The 'Ole Goan Gem Scam Part 1

This past April I flew from Dublin to Bombay to join three of my friends from Chicago on an auto-rickshaw race across India. The plan was to travel with them via auto-rickshaw for four days on their journey from Bombay to Goa and then part ways so they could continue to Kochi to finish the race. Little did I know I was about to walk into a scam that plagued many a foreigner's bank accounts before me and probably still.

I would like to preface that my time spent in Bombay, all the small towns we passed through, and then Goa were nothing short of a dream come true. I will be expanding on the intricacies of the overall journey in a later blog post. The focus of this story is to show you how I turned a potential bank account draining scam into a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

My buddies woke me after a night of partying to say goodbye. I gave them hugs and wished them the best of luck on the rest of their drive as I knew they would need it. Driving through India, especially in an auto-rickshaw, is absolutely insane. Just think organized chaos and selfies. I slept a few more hours in our absolutely beautiful guest house near Baga Beach in Goa. I got my things together and had no other plans on what to do other than pay a visit to the Anjuna Flea Market that ran every Wednesday.

I hopped in a cab to the flea market and quickly realized it was filled with a lot of touristy items but still wanted to wander around to kill some time. I was getting hungry too. I was quickly greeted by a young Indian boy, probably about 18, who asked me where I was from. As a white person it was pretty common to have anyone and everyone come up to you to talk or ask for a selfie. I made small talk and he kept following telling me he wanted to improve his English. I found no harm in it and kept the conversation going as I browsed the spices and scarves. I made a purchase after much haggling and told him I was going to grab something to eat. He said he was hungry too and wanted to join me for a quick bite. There was a stall just up the road were I ordered a delicious mango lassi.

This kid kept going on asking me questions about my life and telling me about his. He claimed he was from Bombay and worked in Goa during the summers with his brother and a few of his cousins. He asked me were I was going to which I didn't have a definite answer to. I said maybe Panjim, the capital city, which he informed me that there wasn't much to do there, it was just a city... He then invited me to his cousin's house and for some reason I agreed. I was in kind of in a 'fuck it' mood.

I hopped on the back of his moto, which was a pretty common practice on the trip, and we headed off. I was greeted by his well dressed 'cousin' who asked me if I wanted Chai and an omelette which I accepted. He called a young girl over who was sweeping the floor, probably about 13 years old, who quickly ran to the kitchen to get to work. This young man told me about growing up in Bombay and then continuing his education in England where he graduated with some sort of geological degree. The reason he was in Goa was that he was helping a company build a resort on the coast of Goa. He continued that he also had a side business excavating and selling gems and thought that I might be able to help him in return for some monetary compensation. This is how it would all go down:

He would give me an assortment of gems that I would purchase with his money worth an approximate 10,000 euro. He would then provide me with a receipt as well as foreign purchase documents that had my passport details. I would package all of the items myself, address the package to my local post office in Dublin, and take it to the local Goan post office and ship it. Once I returned to Dublin a few days later I would visit my local post office, collect the package, and deliver it to one of his colleagues who would in return give me 5,000 euro. He explained that as a foreigner on a tourist visa I could spend up to 10,000 euro on souvenirs tax-free.

Believe me, I was extremely suspicious of this plan and everything that was being offered to me. Immediately I was thinking back to the show Locked Up Abroad and it kind of gave me a thrill. My first questions was, 'Isn't this tax fraud?' Which he never gave me an absolute yes to. He just exclaimed that the government in his country was corrupt and that I would be helping out his people, the less fortunate. I told him that I didn't think I was interested and he said that I should sleep on it and that his cousin would take me anywhere I needed to go for the night. I agreed just as a way out of the situation and left again with his cousin.

The boy asked me where I wanted to go and offered that I come to his house to hang out for the day. He really seemed harmless enough and I agreed because I had no other plans and all the time in the world. I decided that I would hang out for the day, visit the beach, and find a guest house before nightfall. We were off again, this time up the coast to where I found out later was a tiny town called Arambol. We arrived in a dingy area, no tourists in site to a two-story house on the side of the road. He was staying on the second floor. There I met his three cousins. Two I remember seeing at the geologist's house and one hippie-like guy that I hadn't met. I said a quick hello, dropped my bag, and then sped off to the beach. I was a little apprehensive about leaving my bag with my passport but had a relaxed feeling about everything.

So it was on to the beach to watch the sunset. I was finally collected with a beer in hand. The only thing I hadn't had since the flea market was wifi. I told your man that I was going to take a walk and came upon a beachside bar where I asked for wifi and the password. Once connected I typed into chrome 'Goa gem scam' which apparently was a thing. I read a long first hand story about how a women in the exact same scenario I was in at that moment got her bank account drained from the so called geologist. Here's a summary of how she explained they did it:

Once she handed over her passport and the package was sent she relaxed at a guest house paid for by the geologist. Sometime during the night she received a phone call from her new business partners exclaiming that the local authorities were aware of the situation and faulty receipts for the merchandise and required a receipt with an actual credit card transaction. Freaking out that she would be imprisoned by authorities in a foreign country she agreed to paying an absurd amount of money with the promise from her business partners that they would pay her back for that as well as the original agreed amount upon her return to her home country. When she returned home there was no package, the numbers she had no longer went through, and the individuals had moved on from the address she had.

My heart was beating a little faster and I was thinking about how I was going to escape this whole situation.

To Be Continued...