The girls in the girlfriend stage have already returned to their native
countries and have not only developed feelings for the man they met and left
behind, they have also frequently fallen madly in love with him. The sankie has
been able to form a bond with them, build their trust, shower them with romance,
and give them hopes of returning to a life of romance and love together with him
in a tropical paradise. Shortly after their return home, the sankie will
initiate contact with the victim by phone and/or email displaying his sincerity.
This is when the extortion tricks usually begin.
Many sankies use the same stories to extort money from their victims with the
most common claim being that his mother is sick and he needs money for her
hospital bills. At this point, the woman actually thinks she is in a real
lasting relationship and feels obligated to help. She can’t tell her new
boyfriend that she won’t help his mother, so she wires him as much money as he
claims he needs. Some other common stories are that the sankie himself is hurt
and cannot work or that his friend or another member of his family is hurt and
needs money for hospital bills. The sankie always promises to pay this money
back and during the same conversation, reassures the woman that he loves her and
that they have a future together.
Some sankies use different methods to extort the money. Some will use tricks
such as e-mailing victims and telling them that they wish they could hear their
voice but cannot afford a phone. This generally leads to the victim rushing to
western union to wire money to her man so he can buy a phone and a calling plan
to call her. Then of course the phone breaks or there is some subsequent story
why he needs more money. They will continue to use ploys such as this to get
money until such time as the girl gets fed up and stops falling for them, if
indeed that time comes. Of course, the money received is used for personal
enjoyment and to gain the trust of new victims.
Some sankies, on the other hand, have a completely different angle/agenda. They
are just looking for a foreigner to fall in love with them so they will be able
to get a visa out of the country. Then once out of the country, of course, the
romance quickly ends with the sankie proceeding with his new life and the woman
left devastated both emotionally and sometimes financially as well.
Sankie support network
Naturally, with so much to do, a sankie sometimes needs help. Since he
frequently cannot even write in Spanish, let alone English, the sankie needs
someone to type e-mails for him. For this he will usually employ a friend,
possibly someone who works at an internet café to type and send his e-mails for
him. For this, she will receive a cut of the Western Union wire that he receives
as a result. Frequently, a sankie will save scripted letters that he just copies
and pastes with his “helper” inserting the appropriate name for him. Also, he
will have several buddies who usually all operate separately as sankies
themselves, who he can rely upon to assist him in his landing of a new victim.
While the sankie is with his victim, one of these “support sankies” might come
and tell him that there is some emergency. The sankie will then rush off and
return to tell his victim the bad news of how he has this sudden dilemma. Of
course, it will require money to fix.
Also, the sankie’s boss at the resort might be a sankie himself. He might then
decide to conveniently fire the sankie on the last day of the woman’s vacation,
only to rehire him as soon as she gets on the plane. She will then go home
deeply in love with her new man but concerned about his financial welfare. In
order to help him out until he can get a new job, several trips to Western Union
will follow.
Additionally, a sankie will frequently introduce a victim to his family. His
mother, sisters, brothers and whoever else will also be a part of his support
network. They will act genuinely pleased to meet her and leave the victim with
the impression that she is the only girl in the sankie’s life. Of course, it is
all an act. A new girl is brought home every week and the family gets to enjoy
some of the money the sankie is getting from all of his victims. The sankies are
professionals and once in a sankies grip, a starry eyed, naive female tourist
doesn’t stand a chance.
Of course, with so many “girlfriends” to keep track of, he sometimes runs into
complications. It could happen that two or more of his girlfriends come back to
visit at once. This can be a major problem. In this case, it is best for him to
sever his ties with whichever one he considerers less profitable. For her, there
will be no more sanky panky. But that’s not too bad of a loss for him; after
all, there will be another plane of potential victims landing soon. Also,
sometimes, a “girlfriend” decides she can’t stand to be away and decides to move
down to be closer to her man. For the sankie, this is not good. He needs to
immediately turn the woman off so that she returns home. After all, one woman
around him for too long will cramp his style and be bad for business.
So, ladies: on your visit to the Dominican Republic you need to be on guard.
Enjoy the beaches, the mountains, and the rivers. Enjoy the food, the atmosphere
and the people. Experience all the wonderful things that the Dominican Republic
has to offer but please... beware of the sankie.
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