Monday 15 September 2014

To beg or to scam - that is the question

Hi everyone. Now when you are traveling in any poor, third world country, you should always be aware of people trying to scam you for your money. This is unfortunately a hazard you have to deal with because of the way richer foreigners are perceived in these countries - you probably earn in a month what some of these people earn in a whole year, so they don't feel bad about trying to get money out of you one way or another, by whatever means they can. This was particularly bad in Indonesia where I visited last year. I have just returned from Tunisia (which is slightly richer than Indonesia) and I want to tell you about two men who tried to get money out of me: one succeeded, the other failed.

Let's start with a young man I met in the capital Tunis - this was entirely a chance meeting. Let's call him Mr Tunis since that's where I met him. The traffic in the Tunisian capital is quite chaotic to say the least, so when you want to cross a road, you often have to run across quite quickly as you simply don't trust the cars to stop for you.  I did just that on Avenue Habib Bourguiba and as I ran onto the pavement on the other side, I almost ran into a young man. Well, my arm smacked against his arm in the process and being me, I proceeded to apologize in Tunisian Arabic ("Sahmahni"), standard Arabic ("Ana asif") and French ("pardonnez moi") - the three most spoken languages in Tunisia. He laughed and said in perfect English that it was alright, adding that I only had to apologize in one language, not all three.
Limpeh trying to cross a street in Tunis

He then looked at me and asked if I was able to speak Arabic or French - now being a linguist who is fascinated by languages, I could never refuse a question like that. I told him that I speak French fluently because I had lived in France and know some Arabic from the time I lived in Dubai, but I had also made the effort to learn some Tunisian Arabic since the local Derja dialect is very different from standard Arabic. He then asked me where I was going and when I told him that I was going to the main Tunis train station, he said that he was headed that way too and we could walk together.

I found out more about him - he told me that he was a recent graduate from l'Université de Tunis and he had read history there, but he felt that English would have probably been a far more useful to study if he was ever going to get out of Tunisia and find a job abroad. He opened up to me, told me about how life in Tunisia had actually gotten worse after the January 2011 revolution - he described how he had joined the street protests then and how all his friends and family were filled with so much hope during the revolution and how everyone is just depressed today because of the high levels of unemployment and lack of opportunities for young people. He said that he had graduated over a year ago but still had not been able to find a half decent job that didn't involve back breaking hard work for a pitiful amount of money.
I felt slightly suspicious of this young man who befriended me.

On one hand, he seemed intelligent, well educated, articulate and sincere - his French was perfect and his English was very good. We spoke mostly in French but he was keen to practice his English on me. But on the other hand, as he began his tale of woe in great detail, I half wondered, "why is he telling me all this, I barely know him - is he going to ask me for help or money?" But then I thought, no, he is not your typical beggar, besides, I ran into him, quite literally, as I was crossing the street - he didn't approach me, it was a chance meeting that got us talking. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he is just being friendly. Maybe. Just maybe, I kept telling myself.

But sure enough as we got near the train station, he asked me for money. At first he asked for 10 euros, I said no, sorry I'm not giving you any money. Then the amount dropped from 5 euros to finally 1 euro - it was the kind of bargaining that one would normally do in Tunisian souk when haggling over a souvenir, but I saw no reason to give him any money. I didn't approach him for help, he offered to walk with me to the train station as he claimed he was going to the way (and I knew exactly where the train station was). Furthermore, he was a young man who looked as if he could work, it was not like he was elderly or disabled in anyway and hence unable to earn a living. Thus I refused to give him even 1 dinar.
Limpeh in front of Tunis train station

Finally when it was clear that I was not going to give him anything, he got abusive and shouted at me angrily in French and English - he called me a racist who had no humanity, who had no soul and a lot of much worse things I shall not repeat in this article. It got ugly very quickly. I told him firmly, in Tunisian Arabic, "Meta keesh maiya, idrukni!" (Leave me alone, go away!)  I then walked into the station and when I was inside, I turned around and to my relief he was no longer following me. Phew. I had felt disappointed at the way my "new found Tunisian friend" felt that our brief ten minute conversation had somehow entitled him to ask me for a gift of money, but that unpleasant exchange was over and done with in a few minutes and even though angry words were exchanged, I didn't give him anything. That was the story of the beggar Mr Tunis - now let me tell you about the scam artist who succeeded where Mr Tunis failed.

Now I met my scam artist in the seaside town of Monastir - let's call him Mr Monastir. I was walking along the seafront by the Ribat when this old man approached me and asked me if I spoke French. I couldn't resist and said, "bien sûr, monsieur, je parle français!" (Of course sir, I speak French!)  He then told me that he had been given one Euro (approximately S$1.64 or TND 2.29 in local Tunisian currency) by a French tourist today and the local money changer wouldn't change such a small amount of foreign currency. Would I be kind enough to be his money changer: he just wanted local Tunisian dinars in exchange for his one euro? I thought, well, why not? I visit the Eurozone countries regularly and always have a stash of Euros at home. Besides, I had already accumulated a pile of local Tunisian coins by then and felt that I had enough change to do this old man a favour. He wasn't trying to sell me anything. He was very polite and looked like a harmless old man who just wanted to change money - so what could possibly go wrong?
Limpeh in Monastir where I was scammed

I dug out a stash of coins from my wallet and started counting - now there are ten different Tunisian coins (5 millimes, 10 millimes, 20 millimes, 50 millimes, 100 millimes, 200 millimes, ½ dinar, 1 dinar, 2 dinar and 5 dinar) in circulation. It is confusing to say the least since 1 dinar = 1000 millimes, but I am used to 1 dollar = 100 cents. So for a brief moment, I was trying to count out the precise amount of 2 dinar 290 millimes and Mr Monastir pointed the different values of the various coins I had in my hand, he would pick up a coin and say something like, "this is a 200 millimes coin, note the colour of this coin, that is the equivalent of 0.2 dinar, five of these would give you one dinar". So whilst he was constantly talking to me about the different coins, I was trying to do some mental sums in my head, trying to add up the right number of coins to get the precise amount of 2 dinars 290 millimes.

Suddenly, Mr Monastir said, "I don't think you have the right change, that's fine, thank you." He then left abruptly and I thought, okay, that's odd I could have given him a bit more like 2 dinars 300 millimes or even 2 dinars 250 millimes, but maybe he was so honest he wanted the precise change, not a millime more or less. I then thought, wait a minute, something's not quite right, why did he suddenly lose interest and beat a hasty retreat like that? I then recounted the amount of coins I had in my wallet and realized that I was down by 5 TND (£1.74 or S$3.57). Somehow, Mr Monastir must have distracted me at just the right moment to have managed to relief me of one of my 5 TND coins. I looked around for him, but he had disappeared into the crowd already. It then dawned on me: I've just been scammed.
It is easy to get confused by coins in a foreign currency.

How Mr Monastir managed to get that 5 TND off me I would never know, but my guess is that somehow, he must have made me take my eyes off the pile of coins in my hand for a split second with his banter - just long enough for him to pick off that 5 TND coin without me noticing, just like a magician performing a card trick. I felt truly stupid to be honest, I should have been a lot more careful not to let his hands near my money even when I was counting out the change - but for a brief moment then, he had earned my trust and I thought I had no reason to view him with suspicion. It was all over in a few minutes, so this guy was an expert when it came to sleight of hand tricks.

I do wonder why someone like Mr Monastir who obviously had some skills had to resort to scamming tourists to earn a living like that. There are loads of nice hotels in the Monastir area - with his skills, he could easily be a magician, performing magic tricks for the tourists in the hotel, entertaining the kids and adults on the beach. What he pulled off definitely required a certain level of skill. But no, he chose to steal the money directly from me like that, rather than entertain me before trying to get me to pay for the show. I would love to know his story. Mr Tunis spent over 10 minutes winning my trust and friendship but I refused to give him anything in the end. Mr Monastir spent less than 3 minutes on me in total, but managed to get 5 TND out of me (well, he stole it from me). Perhaps Mr Monastir knew that someone like me wouldn't give someone like Mr Tunis any money. He knew what worked and what didn't with tourists like me.
Limpeh in El Jem

Before I finish, I don't want you to think that all Tunisians are crooks or beggars - there were plenty of instances where I met friendly Tunisians who were generous and sincere. The fact that I do speak French and some Arabic allowed me to converse with many of the locals. Like the little old lady in a mosque in Kairouan who invited us to join her and her son for lunch, I politely refused but then he son said, "if you refuse my mother's invitation, she would be upset." I then sat down for a lunch of couscous, tomatoes and a lamb stew with them and had a lovely time, chatting with them. It turns out that they were just intrigued by the fact that they had never had an East Asian visitor to their mosque before and they just wanted to talk to me about where I came from. I had a lovely time telling them all about mon pays, Singapore.

When I was at the old fort in Kelibia, I spent about ten minutes chatting with the men at the ticket booth who couldn't resist asking me where I was from and once again, I told him all about mon pays Singapore. Oh they asked me so many questions about Singapore. When it came to time to pay for my ticket, he refused to take my money - he simply told me to have a good time, take loads of photos and then tell my friends in Singapore all about Tunisia so they would visit too. There had been plenty of other instances when I was offered free food or drink - simply because I was the exotic visitor who had come from halfway around the world but had made an effort to speak their language. There will be good and bad people in any country in the world and in my eight days in Tunisia, I think I have met the full spectrum because of the way I traveled - mingling with the locals, using public transport and always happy to talk to strangers.
Enjoying a tradition meal in Tunisia

So there you go - that's a taste of the kind of adventure I've had in Tunisia. There are plenty more stories where that came from, so do let me know what your thoughts are: have you ever been scammed whilst traveling? What do you think we should do in order to be vigilant and safe? Would you have fallen for Mr Monastir's scam? Or would you perhaps have gladly given Mr Tunis some money? Please do leave me a comment below, thank you very much for reading.

Akan datang: The adventures of using a louage in Tunisia. Don't know what that is? No worries, the mysteries of the Tunisian louage system will shall all be explained in my next blog post about my adventures in Tunisia!
Limpeh in Carthage 


2 comments:

  1. Didn't your mother tell you not to talk to strangers?
    It happens to the best of us. Glad you lost little.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there - that's just me. I love talking to strangers when I travel, especially if they approach me in a language other than English. And yes I've learnt my lesson and it's a small amount that is like 3 Canadian dollars. What a way to earn a living?! Honestly, it takes skill to do what this old man does, so I only wonder why he doesn't try to put his skills to good use legitimately, eg. via a magic show for tourists.

      Delete