Goa: Days 22 - 24
Day 22
- Arrive in Goa at about 4:30 in the morning. The bus drops me off at what looks like the middle of nowhere, but luckily, one other girl also gets off at this stop, so at least we're not entirely alone.
- Rickshaw drives by within 10 min, and I have him take me to one of the places in my guidebook. We show up and a man on a scooter is hanging out near the intersection. He tells me that he runs a guesthouse and that he has cheaper rooms closer to the beach. I hop on his scooter to go check out his place. Book room......mostly because it seem like the only option at this point.
- Back to sleep till about 9 am, buy bathing suit, buy flip-flops, hit the beach.
- Discover not-quite-open-but-operating bar on other side of cove. When the tide is high, you have to wad through waist deep water, and this is when they are not-quite-open-but-operating. Not to say that they won't serve you, but the kitchen is closed and you might have to call someone over if you need something, but the seclusion is nice, and in my case, their was already one patron there, who was staying in a not-quite-open-but-operating-hut. Needless to say, rules, regulations, and standards tend to be very flexible in India. FYI, during low tide, the water recedes such that you can walk to this bar/resort.
- Continue to explore the beach, taking a dip in the water on occasion, and in general, getting a lay of the land.
- Meet a couple of young India's, and have dinner with them.
Day 23
- Wake up at a decent hour, aka before restaurants open and begin serving breakfast in this lazy part of India. Literally, not even the local places, that don't cater to foreigners, were open.
- Find a place that will let me sit, write, and drink chia till they do open.
- Beach it up, which includes day drinking, walking up and down the beach, and body surfing.
- Meet my new young India friend, Sid, for lunch at his apartment. Scooter ride with Sid down to Cola beach, or rather, best described as, the hidden paradise of Goa. This place is off the beaten track, as in you have to take a dirt road and then hike a bit to get to it. There is no town their, just seasonal pop-up tents and restaurants/bars, all secluded from any sign of sedentary civilization. Beautiful.
- Back to my beach, continue to beach it out.
- Swanky dinner with Sid. Free of cost for me! Boom.
- Make some new friends from Mumbai at some beach bar and hang out with them until.....well, until I feel like I need a second dinner. Drunchies (Drunk-munchies), for those of you who don't know.
- Sleep time.
Day 24
- Wake up and meet Sid and his cousin to begin new "promising" business venture. La-dee-da, read the story-time and reflection part of my Goa blog for more info, la-dee-da. Narrowly escape pretty intense scam, and head back to the beach to enjoy the rest of my day just beachin it up.
- Enjoy my final hours in Goa eating delicious and fresh seafood, body surfing, and bumming around.
- Travel to Madgao in order to catch sleeper but to Pune.
Story-Time and Reflection
Goan beaches are renown in India, and like Hampi, it was another item on the must do list in my travel guide, so of course I had to stop in. Goa, particularly Palolem, is another big tourist destination, and on the beaches, easily 80% of everyone is white. The place is packed with Australians, Europeans, and tons of Russians.....didn't meet one American here, and I talked to a lot of people.
While Goa is certainly a big tourist place, you don't find as many backpackers here. Most people are here for their entire trip, exclusively here to beach-out, at a very affordable rate I might add. Beach side huts from 500 - 2000 rupees a night. Fresh seafood dinners are 200 - 300 rupees. Beers around 70 rupees, and cheaper if their is happy hour. ($1 US = 60 rupees). It's a wonderful little place.
However, being a big tourist place, everyone wants you to come look at their shop, and if you do need to buy something, like flip-flops, they'll try and get you to pay at least double for what they'll settle for. Another thing that comes along with the tourist territory, are some serious scams, and I actually got pretty far down the road in one before I knew things weren't right. So here is my story about how I almost made one of the worst decisions in my entire life.
My first evening on the beach here I was approached by a couple of young Indian guys. I didn't even hear what they initially said, but once they had my attention, the conversation began and flowed quite nicely. They were both dressed very nicely, spoke english well, and in general, came off as affluent. One of the two seemed particularly chatty, but this didn't strike me as odd, as I've met plenty off young, affluent men, particularly from south central asia, who never run out of things to say or questions to ask. By the end of the exchange, I had agreed to have dinner with them at their apartment. They seemed entirely genuine.
I meet the chatty one, Sid, at the agreed upon place at 8 pm. We take a short scooter ride to his apartment. We show up, and the apartment seems pretty nice, or at least for the area. Inside their unit they have a flat-screen tv mounted on the wall, nice leather furniture, the works. The other boy from the beach is there too, but he seems to disappear after greeting me. Me and Sid sit down, drink, chat etc. Another young man arrives with a couple bags of groceries. Sid explains he is the cook. So far it seems that Sid is indeed from a very wealthy family, given that he seems to have both a lackey and a cook with him.
I "learn" that he is from Mumbai, and him and his cousin are just down in Goa buying some land to build a resort. He talks about throwing large parties and inadvertently mentions things that would only be possible if he came from a lot of money. Soon enough, his "cousin" shows up. They tell me about how their families primary business is crafting jewelry and sending it abroad. But mostly, the conversation is general, flowed, and didn't seeem particularly guided any which way. After dinner, Sid takes me back to the beach, and we agree to meet again tomorrow for lunch.
I wake up, do some beach stuff, and head over to our meeting spot. Sid is waiting. I hop back on the scooter and we head back to the apartment. His cousin is there, and we get down to visiting as lunch is prepared. Again, the conversation is quite regular, nothing out of the normal. Some how, the conversation turns to how the government charges outrageous taxes on their exporting jewelry and how they have partners who use their tourist visas and tourist quotas to transport jewelry for them, getting a substantial cut of what the jewelry is worth abroad. Again, all of this is presented in a very casual and slow manner. It comes across as if they are simple talking about their business, which they have been doing on and off since I met them. They ask when I am planning to go home, and surprise, surprise, they have an order that needs to get to New York right around that time. They don't bring up the idea of us working together quite yet though, instead, we have lunch.
Conversation over lunch is back to non-business chit-chat. Shortly after lunch the conversation turns......maybe we can help each other out. "You have tourist visa, maybe you can help us get our shipment to the states." I don't instantly agree, but ask A LOT of questions about the legality of it all. They ensure me that while they are certainly circumventing the law, they still work within the law. Basically, you "buy" the jewelry from them, ship it to yourself in the states as a personal purchase, and then meet a representative at your destination to collect the package with, and "return" your purchase. You get cash, several thousand dollars upon handing over the package. They say, this is what our lawyers have come up with, and they have never had any problems. They even emphasize that they are placing a lot of trust in you, and told me a story about one man who took the package, and never met the representative. The whole time, they make it seem like they would be the one's taking a risk.
I continue to ask all the questions. This is legal in India, but can I get in trouble in the US? No. Once I send the package, and it clears customs, are their any other barriers that we could run into? No. Will I have to put forth any investment what so ever? No. Will I have to provide any sort of bank or credit card information? No. etc.
I tell them, I'm in.
Honestly, it sounded really exciting. Make a quick and easy $8000, the only thing that could go wrong is that customs doesn't let it through, in which case, I still wouldn't get in trouble. And they were offering to provide me some extra cash up front to help with my travel expenses as I toured around Asia. We agree to meet again tomorrow morning to get the ball rolling, and me and Sig head off by scooter to check out another, and more exclusive beach, in Goa.
The beach is amazing. You have to take a dirt road to get there, but once on the beach, you can tell this is not a cheap place to stay. Big white tents, couple of open air, seasonal bars and restaurants with fresh seafood on display and way over-priced drinks, beautiful people everywhere. There is no town, no locals, it is secluded, and seems unreal. We chat about our lives, our goals, our girlfriends, our families, we talk about our going on trips together, when we do more business together in the future, we "bonded." Eventually we head back to my beach, but not before having a swanky seafood dinner.......none of which I had to pay for, of course.
We meet up the next morning, and again, his cousin is there. The plan, begin the transaction paper work, package up the jewelry, mail it, and then head to Madgao, one of Goa's larger cities to complete the customs paper work with the lawyers, ect. But this is when some red flags begin to pop up.
Red flag number one. The cousin seems on edge. Why? The jewelry is that much closer to reaching it's destination. But whatever, I'm not the most temperate person either.
Red flag number two. The jewelry is ugly. What american would want these pieces? Again, well maybe this is an traditional India design, and the buyer is India.
Red flag number three. They have me write out the purchase agreement on computer paper. Big time jewelry dealers don't have standard forms? They do have a standard form for insurance, maybe they forgot the other standard forms.
Red flag number four. We take the package to a shop that sells clothes to send it. They tell me, since it's Sunday, DHL is closed, but this place is authorized by DHL. However, there are no DHL signs on the windows, their is no DHL materials in the store, and no computer was used to enter any information about the package. This package is supposedly worth $50,000 in the states, $10,000 US in India. This is not the type of place you simply drop off a package like this. I've run out of explanations, and I'm not feeling good about this.
Red flag number five. The supposed insurance was registered over the phone......before I told them the tracking number. Beyond that, I have sent stuff from India with DHL, and they were very particular about what I could or could no send because I couldn't provide a receipt. Not to mention, wouldn't DHL be the group insuring the package? It is in their hands after all. Again, I have no explanation I can tell myself.
Red flag number six. The car they want to take me Madgao in is not that nice, and the trunk is filled with trash. F#@&! WHAT HAVE I DONE! I begin freaking out. This is a scam. I don't know how they plan to get screw me over yet, butt this s not the car some jewelers would be driving around in, not to mention, the supposed driver is no where in sight. Wealthy Indians don't drive themselves, unless they are going for a joy-ride in a super swanky car. I'm just praying I'm not too deep.
I tell them, I can't do this. I tell them I need to leave. They calmly take me back up to the apartment, saying it's fine, we're not too far down the line to cancel. We get upstairs, they ask what is making me change my mind. They're not behaving aggressively, but we're not in public, so I don't feel safe calling them out on trying to scam me. I tell them it's a gut feeling. That I literally feel physically sick, which was not a lie. They try to reassure me, I tell them I'm leaving, they tell me I have to at least write out a cancellation. The cousin seems upset about the money they invested in the insurance.....probably trying to make me feel guilty and pony up cash. I ignore his concern. And continue to stand up and head toward the door. I guess to keep the impression of the whole scam, they say I can leave but they still need a letter of cancellation. I write out a cancellation letter, and we don't shake hands when I leave.
I'm relieved to get out of their and I instantly search "Indian jewelry scam" on my phone. The very first result is "How did I manage to fall for a Goa gem scam?" I head back to the beach and down a couple of beers, as I am really shaken up, and read articles about the exact scam I almost fell for.
Basically, once you have filled out all the customs paper work, you get a call the next day from a "customs officer" saying that your package has drawn their attention due to the lack of receipt. They continue to tell you that if you cannot provide a receipt, you'll end up in India jail for a few years. Soon enough, you hear from your "partners" who are equally concerned about losing their business. They tell you that you'll have to make a purchase after all to satisfy customs inquisition, but that you will be reimbursed, of course. This is where they get you.
Their is no customs officer, the jewelry is fake, even the addresses they use are fake (they tell you they will send it to your destination's General Postal Office, but these GPO's don't even exist). Once you pony up the cash in hard money or debt transaction, as they can't except credit card (credit cards can back-charge), they tell you they will get all the records over to the customs officer. They even go as far to tell you that it would be best if you leave the country, and buy you a plane ticket home.....after all, the jewelry is coming in the mail and their money to be made. Surprise, surprise, you arrive, their is no representative to meet you, their is n GPO at which to pick up any pack, and their numbers are no longer active. You realize your life savings is gone, and that you have been had.
This is a newer scam, a modified version of an older gem scam which is now well documented on travel web-sites and travel guides. Once it was all said and done, I checked the scam section of my travel guide. I didn't find it, but I did notice something funny.......their was a page missing in the scam section. I had shown them my travel guide, and they asked to flip through it, I of course obliged. At some point they must of had enough time to remove that page.
I'm not embarrassed about almost falling for this. It's an amazing performance where they wine and dine you, where they have really personal conversations with you, and make you their friend before the topic of doing business together comes up. I am however, pretty disheartened.
As a traveler, I try to remain open to people, invitations, new experiences, and possibilities in general, often times I go out of my comfort zone to push myself to become a more cultured and understanding person. I think most people would agree that this is a noble pursuit. But it is exactly this trait that this scam feeds on. I wanted to blow them off for dinner the very first night. I thought, what if it's an awkward evening? I can have fun on my own for sure, why risk ruining an evening? But I stepped outside my comfort zone and showed up. They seemed so genuine about inviting me to a meal, and I didn't want to let them down. I thought, I'm pushing myself to make myself more open to connecting to other people, and in the process making me a better man for it. In the end, my good intentions played into getting as deep as I did in their scam, and this is what is disheartening.
I opened myself up, went outside my comfort zone, thought I was really connecting with someone from the other side of the world and taking on some exciting task, which all would have made a great story. However, I guess in the end, I still ended up with a pretty interesting story, and I'm certainly more worldly.
