During the bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh, I thought: "How much better riding my Minsk would be, instead of this bus." I had left the Minsk behind for a good reason, so I tried to concentrate on the new impressions in Cambodia instead.
I spent less than 24 hours in Cambodia's capital. The stay was characterized by the fact that a gang of scammers had chosen me to be their victim. My report about Phnom Penh is therefore focused on this event.
After I had found a cheaper room, I intented to spent the early evening getting an impression about the city. I walked along the river, until a middle aged man approached me. He said that he was from Malaysia and had married a woman from Cambodia. We talked for a while, then I announced that I would travel to Malaysia in two weeks time. He invited me to his home, where he wanted to show me some brochures about Malaysia. I thought he was probably glad to speak some English. So I accepted his invitation in good faith.
Shortly afterwards we were sitting in a tuk tuk. There he revealed to me, that his sister is a model and has to go to Germany to work, soon. I should tell her what life in Germany is like. During the trip we had a nice talk, and he took advantage of the information I told him. When I told him that my father was an engineer, he had a son who was working as an engineer in Malaysia.
We arrived at his apartment. There proclaimed his other sister that the model had to take her mother to the hospital. I got a coffee and a couple of brochures from various regions of Malaysia were shown to me. Then he revealed to me that he was working as a headcroupier in an international casino chain. His job was to be the dealer in the VIP rooms of casinos in Australia and Asia. In this capacity, he travels regularly from casino to casino. At this point I realized that they would try to scam me. Rather than leave the house at this point, I stayed there and enjoyed the show.
Next he told me that we could cheat as a team in a card game called Pontong Poker 21 and make good sum of money that way. I agreed reluctantly to see what would happen next. He explained the game and how we can cheat to me. The game is played against one opponent. It is essentially like blackjack but with betting rounds like in poker. Using hand signals, he let me know about the cards of my opponent and with a quick move he showed me the card on top of the stack. After I understood the system, he told me that he was working as a dealer in a private game the day before. A businessman from Brunei, who had held that game paid him only a fraction of the agreed wage.
By "chance" the businessman showed up. I had to prove my ability to rip off the casinos in a cash game against the business man. The croupier payed my stake in the game.
Acting performances of the participants were not like to be worthy of getting an Oscar. I won game after game. Then the croupier signaled me that I should announce to have an appointment and therefore only be able to play one more round. I did as I was signaled.
In the last game I had the winning hand, but the businessman from Brunei but $ 30,000 in cash on the table. I went along. Unlike before, the businessman wanted to see a cover of my stake. The dealer came up with $ 10,000 in cash, but there was still $ 7,500 missing to cover up the wage.
At this point the discussion on how much money I could come up with started. It last more than 45 minutes, I blocked every single proposal how to get money the dealer came up with. I told him that I had already maxed out my credit card for the day, but on the following day I could get some money. We sealed the cards and postponed the game by one day. The next morning I was supposed to meet them again.
Instead of going to the meeting the next day, I did a little research on the internet. The result was, that I almost became the victim of a Filipino scammergang. Unfortunatly I had not found a way to get rich quickly, but watched an excellent free show and learned a new card game.
I spent less than 24 hours in Cambodia's capital. The stay was characterized by the fact that a gang of scammers had chosen me to be their victim. My report about Phnom Penh is therefore focused on this event.
After I had found a cheaper room, I intented to spent the early evening getting an impression about the city. I walked along the river, until a middle aged man approached me. He said that he was from Malaysia and had married a woman from Cambodia. We talked for a while, then I announced that I would travel to Malaysia in two weeks time. He invited me to his home, where he wanted to show me some brochures about Malaysia. I thought he was probably glad to speak some English. So I accepted his invitation in good faith.
Shortly afterwards we were sitting in a tuk tuk. There he revealed to me, that his sister is a model and has to go to Germany to work, soon. I should tell her what life in Germany is like. During the trip we had a nice talk, and he took advantage of the information I told him. When I told him that my father was an engineer, he had a son who was working as an engineer in Malaysia.
We arrived at his apartment. There proclaimed his other sister that the model had to take her mother to the hospital. I got a coffee and a couple of brochures from various regions of Malaysia were shown to me. Then he revealed to me that he was working as a headcroupier in an international casino chain. His job was to be the dealer in the VIP rooms of casinos in Australia and Asia. In this capacity, he travels regularly from casino to casino. At this point I realized that they would try to scam me. Rather than leave the house at this point, I stayed there and enjoyed the show.
Next he told me that we could cheat as a team in a card game called Pontong Poker 21 and make good sum of money that way. I agreed reluctantly to see what would happen next. He explained the game and how we can cheat to me. The game is played against one opponent. It is essentially like blackjack but with betting rounds like in poker. Using hand signals, he let me know about the cards of my opponent and with a quick move he showed me the card on top of the stack. After I understood the system, he told me that he was working as a dealer in a private game the day before. A businessman from Brunei, who had held that game paid him only a fraction of the agreed wage.
By "chance" the businessman showed up. I had to prove my ability to rip off the casinos in a cash game against the business man. The croupier payed my stake in the game.
Acting performances of the participants were not like to be worthy of getting an Oscar. I won game after game. Then the croupier signaled me that I should announce to have an appointment and therefore only be able to play one more round. I did as I was signaled.
In the last game I had the winning hand, but the businessman from Brunei but $ 30,000 in cash on the table. I went along. Unlike before, the businessman wanted to see a cover of my stake. The dealer came up with $ 10,000 in cash, but there was still $ 7,500 missing to cover up the wage.
At this point the discussion on how much money I could come up with started. It last more than 45 minutes, I blocked every single proposal how to get money the dealer came up with. I told him that I had already maxed out my credit card for the day, but on the following day I could get some money. We sealed the cards and postponed the game by one day. The next morning I was supposed to meet them again.
Instead of going to the meeting the next day, I did a little research on the internet. The result was, that I almost became the victim of a Filipino scammergang. Unfortunatly I had not found a way to get rich quickly, but watched an excellent free show and learned a new card game.
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| Elephant strolling on Phnom Penh's streets |
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