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Cambodia Blackjack Scam – How To Avoid Getting Stung

A few months I got approached by many friendly cambodians when watching the sunset along the riverfront of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I was involved in a scam that lasted approx 2 hours; driven to the outskirts of the city, given food and had great fun with some of the most friendliest people you could hope to meet. They even showed me how to play “blackjack 21”. And subsequently how to cheat at it. And that’s when things got really bizarre….

I was introduced to more and more strange people over the course of the night with fake identitys who I would be forced into tricking at the card game. I was locked inside a strangers house and strongly persuaded to hand over wads of money. managed to escape (so to speak)…

Later is when I felt like a complete and utter fool. I searched Google for “Cambodia blackjack scam” and was bombarded with results all frighteningly identical experiences to my own. People from all over the world has written on their internet their own accounts of the same scam I somehow got involved in and they all read the same: approached on the street (somewhere in SE Asia: KL, BKK, Siem Reap, Bali) and taken to a home by very friendly people and propositioned to cheat a casino.

The other common thread amongst all were that no one was every threatened or force used against them and same for myself: I never once felt threatened. It wasn’t until I got on the internet that I even fully realized what had just happened. If I let their entanglement continue past the point I cut it off, I learned they would have arranged a game between myself and this “Mahjong player” in which I would believe I was winning big then all of a sudden I would make a huge bet and lose it all when my “friends” pulled the rug from under me and cheated the cheater by changing the cards.

The experience was bewildering, somewhat funny but tinged with only one scary aspect: my “host’s” food and drink offering, was very likely drugged. I read this detail in some of the internet accounts and still back in the tiny room I will never forget, I felt strange, not right. The moment I started feeling this way I even wanted to get out even more though; I suppose it had the opposite effect than desired by them. I was utterly confused but relaxed and sleepy. Tingly, bewildered and a very funny feeling.

Time and time again I have experienced (and written about) the hospitality and extreme kindness of local people along my travels. I am friendly, open and generally trusting (hitchhiking and couchsurfing vouches for honesty in complete strangers) and this has revealed to me countless amazingly unforgettable experiences…and then also this one more unfortunate one. But was it all that unfortunate? I did come out alive, healthy, with even all my posessions (slightly funny since as you know, I had very little money for them to take anyway). What I did come out with was quite the story and a good lesson about life that cost nothing but a few hours of time.

All of it was a lie though, all of it. The sister, the interest, the friendliness, all a disturbingly elaborate lie. The night after the event I was racked with questions: Why would people do this? How could they have no remorse? Did they not feel for these innocent friendly people they were stealing from? Why were the police not cracking down on this? Were they so friendly and non threatening so police reports aren’t filed? So many questions, still more and more.

Similar schemes happen in many countries, some so clever even the most travelled nomads can fall for them (drugs or no drugs). I’m just grateful I can learn from this…and  perhaps prevent it in the future.