empty handed. The boss also changed to a more angry/less patient temper.
Through some induction of panic and stress they finally made us bring forth the cash.. We did not know what to do, no driver a loss of 1000 Euros each or pay the 2000 Euros and gain a potential profit.. Everything went extremely fast from here, "we had to catch the flight in time".. Unwillingly we payed them and got on the flight with some jewellery as insurance for a safe deal. On the plane I was certain we had been scammed so I took the jewellery to the flight personel and asked them if it was real or not. They lead me to some people in the back of the plane that could help me. They stated that the jewellery was indeed real however the quality was far from good. We keeped on talking and they started laughing at what just happened to us, everything seemed so obvious in retrospect that we had been pulled by the tail.
The guy turned out to be the number one bollywood actors brother and offered to help us if we got into trouble, flashing a 2cm thick stack of 1000 or 10 000 rupees (100R = 17kr). They told us that you never could trust indians atleast not as a tourist.
These guys made me realize that even though most people can be scum bags there are a select few that shine and those I call friends.
A great thanks to my amazing parents and sister + friends for your support.
The laughter of my father when I told him really cheered me up, it helped me realize what a great friend from school (Robin AKA Snuffle) just told me: "skit i pengarna, det finns alltid mer av det i världen" (translation: don't think about the money, there is always more to find in the world).
Long post today. Don't feel bad about us even though we do (how could we be so stupid!) and just laugh and learn from this crazy event.
I love you all!
4 kommentarer:
Haha, it's not a realy trip if you don't get scammed at least once :P.
I heard you're going to Thailand on the 27th?
OMFG, jag sa ju att den snubben var katastrof :P
herregud grabs.. vet inte om jag ska gråta eller skratta. Jobbigt att vara blåögd svensk som tror på att alla är goda och ärliga.
Tur att gubbarna inte smugglade in knark i era väskor, det skulle varit bullkastrull. Ska tydligen inte vara så roligt att sitta i fängelse i Bankok..
At least you learned something out of the ordinary on your trip. Except from that it seems that you've had a great adventure so far :) And watch out for sketchy places..
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