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I'm not sending any more money, thats for sure. I wanted her to buy the tickets there because only paper tickets were available for this particular flight. I'll have to buy them here and send them I guess.

Man this sucks!!

Tim.

Tim.

To the guys yelling 'scam'...wait a minute, scam for this amount ($1200, maybe 1400 [assume he's buying two tickets]) would be a good haul for the old 'she wrote to me three times, the third time her mother was real sick' routine, or 'I'll meet you in XYZ, but you have to send me the air fare'--but I doubt that's the case here--profile says 'wrote several months, visited twice, she has a kid' etc. I don't think after all that a woman (especialy one with a kid and the visa IN HAND) would risk it at this point to score the price of a couple of airplane tickets. Was she CARELESS? Yes, very. Is she a scammer? Not on this one incident....now if Starman says she has a HISTORY of 'stupid mistakes'or 'unfortunate events', all of which cost him money and are impossible to disprove, then we have a different story, but he didn't say that, he just said this one time. I'm sure the lady is absolutly sick over it.

Most likely, perhaps, she had never dealt with such a bundle?

Well the more strange it is that she would allow someone to simply take it away as if she were a child.

Either this is a strange scam or a serious character red flag.

Tim.

I'm not saying that your fiancee definately did this. But I can't help but be a little suspicious about this story. Why would someone want to swipe envelopes with a complete stranger who is not behind the counter, especially when it involves a lot of money?

Zack

Either you haven't described it well enough to us or the info you have recieved is very out of the ordinary.

If this took place at any commmercial store (bank, transfer or travel) I'm not sure how two seperate transactions can get so closely intertwined for a theft like this to occur.

When a person is recieving money there is no reason to be involved with the person in front of you or behind or beside you. Every where people must be cautious when transacting  personal business, everwhere!!

So you need to find out how your lady became involved with the con man. I can't imagine how anyone can get involved with a stranger when they are transacting personal business.

Did she just stand there whilst he swapped the envelopes? Do you mean that after she transacted your money transfer (the exact amount counted), she readily allowed someone to tell her that the money wasn't hers, and then allowed the man to 'swap' envelopes???

Look, either try to tell us clearly what happened or you need a very good explanation from your lady. I'm not sure what anyone can do for you here when you have made little effort to explain it and pursue your money.

I'm just tired of foreign men getting coned by people in SA. Guys need to get mean and sharp!

Its a hard lesson learned since this has never happened to her before. She was extremely distraught over this and could not sleep and was still upset this morning.

Her mother and father even called me. If this was a con, anyone would fall for it (that is my my fiancee conning me) because I could not prove it otherwise. Our relationship is almost a year long now and she has never given me any reason to not trust her in any way, shape or form. So I have to go with my gut and trust her on this. I'm not easily fooled and I feel like I'm a good judge of character so I have to simply believe her and go own with our plans.

Tim.

Many times what you say is true, but not always, esp. based upon our relationship so far. You do not know my fiancee or me well enough to know what the real story is, but I do appreciate your input.

Tim.

If your fiancee was confronted by someone else as she was leaving Western Union, the obvious reaction would be to say "no, this is my money, I have the receipt and if you must we can return to western union and discuss it with the clerk".  Nobody but a very foolish person would turn over $1400 to a stranger in the street.  A lot of times, there's a security person out in front of Western Union and this person would be available also.

Sorry, but I'm still suspicious...

Maybe she was foolish, but I believe she was also very nervous and was confused. Anyway, like I've said before, lesson learned.

Thanks for the comments...

Tim.

My wife said that this is a common scam in Colombia from a few years back and usually played against the elderly or naive.  I was probably a bit hard on your novia who just may be foolish enough to go pick up $1400 alone.

Anyway, it's probably more your fault than hers by sending her such a large amount of money without any real need to do so.

Star by now knows her style and yet sends a large amount. He doesn't arrange for her to go collect the money with another ADULT.

But still, either she can handle her own personal business like an adult in this bad world, or she can't. Just because many others have been conned doesn't remove the character red flag.

In good time all will be revealed one way or another.

She is a little naive and trusting. She has never had any problems like this before. I do not consider this to be a red flag...only an expensive lesson. If I had any reason not to trust her I'd definately an issue with this. And believe me, I've been thinking about this long and hard and I must put this behind us and be more careful in the future. What is interesting is about a month before I was married for the first time I was robbed while I sat in my car in a parking lot. Since then I'm much more careful as I was at the time a little naive also.

As far as handling her own business like an adult, she will be just fine. This is a hard lesson that she will never forget.

And you are correct, in good time all will be revealed...I'm no fool.

Thanks for the comments.

Tim.

Seems you are handling this in the best way possible. My comments have only been about helping you keep your eyes and mind open. That is what we are all here for in times of trouble.

The main lesson on this board is that anything can happen when involved with these latinas. Dreams, hopes and desires often prove stronger than reality.

But this incident may be the type of misfortune that can happen to anyone. You know her best.

So I wish you and her better times from here on.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sure the guys' comments have been made to help you.

Best wishes.

You are the one involved not me. So I'm going to take the opportunity of doing some hard thinking for you. It is meant sincerely.

What is so wonderful about a person being so naive and trusting that their own personal possesion is taken from them, face to face, in broad day light? I'll venture to say that this is a good reason to look very carefully at your lady's character.

This should serve as a red flag. If she can't handle her own business in a careful adult way, then how will she deal with the pressures and conflicts of US life. How does she really deal with things now in Ven?

C'mon man, there are 16yr girls who would never allow anyone to hustle them like that! Pardon me but that whole scene boiled down to her character: how to deal with strangers, force of will, hard common sense, self-protection, awareness, emotional strength....?

Perhaps she has all these and more in other situations, but you may want to ask yourself this - what does it take to make her abandon all practical caution?

To be trusting and naive with total strangers is not a positive quality. I don't see anything romantic about. Don't settle for anything just because things have been rosy romance over the past year.

This may be a small sign for you to look more closely into who she is. The importance of recent stories posted here is that guys in SA need to look at character and events very carefully.

moam

My apologies, I just realized that your novia is in Caracas and not Cali, so my comments on the tranfer offices are irrelevant.  Regardless, sorry to hear what happened to you and yours.  Hang in there and good luck, it'll all be worth it. -TNC

Lo siento, pero esta historia me huele a pescado...

Steve

Tim.

Not saying its 100% BS, just be careful. How much does she claim to pay in rent by the way?