Extorted and blackmailed out of nearly £2000

[Benno]

I've just come back from the Mongol Rally after my teammate accused me of stealing his passport and used threats of physical force and blackmail to force me to pay him a lot of money. We hadn't got on since pretty much the beginning of the rally (we all met through the internet, and he seemed pretty dodgy from the beginning after crashing into my neighbours car and lying about it until he was forced to tell the truth).

He made me transfer him £1600 by bank transfer. I called my bank up afterwards and they said they can't do anything, I have to press charges.

He also made me withdraw $250 worth of local currency (Ukraine) from an ATM.

He's still abroad. He lives in Brazil but I think he's coming to the UK in September/October to do a master's.
I'm lost for what to do. I'm preparing a short email to send to him asking/demanding for my money back and hinting at the possibility of legal action, since he has no evidence that I stole his passport and I have a witness to his actions.

Obviously I would rather just have my money back and leave it at that. How could I go about this? I feel so shit about this and I'm kicking myself about things I should have done when I was in the situation.


The lesson here is ONLY travel with people you know, or go by yourself...

[WannaBeDude]

Wtf you pay him for, sounds like he won't give a fuck about legal action
____________________
Jogging on, destination living.

[Benno]

[WannaBeDude]

Don't be hard on yourself .....


Things could of gone v bad, and then you might of said to yourself, 1600 down anyday over what you may of went through.

Sounds like a right stitch up.

Learn from mistake.

Fuck the money now.

Don't be hard on yourself.
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Jogging on, destination living.

[cornish]

You did the right thing and what anyone sensible would have done in your position. Better to lose money than end up in some dodgy cop shop abroad or worse. Don't make yourself feel bad for what some cnut has done to you.

Legally i'm pretty clueless about what you should do next, but maybe try asking your travel insurance company as they may be able to point you in the right direction. They must deal with a lot of this sort of thing.

Given how you must be feeling right now i'd say give victim support a call. They deal with crimes abroad as well as at home and are not related to the police in anyway so you won't be talking to some knobhead who couldn't care less. They will probably also be able to advise you what you can do next in the process of reporting it etc.

They have a website

https://www.victimsupport.com/

which has their number on it too.

Good luck
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smile and be happy. . . .it gets right on everyone's tits!

[Suntan Sid]

[10 pence Short]

Where did the OP meet the guy online, forum? Somewhere related to the Mongol Rally? Facebook?

Perhaps put this story/name/username out there in case he does this regularly? It may help prevent someone else getting scammed/threatened.
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I haven't had a cont all day, drinkstable.

[Benno]

A bit of facebook stalking showed me he will be in Leicester for 3 months at the university. That's when I'll bring the charges against him. If that doesn't work I still know where he will be.

[killa]

Post something up on Reddit.com
Those guys will track down the guy and probably advise you on what to do.
____________________
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[LordShaftesbu...]

Shit, feels bad man. Do you have any more details about who he is? Maybe folks like Cansa can find out more about him?

[.....]

[scorps]

Good luck Benno, doubt you will get any joy pressing charges, you got mugged, move on and chalk it up to one of the shitty lessons of life.

Id probably not move on and smash the morons knees in with a baseball bat, Im a scorpio i hold grudges
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Do not presume that I am male.

[la_lucha]

How appropriate that this happened on the Mongol Rally.

Somewhere in there is a perfect description of you.
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Feck Orf

[Benno]

[LordShaftesbu...]

How did the rally go? Did you finish it?

[Benno]

[Rogerborg]

Sorry, there's no useful advice to be offered. You're never getting your money back, and nobody is getting charged. Your story isn't even consistent. You have a witness, but it was two words against yours at the time?

If you keep picking at this scab, it won't heal over. It was an expensive lesson about relying on the kindness of strangers, but you've learned it. Warn the world about this footpad, then move on.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Alpha-9]

Everything Suntan Sid said.

How the fuck you let yourself get in that position is beyond me.
Unless he had a gun to your head there was no way he can force you to do a bank transfer

Blackmailing you? He must have had some serious dirt on you else I don't see how that one works...

Da fuq

Okay just RTFT, feel sorry for you, not nice to be bullied and pushed around like that, I would take a beating than pay £1600 any day though

You could have bribed your way out of jail for less than that
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Fzr-600 1999

[LordShaftesbu...]

What kind of Masters is he coming to the UK to do?

[la_lucha]

[Suntan Sid]

[tatters]

Very Strange

Did,nt his behavour when you met him and how he acted after hitting your neighbours car warn you off.

Always best to travel with someone you know well, I,ve once traveled with a norweigen guy from the HUBB but he came across fine on-line and there were no problems but l could of easily ditched him if things went wrong. I,ve almost traveled with others too from forums but as soon as l get a bad feeling about them or dont like there attuide l dont go ahead.
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[P.]

Lost passport?

https://www.jack-frost.co.uk/fonejacker/fonejacker_george_agdgdgwngo_4.jpg


You are a winner, please transfer me cash monies..
https://www.e4.com/media/5F5C19BB-A6ED-4F31-BE34-BA6A137274E4_extra.jpg

Why you would transfer money to someone is beyond me. I'd eat my card to make sure he could do nothing

You stand a very minute chance of getting your money back, like a 1 in about 150,000,000 chance..

[CaNsA]

[Suntan Sid]