Just been approached by a blond guy, about 30 yrs old, who´s Dutch or Belgian and pretended to have been robbed of all his possessions this morning, including his passport. He stopped us in the street asking for the time and then started off on his long sob story. Anyway, I think he´s been in Mendoza a while trying to get tourists to give him money. My boyfriend recognised him from when we´d been at Las Tinajas (great buffet restaurant) a week earlier, and we also saw a warning notice about him at Hostel Independencia.
1
gkerkhof
I met this man also today, I just arrived in Mendoza: The story seemed true, including the tears in his eyes from the pepper spray... I gave him 100 pesos to take the bus to Buenos Aires to get a new passport...
2
hermosabum
Wow, guy must be doing allright for himself with this scam...went to BA last year in January and warnings abounded on the TT for him; sadly I never saw him...was really looking forward to laughing at his sob story and then maybe kicking him in the balls.
3
jackiechann
Sounds like the same type of guy I saw in Belem about 4 years ago, and the same story. The locals said he had been there for months scamming tourists. I felt kind of bad about not helping until I found out the truth about him.
4
ja109
The same guy was in Mendoza when I was there a year ago in June 2006. Did exactly the same scam on a few people I was at spanish school with - one person gave him 100 pesos to get a new passport in BA. He must have progressed onto the pepper spray thing though...
6
gkerkhof
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Sounds like the same type of guy I saw in Belem about 4 years ago, and the same story. The locals said he had been there for months scamming tourists. I felt kind of bad about not helping until I found out the truth about him. <hr></blockquote>
The locals had better brought him to the police or a psychiater. If he is doing this yet 4 years, then he is at least sick in his head.
8
heidiseattle1
Sorry to report that he is STILL around.
We met him in Mendoza on 22 March 2008 and gave him money. He is an incredibly good actor, doesn't look scruffy, and is very convincing overall.
We obviously had not read any warnings about him before. I started searching for info online as I became suspicious after we didn't hear from him (we exchanged information etc).
From reports online it appears he goes by Freek or Jeroen or Tim and he says he is from Belgium or from Holland. We asked him a lot of questions and details and he knew how to answer everything.
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