Hi everyone,
Today I will tell you a story that needs to be retold over and over again until we stop this guy that is scamming honest travellers from all over the world for over 10 YEARS!! Please read carefully, share (no matter on what platform) and hopefully the right people get to read this and this guy is STOPPED once and for all!
It is just crazy he is still capable of doing this!!
Let me start at the beginning. More than five years ago I wrote a story about something that had happened to my girlfriend and me in Mexico while we were traveling around with our backpacks. Today, I got another comment from someone on that blog saying it happened to them very recently and that this guy is still out there stealing people's money!! Since Steem has such a big travel community I feel it is time to introduce you to a never stopping scamming pastor in the South of Mexico, reverend Floyd King.
I got this image from a video a guy made where this fake pastor was trying to scam him for the third time and he was smart enough to film him with his camera. Thanks a lot for that! It is the only image of him out there and is not the sharpest, but you get an idea of how he looks like.
MY ORIGINAL STORY FROM BACK IN 2013
We were walking around Chetumal, trying to find some information about the water taxis to Belize. The small city centre exists out of a lot of square blocks, all looking very similar and even though it was finally a sunny day there weren’t any tourists around...
Suddenly a black American guy from Chicago stopped us. He introduced himself as reverend Floyd King from Chicago. He seemed very stressed but he had a friendly air about him. He was very happy to finally find a couple that not only spoke his native language but also accepted his skin colour. He explained hastily that he lost his luggage during a bus transfer in Mexico-City, that his wife and four children were in a shelter 200 kilometres away, that he hitchhiked here to find help and that his wife was diabetic and didn’t have any medication. Plus all their money was in their luggage and that he’d been in touch with the consulate in Cancun. Oh and yes, he was also a pastor for a Baptist church and for that reason didn’t have a phone or email address. He promised that if we helped him his 5000 church members would send us a love donation. ‘Thanks for trusting me.’ He said. ‘If you give me 400 USD than I’ll give you my wedding ring, which you can send back to me later. God bless you for helping me. I’m happy we can trust each other. Too bad you aren’t Christian, we could hold hands and pray’ Wait! Did we say we trusted him yet? Everything went so fast. Going over it later in my mind, it immediately felt like a big scam but somehow because of his anxiousness and rapid chaotic talking we really did feel the need to help him at some point. Especially after we have been helped and trusted by so many people along this journey. It felt like we finally had the chance to do something back.
We wanted more proof though. We wanted to talk to the embassy, a family member, the school of the kids, anything. But somehow he had excuses for everything, and wasn’t able to provide us with even one piece of evidence. He kept pointing at his ring, which he was ‘trusting’ us with, but how did we know if it’s real? I know more about pottery than about gold.
It seemed awkwardly weird not to help him, but it just didn’t feel right. And now every time the subject come up we are still discovering things he said that in no way could’ve been true.
It’s the first scam that ever happened to us; luckily we didn’t give in. I don’t know how often this happens to backpackers but hopefully by sharing this story we can save other tourists from becoming scam victims.
This is the link to the original story that I wrote all those years ago, where I sadly quite regularly get a new comment from someone:
http://www.letsbenomads.com/travel-stories/tourist-scam-mexico/
This guy is extremely good at what he does, he has been doing this for more than 10 years and had me standing with my Visa at an ATM, luckily I figured it out on time. This guy needs to be stopped and put in prison. He is praying on the kindness of others and that's just the worst kind of scamming!
Please share!!
Please share!
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wow😍 thanks for the warning
Syper
He is trying to emotional attachment to people with his strong fake story. When your emotions start tugging you into his fake story, then they financial scam you.
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Thanks for the warning and the mail.
I would probably have helped him too because I usually always help people who kindly ask for help. And that's what annoys me: He plays with people's compassion and makes money with it.
This leads to people becoming suspicious and no longer helping without reservations.
Very sad...
Therefore, the warning is appropriate.
upvoted&resteemed&I follow you
Thanks for the warning. These things are narrowing our humanity.