The Nomadic Notebook: April 2014

TLWR: Met the mafia; lost $20; still alive.

This is not a normal blog post. It doesn't have pretty pictures, and the story takes place over the course of 24 hours.

As I headed out to the riverside in hopes of finding a French café with actual coffee, I was stopped by a pair on a motor bike asking where I was from. The woman, Ember, asked to speak with me about Canada as her sister was scheduled to travel there as part of a nursing exchange program. After chatting for a bit about housing prices and other living costs on the street corner, they invited me for lunch and to talk to the sister. A windy route through Phnom Penh sandwiched between two Filipino’s yelling questions through the wind eventually led to a gate, followed by a set of stairs with a little apartment at the top.

During the ride, the thought of disappearances in big cities did occur, and I momentarily wondered if I was on my way to being sold in to sex slavery. That said, everyone seemed normal and warm smiles and hellos were exchanged all around.

Upstairs I found myself seated on a white couch and matching chairs set with a horror movie– possibly Carrie– playing on a little TV in the corner.

A simple but delicious meal of rice and pork followed by mango saw us through a number of topics, from Canada's population to life in Phnom Penh, and eventually to work.

Now here's where things get interesting. Uncle, or rather Rudi, seemed to be in charge. He told me he was a dealer at a local gambling house, but ran his own little side business in which he hosted games for 2% of the winnings as opposed to the usual 5% that his workplace took. It seems both Rudi and the local casino specialized in BlackJack– or 21 as he perfered to call it. For those who don’t know, the highest hand, up to the number 21, wins the round.

He then offered to teach me the system he used that guaranteed a win. Starting my defense now, I’m Canadian, I’m polite, and I think I was on drugs. Back to the story: While playing a few friendly rounds– no money involved– Rudi told me about how one of his clients had recently played a game at his place in which he won 60K. However, instead of paying the proper 2%, the man had paid him $200 and told him to be happy with that.

I was then asked to participate in a little game to win Rudi's money from the business man; Ember would be playing the game as my “tourguide”– I was able to help– and we both would know all the cards and therefore know when to bet and when to fold.

I have no idea how I agreed, but in any case, a few minutes later the 'business man', Mr. Asis, showed up.

Before starting we promised all smiles. Thus the light banter carried over the entire playing period.

[A quick note: Most of this text is taken straight from one of my journal entries, thus I apologize if it’s a little jumpy and the tense is occasionally confusing and continually changing]

The game numbers started going up; I gave my last $20– I kept $5 for dinner that night– then "borrowed" money in credit written on paper.

I wish I could say for certain something was in the food or drink they gave me– which I might note they barely touched– because I really would like to think I'm not a complete idiot.

We went into the last round all smiles, three of us exchanging winks, then the road bump surfaced. I’d thought we were just playing to win the $2K that was, as Rudi would tell it, entitled to him, and then we’d stop. Turns out that wasn’t the case and Mr. Asis suddenly pulled tens of thousands of dollars from his briefcase. Rudi and Ember were both nodding at me to continue as we had a guaranteed win– I had 21 and Mr. Asis had 20. Also, backing out at this point would mean owing Rudi his $200 and likely all of the borrowed credit as well.

Before turning the cards Mr. Asis wanted to see the counterpart of his money upfront. In cash.

At this point I really wished I’d continued on my way to the riverside, sat down at a nice café, and been re-enacting an entirely different kind of movie scene. I'd also like to note here that when we started I didn't believe I was getting anything for playing Robin Hood and helping the poor take their due from the wealthy.

Self defence over now, back to the story.

Of course I didn't have that kind of money – note were talking over $38K… I did say I was intelligent earlier, right? After some debate we put the game on hold for a few hours during which I –that is to say, Rudi and I– was supposed to procure the money to show Mr. Asis.

Sonny and Ember took me to a Canadia bank where they tried to get me to take money out. When that didn’t work they took me to a sketchy “Gold store” where we tried again to take money out. Thankfully I had my accounts set up so well that even I could barely ever access funds, and so nothing came of that. They told me to call my bank. It was midnight at home. My bank was closed.

I was eventually returned to a corner right by my hostel after agreeing to keep trying overnight to contact my bank to increase my limit so I could take out 10K. The plan was to get the money, meet in the morning, and finish the game.

Back in the hostel I looked up "Cambodia Blackjack Scam". That quick Google search revealed me to be insanely naive, and, most likely a result of the extremeness of said naivety, lucky.

I called my mother. Twice.

The second time was to tell her to delete the panicked and likely incomprehensible voicemail I left her.

Then, as I’d promised the Fillipino Mafia, I called my bank. I called the bank more times than I called my mom.

A huge thank-you to Katherine, who accompanied a terrified stranger to a box on the road– I was worried I was being watched, either so that I couldn’t escape, or so that they could rob and kill me the moment I got money out.

After all that, I had two canceled bank cards, a probably not at all reassured mother, and a terror of sleeping.

The calls began at 7:23am and continued until I finally put my phone on airplane mode. The first text was from Ember at 9:28am telling me that they were at the corner to pick me up– this came just as I was leaving the hostel.

Despite their intentions, I felt badly for ignoring a few dozen calls and wrote a text– which I sent once I was finally out of Phnom Penh. It read:

Thank you for lunch but I'm unable to continue playing your game.

I'm sure your friend with the money will understand. I'm sorry you only made $20 off of a day’s worth of acting, but I'm also quite glad I only lost that. Assuming my bank info has been recorded I'll save you the trouble of trying to get anything; the cards are canceled.

One last note: the Internet knows about you so consider taking it easy for a bit to avoid being caught.

Morale of the story: while people are generally good at heart, be cautious, and if invited for lunch in exchange for talking to a sister/niece about your country, don't go; or if you do go for the free lunch, hope there's nothing in it, and whatever you do, DO NOT GO IN TO THE BEDROOM. Did I mention the game was played in a bedroom behind a closed door?

If you know anyone traveling to SEA please share this with them. This scam seems to be extremely common

I love you all!

xoxo –EmmaSkye

Note: While my story takes place in Phnom Penh, these guys, or at least others like them, are active throughout much of SEA. For more reading on this scam see Laurelbury's Holiday In Cambodia post which details a nearly identical situation to my own, but with larger losses. There's also an article on CNN Travel on the Blackjack scam in Vietnam, and another more personal story written by Kristin on Take Your Big Trip.

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