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UI got scammed of rupees 13000 while solo traveling in Varkala.
I am backpacking across Kerala and went to Varkala, where I stayed at a hostel called Hostel Stories. In that hostel, there was a guy named Sandeep from my state, Andhra Pradesh, who claimed to live in Bangalore (30 min away). He introduced himself to me on my first day. He had already been staying there for 7 days and said he would stay for 10 more days before returning to Bangalore, where he works as the global operations head for Puma. He also mentioned that he was a friend of the hostel owner and made me believe they were close friends. He tried to befriend me and asked if he could join me on multiple occasions when I was visiting different places near Varkala. The vibe felt off from the very first day, so I politely gave some excuses to avoid him.On my last day, he knew it was my last day. He acted like he was in some kind of urgency and needed to transfer money to someone else. He claimed to have balance in his bank account but said he didn’t use GPay because of a promise he had made to his mother (he had been telling everyone this story for the entire 7 days I stayed there). He asked me to transfer Rs. 5000 to someones GPay account, promising that he would withdraw the cash from an ATM and give it back within an hour. I transferred the money without thinking. Since it was my last day in Varkala, I asked him about it before leaving for Alleppey. He said he would either transfer the money from another person or come to my hostel in Alleppey to give me the cash, as he claimed Alleppey was part of his travel plans.
I went to Alleppey, and the next day he contacted me again, asking me to transfer another Rs. 7000, saying he was coming to Alleppey and would give me the entire amount in cash. The way he was buying drinks worth Rs. 3k-4k every day and distributing them to random people in the hostel made me think he couldn’t possibly be a scammer, so I transferred the money. However, he didn’t show up that day and made up random excuses for the next 2-3 days. After 3 days, he asked for Rs. 15,000, and that’s when I became skeptical. I told him I didn’t have that much money and inquired with another person he had gone to Kanyakumari with. That person also said that Sandeep had taken Rs. 3000 from him and hadn’t returned it, citing random excuses.
I asked him for my money back several times over the next two days, but he has now blocked me on WhatsApp and other platforms.
Do you have any ideas on what can be done in this situation? I know it was very foolish and stupid of me to give 13k to a stranger. He made me believe his stories with the things he told to other people for an entire week. I have the Aadhar card and a photo of him from the hostel authorities.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
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WFirst thing post his details here, and r/Kerala .2) report to gpay or whichever UPA you used 3) Report to the place where you stayed 4) Report to the nearest police station 5) share every detail, of the person on how he chated you on every platform 6) call from some other number and shit scare him 7) forget your money (think you donated to some beggar)
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UThanks for the suggestion. I will do all of the above things mentioned. I am not able to attach aadhar card and photo details here..so I have posted in Kerala sub reddit and attached images of them there. https://www.reddit.com/r/Kerala/s/oGTht9a3HR
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UThanks for the detailed suggestion. I have posted in Kerala sub reddit. I am not able to attach images of his Aadhar card and photo , so added them in Kerala sub reddit and attached the link in this post
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USomeone said posting personal details of the person would give me trouble. Do you think so, will it give any legal or any other sort of trouble
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SSo the global ops head for puma stays in backpacker hostels and shills around for 4-5k bucks.
Brother take this as a life lesson and move on. From next time use logical reasoning.
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UI fuckedup big time. He scammed 7-8 people in the same hostel in 2-3 days timeline, even people who came as a group.. he set the tone for 7-8 days before he started scamming . Stealing and robbing is one thing but his scam is scary man. I mentioned in another comment how he wired us
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG01CUfTmx6/?igsh=MTBybGYyMGR2OGtseQ==
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UBro if you believed someone telling you varkala is 30 min from Bangalore you will get scammed again. It please don’t travel alone, for your safety.
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UI don’t mean to sound harsh but you need to accept the reality for your own benefit. You ARE naive AF right now.
I mean, seriously, the GLOBAL head of operations for Puma?! Really? And you fell for that?
You genuinely thought that the global head of operations for Puma is staying at a cheap hostel of all places? Sleeping on a bunk bed in a dorm with strangers? And you didn’t think of looking him up on LinkedIn or on Puma’s website? Took me all of 30 seconds to Google the names of Puma’s top management.
And to top it off, you really thought the global head of operations of an almost 80 year old sportswear brand, a company with presence in pretty much every country in the world and employs people like Virat Kohli, Charles Leclerc, and Dua Lipa as their brand ambassador is asking you to loan him a few thousand rupees??
Dude..these people don’t even pay their own bills. Their secretaries/support staff handle their hotel, flights, and other expenses. At best, they might swipe their corporate card for some of the bills, if at all. If he needed to transfer money, especially an amount that’s nothing more than a tip for them, he’d just drop a message to his secretary and she’d handle it.
And you have the audacity to say you aren’t as naive as the sub is portraying you? If anything, no one’s pointed out the full extent of your naïveté 😂
Take it as an important life lesson that cost you ₹13k and move on.
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UThanks for the detailed reply..I would introspect on everything you have said. One thing I always had in the back of mind is why would a person social engineer you for 7-10 days to scam you for 13k. In this age of social media, someone would make people aware of this scam and with all the cc cameras and photos of him, his scam footprints would be all over the internet forever and he sort of becomes the anti social element. Scammers who are so intelligent can easily understand repercussions of this situation. Why would they do such a thing . Also , I have seen him distributing 6k worth of alcohol to strangers in the hostel. Am I missing something about society here
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UYes there are people who murder others trying to steal a few bucks. There are people who are crazy enough that they believe the story they say and they live it for the sake of it. If you are out of your comfort zone be ready to be defensive about stuff in your thinking and actions. Most of all, learn to say a strict ‘No’.
If you want to travel alone make some policies for yourself, e.g. I won’t give money but only food to someone who says he is hungry. I won’t give money to strangers(honestly try not to give money to known people too, but thats harder). I will give money only to charities that I am actively part of.
Learn to say a strict no to any red flags. And always be prepared to escape a sticky situation. Scammers don’t always work alone.
Honestly this is good for you. We all made mistakes and thats what learning is. Just that try not to learn too much the hard way.
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VGo to nearest police station and file Cyber crime complaint on NCRP Portal, you may get full or some of it back
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Bcall 1930 and report cyber fraud
this is extremely common scam and he is regular scammer
Check travel subreddit India
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IWhen Puma’s GLOBAL head of operations tells you he does NOT use Gpay because of a PROMISE made to his mother.
I think that was the dead giveaway!!!
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UI know I will sound dumber and dumber with every comment about the scam but I had to let it out. .We can say it’s a dead give away on multiple instances but man the level of detail and subtility he operated to social engineer me and instill thoughts is scary.
When he introduced himself with his name and company, profile he is working on. I couldn’t give shit about his name let alone his job as I am on travel and he is some stranger. When we were (fellow hostellers)having a discussion on which running shoes we use and how long we plan to use it, he comes and makes a subtle funny remark on why all are shit and everyone should use pumas. He would talk over the phone and advice store manager that his friends will comeover with this specific names and suggest them to use his employee id and give discount. During some random group discussion at night he would say his brewery in a city from Andhra is half finished and how is he designing the place and how the vibe would be there in a very detailed way. He also suggests the hostel manager what all changes they should make to improve the vibe of this hostel. He is also super friendly with hostel manager and says that this hostel owner is his friend they both have ideated this place and he would come to this hostel frequently to chill out and vibe with fellow travellers and although he can book a good private room, that wouldn’t give the vibe
On one afternoon, he orders food online and asks me to pay the bill online and gave me the 500 note. When I returned the balance he said he spent so much money in last 2 months that his mother got so frustrated and made him swear upon her and he acted like oh it’s not a big deal and don’t bother to return me kind of , but I returned the money. On same night, while we all travellers are drinking beer and smoking, he would open 2 jack Daniels bottles and poured into everyones glass.
Many of things like this happened over the course of 10 days
I don’t know man. I have encountered many scams and was able to escape from them. This is scary shit atleast for me
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U1. Never trust anyone for money on travels. You dont know them and Aadhars can be easily made.
2. File an FIR against the Sandeep fellow in your local station. Make sure the photo is included in the documents taken so as to make him identifiable.
Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Think that you lost your money gambling. -
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MStupidity in the country is at an all time high.
My parents always taught me that people will show off to take advantage of you and be ready to say NO.
AND IF YOU WANT TO HELP SOME ONE ALWAYS GIVE HIM MONEY WHICH YOU DONT EXPECT THEY WILL RETURN.
I kept this advice from them and never suffered a loss.
And yes I give money max ₹100 which I don’t ever ask for back and consider it as donation.
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