Ecuador Forum

Silverwater
Joined 2008
Posts: 1039

11 years ago

Scammer Warning

11 years ago

Several months ago, I wrote to warn people about the woman who travels around the country, teling people that she has been robbed of her passport, money, etc, and wants to borrow money to get to her embassy. I first encountered her near the Courtyard hotel in Guayaquil, not far from the San Marino Mall.
She apprently has now expanded her operations and is hitting up people in the visa office in Guayaquil, and across the street at the World Trade Center. She usually asks for a large sum of money...as much as $50. In my latest encounter with her, I had noticed her in the visa office, but was meeting with staff. When I finished she was gone. She typically watches for people speaking English...then will walk up and ask if they speak English. Then she cites her tale of woe word for word. When we were ac ross the street at the World Trade Center, she came up behind my daughter and I and started her spiel. I told her she had pulled her crap on me before, and I knew what she was. As before she immediately denied, denied, denied. I proceeded to snap a picture, which infuriated her,and she screamed at me. About a half hour later, we were upstairs eating at the food court, and she came up. When she saw me when she got off the escalator, she did a double take, then proceeded to snap my picture. I smiled and waved. She then screamed that she was bringing the police for me. I told her that I hoped so. I would probably know them anyway, and Im sure they´d be interested in what she had been doing in a government office. At which point she turned and ran down the stairs and left.
In any case, I am writing this to warn people to be aware in the visa offices. I know she does this in other cities. Ive heard reports of her in Quito, Cuenca and Salinas. She identifies herself as South African, is heavy set, and has dark blonde/light brown hair. Most expats here have good hearts, and I would hate to see anyone taken advantage of by this scam artist.

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