First of all, I want to thank you all for the information on sankies and what they do. Prior to my holiday I stumbled upon this website and learned about the lovely creatures that are the sankies 
Had never heard of them before, so thanks for that.
I just got back from a holiday in Puerto Plata with a friend, and on our first day I was approached by a local who worked on a boat. After chatting to him for a while I agreed to go for a few drinks with him that night, so he quickly found a date for my friend as well. We actually had a fun time, and the 2 guys paid for all the drinks. We met up with them a couple of times over the next few days, but never hooked up with them, even though they did try and fed us all the stupid sankie lines.
One evening my sankie seemed really depressed, so when I asked him what was wrong he told me that his dad had lost his job because he needed surgery on his leg, and his family couldn't afford the operation, and because his dad had lost his job they also couldn't afford to send his younger sister and brother to school. Now, I don't know if these exact excuses were ever mentioned on this site, but I thought it had sankie written all over it. He then asked me if I could spare some money to help them out. I said I couldn't take out any more money on my credit card that day, but would do so the next day, so we arranged to meet in town then next day, only to discover that I'd forgotten my credit card at the hotel and couldn't go back to get it as I had booked an excursion that afternoon. I told him I would bring the money the next day, but ooops, that was the day we went back home, so I never saw or spoke to him again
I did feel a little sorry for him, and I also felt slightly mean, but I constantly reminded myself that this is what they do and it's all a big scam.
It might sound stupid but we had a good time with the guys and got to see a bit of the city which we may not have otherwise. We just thought that the more time they spent with us, the less time they would spend scamming other people.
So thanks to you all for the information. It has been extremely useful. I don't think I would've fallen for the cheesy lines anyway, but you never know, and this way my sankie never had a chance
Had never heard of them before, so thanks for that.I just got back from a holiday in Puerto Plata with a friend, and on our first day I was approached by a local who worked on a boat. After chatting to him for a while I agreed to go for a few drinks with him that night, so he quickly found a date for my friend as well. We actually had a fun time, and the 2 guys paid for all the drinks. We met up with them a couple of times over the next few days, but never hooked up with them, even though they did try and fed us all the stupid sankie lines.
One evening my sankie seemed really depressed, so when I asked him what was wrong he told me that his dad had lost his job because he needed surgery on his leg, and his family couldn't afford the operation, and because his dad had lost his job they also couldn't afford to send his younger sister and brother to school. Now, I don't know if these exact excuses were ever mentioned on this site, but I thought it had sankie written all over it. He then asked me if I could spare some money to help them out. I said I couldn't take out any more money on my credit card that day, but would do so the next day, so we arranged to meet in town then next day, only to discover that I'd forgotten my credit card at the hotel and couldn't go back to get it as I had booked an excursion that afternoon. I told him I would bring the money the next day, but ooops, that was the day we went back home, so I never saw or spoke to him again
I did feel a little sorry for him, and I also felt slightly mean, but I constantly reminded myself that this is what they do and it's all a big scam.
It might sound stupid but we had a good time with the guys and got to see a bit of the city which we may not have otherwise. We just thought that the more time they spent with us, the less time they would spend scamming other people.
So thanks to you all for the information. It has been extremely useful. I don't think I would've fallen for the cheesy lines anyway, but you never know, and this way my sankie never had a chance
