Beware of Filipino scammers in Phnom Penh

[vladimir]

They might be regular casino workers supplementing their income?

[1894]

They might be regular casino workers supplementing their income?

Of Course they are. Why dont you sign up for one of their one day card sharp courses ?.

[jm]

One of the PI Scambos stopped me on 110. Asked for a light, what town you from yadda yadda. Second time, same guy.

[vladimir]

They might be regular casino workers supplementing their income?

Of Course they are. Why dont you sign up for one of their one day card sharp courses ?.

I did ask, but they said they were repeating the basic beginner course for the tenth time for you, and they said I was too demanding because I couldn't understand a single word of Engrish they were speaking. Sorry for being discerning...

[LTO]

You seem a bit thick soi dog.
An ideal candidate for a card game.
I have thought about going along with the scam,gav.
But how often is one out with no wallet or cards?

Been gone for several days. Took my first walk up the riverfront in a week, and like clockwork, ran across a Filipino hat admirer in front of Wat Ounalom. "Nice hat. Did you get that in Thailand?" 

These guys are easy to find. Anybody that wants to investigate and run through the scam with one of them can pretty much plan on them always being available for you any afternoon on the riverfront.

[Alex]

We still need someone from Khmer440 to go undercover on one of these scams. Walk around the Royal Palace with no money or ATMs cards on you, pretend to be a rube tourist, go along with the scam, and then report back. They probably won't kill you.

I'll volunteer next time I'm in the country. Nobody knows me in Cambodia yet.

[ken svay]

New line.
Outside the central market the other day-nice glasses....

[vladimir]

I'd volunteer, but I don't know if an internationally-accredited/qualified organisation like 440 would accept me as a candidate.
I''m not qualified.

[cambod]

New line.
Outside the central market the other day-nice glasses....

And u weren't even wearing glasses.......

[gavinmac]

I figured I might get approached by the scammers during my visit if I was wearing a hat and walking around the Royal Palace. So a few weeks back, I thought all this through and decided that if anyone approached me, I would play along a bit, ask the hat admirer where he was from, and when he said "Uh, I'm from Malaysia" I would respond with a zippy line like "Oh good, I'm glad you're not a fucking Filipino, they are all lowlife scammers and their women are all whores. And Manny Pacquiao is a queer." Because I'm quite mature like that.

Anyway, today I made a rare daytime excursion outside my hotel. I was on an escalator at Sorya market when a polite young brown-skinned man behind me says in suspiciously good English, "Hey, nice polo shirt, where did you get it." (Note: it isn't a polo shirt, but it is a lovely garment nonetheless). So I figured at this point that there was a 90% chance that he was a Filipino scammer and a 10% chance he just had awesome taste in shirts.

I told him I got the shirt in America. He immediately responds with, "How long have you been in Cambodia?" So now I am 100% sure he is a Filipino scammer.

Do I play along and then give him the torrent of anti-Filipino abuse that he so richly deserved? No. All I could think of to say when he asked "How long have you been in Cambodia?" was "I don't want to play cards today." He responded "Oh . . . I don't know anything about that."

So I blew it. It was a totally weak line. I should have delivered the abuse or just started following him asking him a bunch of annoying questions about the scam. "I don't want to play cards today." As if I'm going to play cards with him another day. Man, that was stupid. It wasn't even my line, it was tuk tuk fish's stupid line. It must have gotten in my head subliminally from reading tuk tuk fish's post a few weeks back.

Anyway, he was about 25, white shirt, 3/4 length pants, carrying a black backpack. He continued to lurk around Sorya texting someone and looking for a new scam target, while I continued to lurk around Sorya looking for hot sales girls (there were none). That was it.

They must be doing a roaring business with this scam, given that I was approached about 6 minutes after venturing out in public during the day. They probably have "spotters" all over town approaching any white person who is alone and doesn't look like a total broke, strung out, degenerate expat. If they've got 5 spotters each chatting up 20 white people a day, they only need to land 5% of the marks into a crooked card game and they can make a ton of money with the scam.

I propose we do something to increase awareness. You'd think they would have changed their "nice hat/nice shirt/nice sunglasses" line by now, but it must still work.

[jm]

The most incredible part of the post is that there were no hot sales girls at Sorya. Sovanna is full of them. I wonder if Sovanna pays hot girls more than they'd get at Sorya.

The scammer has never commented on my hat or shirt. Perhaps I need a fashion consultant.

[Dengchao]

@GM: Can I get this straight: you were going to say something that would have been very good, but you said something that was really not that good at all.

You then wrote about 150 words on this missed opportunity.

Am I right mate?

[cambod]

@GM: Can I get this straight: you were going to say something that would have been very good, but you said something that was really not that good at all.

You then wrote about 150 words on this missed opportunity.

Am I right mate?

LoL, can i get this straight? U just asked a pointless rhetorical question. Am i right mate?

It was an interesting incident! I think it could have been bumped to 500+ words if he had actually gone along with it a lil.

@Gav
Start thinking of a good story to give them next time, it's bound to happen again any day now!

[Starving Pelican]

The scammer has never commented on my hat or shirt. Perhaps I need a fashion consultant.

[giblet]

When I was approached (they liked my earrings) I told them I was a tourist and they didn't offer me a card game! I wonder if this means that I look poor.