Yet another dream sold... :(

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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http://www.listindiario.com.do/antes/mayo06/270506/cuerpos/ciudades/ciu2.htm

Estafan a 270 mujeres con la promesa de llevarlas a Espa?a
Rafael Castro

LAS AM?RICAS.- M?s de doscientas mujeres quedaron ayer varadas a su suerte en el aeropuerto Las Am?ricas, luego de que supuestamente fueran enga?adas por organizadores de viajes ilegales que le hab?an prometido transportarlas a Espa?a, donde tendr?an trabajo seguro, con buena remuneraci?n salarial.
Las 270 mujeres se congregaron en el tercer nivel de la terminal de pasajeros, donde desde muy temprano esperaban la salida del vuelo que nunca despeg?.

El grupo sali? de San Crist?bal desde donde fue transportado en minib?s.

De acuerdo con las versiones, las mujeres hab?an sido reclutadas en peque?os grupos de distintas comunidades del pa?s, prometi?ndoles llevarlas a Espa?a con contratos de trabajo en compa??as espa?olas donde ganar?an buen dinero.

Para realizar el supuesto viaje a Espa?a, las criollas, seg?n confesaron a las autoridades de Migraci?n del aeropuerto, pagaron la suma de 3,200 euros por cada una a los traficantes de humanos.

Inicialmente pagaron 600 euros por gestionar los papeles, luego 2,600, por la obtenci?n del visado, boleto a?reo y contrato de trabajo.

A cada una de las frustradas viajeras los mafiosos le plasmaron en su pasaporte una visa espa?ola, que seg?n Migraci?n es falsa y adem?s unos contratos de trabajo con empresas fantasmas. ?stas se concentraron en el ?rea de espera de pasajeros del aeropuerto en las primeras horas de la tarde preocupadas porque el supuesto vuelo en el que viajar?an a Madrid, Espa?a, no las dejara.

Relataron, asimismo, que en la tarde apareci? un hombre que dijo era un funcionario de la Embajada de Espa?a, y le pidi? los pasaportes y el dinero en efectivo que ten?an, con la promesa de que arreglar?an todos los tr?mites con Migraci?n para que pudieran viajar al exterior sin dificultades.

A?adieron que no saben el nombre del sujeto ni su direcci?n, y que el mismo desapareci? despu?s de haber recibido el dinero en la terminal.

Entrada la noche las mujeres comenzaron a preocuparse porque la persona no aparec?a, lo que llam? la atenci?n de las autoridades de seguridad y de los empleados de Migraci?n, que comenzaron a sospechar que se trataba de una estafa organizada por una mafia de tr?fico de humanos. El grupo viajar?a por la l?nea a?rea Air France, que realiza la ruta Santo Domingo, Par?s, y de all? partir?an hasta Madrid.

Las mujeres estafadas fueron al Palacio de la Polic?a Nacional para poner formalmente la querella.
 

rellosk

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
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For those, like myself, that are linguistically challenged, here's the story in English, as reported in the DR1 Daily news:

Huge travel bunko at Las Americas​

Over 250 men and women showed up at Las Americas International Airport to go to work in Spain. They had been tricked into paying between EUR3,000 and EUR3,500, according to early estimates, in order to obtain the necessary documents and plane fare. While many were detained for questioning, most were sent home, much poorer and maybe a little wiser.
The police began investigations immediately. Those questioned, mainly women, said that they had been told to be at the airport at 3:00pm for a 5:00 o'clock flight to Paris. When the trip organizers failed to show up, the would-be travelers started to get worried and nearly started a mini-riot. The police knew at once that a scam was behind the problem. According to reports from the scene, the women said that they were taken from the sports pavilion in San Cristobal in three buses, supposedly bound for the international airport at Punta Cana, but began to worry when they were left off at Las Americas instead. Most of the money had been placed in small boxes and was supposed to be returned to them upon arrival in Spain. However, as in most bunko operations, the boxes had been switched and the boxes carried by the passengers were empty.
In Sunday's Hoy, the whole swindle was explained. The number of people who were cheated by this scam amounted to two hundred and sixty. There were 150 women and 100 men who paid a total of RD$25.5 million to the gang of thieves. An employee of the San Cristobal prosecutor's office was arrested in relation to the case. Farconelis de los Angeles Rivera Santana was arrested as the chief organizer of the trip that never happened. Each of the victims paid EUR2,750, plus expenses for the emission of a passport, birth certificate, Good Conduct letter, and photographs. Each person gave Rivera Santana RD$700.00 in order to obtain a medical certificate of good health, "under the table." Also under arrest are Dilda Pelletier de Leon, Pamela Martinez Rivera and Ricardo Reyes Rosario. Two more men are wanted in connection with the case. The swindle took place when each of the travelers placed RD$98,000 in a case that was then sealed and with instructions not to open the case until they reached Barajas airport in Madrid. Once in Madrid, they were to give the case to the person who was supposed to meet them there. As the bus was about to leave for the airport the people were asked to hand over the cases containing the money in order "to show the money to an official from the Spanish embassy. The cases were then returned to the unwitting passengers. Today's Hoy reports that two of the women have been sent to jail to await trial, and perhaps save their lives, as a lynch mob tried to attack them to get their money back. The women, Farcolelis de los Angeles Rivera Santana and Dilda Pelletier de Leon were sent to Najayo Prison for one year of preventive custody.
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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Thanks Rellosk - Sorry to my Gringos...

I was talking to my friend (Mili - some DR1 members here remember her from our dinner about 2 years ago in Santo Domingo) and my whole town of San Cristobal is in an uproar about it.

Last year a man killed 3 people and then himself over a visa scam. This guy's wife was stuck in Morocco because the lady got her there with promises to have her moved to Spain. Never did.

It is really a shame.
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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I read the story, and also listened to the ManguMinute commentary. I suspect that this sting started as a legitimate operation, and somewhere along the way, the promoters realized that they could not deliver the goods, deciding then to keep the money and defraud their clients. Many years ago, an expat female friend of mine spent over a year in Najayo prison for a similar situation. I had flown in from Caracas, and invited her to lunch at El Meson de La Cava. After finishing our ceviche entre, one of the waiters insisted on talking to her. There was a short hushed argument. I asked her what it was about, and she told me her story. Several months ago, an Arab who introduced himself as a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, the Al Sabahs. approached my friend and asked her to recruit able Dominican men to work under contract in Kuwait for a period of two years. He offered her a hefty commission for each Dominican worker. She accepted and placed an ad in one of the larger circulation newspapers in the city. Within a few weeks she got hundreds of responders, from which she asked a small ‘processing fee’ of about 1500 pesos each. She then proceeded to travel to Kuwait city to contact the member of the Al Sabah family to finalize the deal. My friend was short in details, but she said that the Arab was not a member of the Kuwait royal family, and that the deal fell through. She told me she became despondent over the affair, and on her return trip to Santo Domingo decided to take one month vacation around the world, staying at the fanciest hotels and spas, for which she spent the hundreds of thousand of pesos she got as ‘processing fee’. She told me she was now broke, working in real estate trying to make ends meet. I cared deeply for this women, and told her I could not believe she wasn’t already in jail. I told her to leave the country immediately. She said that in the meantime she had married a police colonel, and was sure he could keep her out of jail. Two months later, her luck ran out, when her colonel husband left her, and she landed in Najayo prison, where she had to sleep on the floor and do errands for ‘wealthier’ prisoners in order to survive…
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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Mirador, I'm sorry to hear that this person was so close to you. However, she DESERVED MORE TIME IN PRISON!!

Do you know how much effort it takes some of these people to get any amount of money together? They dont have savings! They dont have money leftover from last week's check! They dont have extra cash coming in next week! They dont look forward to their tax return check!

If these men were ready to leave it all behind to go to Kuwait (of all places to go!!) then that means that they were desperate and had NOTHING. They probably sold their Motores 70 and got the rest of the money from family and friends after they had to pawn any belongings they can scrounge up.

And then she had the nerve to go around the wrold and live luxuriously for a month? Why didnt she TRY to give the money back then? She had it all coming to her.

I'm sorry but some people got some balls!! Que Cojones!
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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Talldrink said:
... I'm sorry but some people got some balls!! Que Cojones!

Exactly! Que Cojones! that's what made her admirable, her !Cojones!.. She was a woman all alone in this world, no children, she lost contact with her relatives, and always managed always to eat in the fanciest of restaurants, sleep in beds covered with silk linen, dress designer clothes, etc. Everybody used to think she was an exceedingly wealthy woman. Two week after leaving Najayo, she was living in one of the fanciest penthouses in Santo Domingo. She had managed to convince the owner that if she lived there she had a better chance at selling it...

Talldrink, I'm sure if you try to stay away from the moral highground when dealing with people, you'll learn a lot more from them, not to say enjoy them better...;-)
 

miguel

I didn't last long...
Jul 2, 2003
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Amazing!

Mirador said:
She told me she became despondent over the affair, and on her return trip to Santo Domingo decided to take one month vacation around the world, staying at the fanciest hotels and spas, for which she spent the hundreds of thousand of pesos she got as ‘processing fee’. She told me she was now broke, working in real estate trying to make ends meet. I cared deeply for this women, and told her I could not believe she wasn’t already in jail. I told her to leave the country immediately. She said that in the meantime she had married a police colonel, and was sure he could keep her out of jail. Two months later, her luck ran out, when her colonel husband left her, and she landed in Najayo prison, where she had to sleep on the floor and do errands for ‘wealthier’ prisoners in order to survive…
I guess that she was NOT "despondent" enough to return the money that she stole from so many unlucky people!.

She is admirable?, tell that to all those poor people that she scammed, I dare you!.

This is nothing new. There are countless stories about scam-artists that all they do is play with a person's misfortune.

MOST Dominicans are sure victims of such people because they are looking for a way out to better themselves. She got what she deserved and I hope that ALL her victims were singing the "karma song".

Like I said, this is nothing new and I am more surprised that those 270 women did not know that many of these scam-artists, even if they are promising "riches", in MANY cases, they take their passaports away and are forced to become "dancers" at clubs and then forced into prostituting themselves.

To MOST Dominicans, whenever they hear someone leaving to be a "nanny", a "dancer", a "maid", a "care taker....." in a foreign country, the first thing that comes out of their mouths is: "esa va a cuerear" (to prostitute herself).

Btw, those scam-artists are all over the world. Same thing happened to a former Ms America (I think it was Ms America, or maybe Ms Universe). She was promised riches in a Arab country and was forced to become a prostitute.
 
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El Tigre

El Tigre de DR1 - Moderator
Jan 23, 2003
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Talldrink,

A few months ago I had posted here about another scam. This one is one where they supposedly take you to Orlando to work in hotels for 4 months and it costs 3,000 dollars. A group called Uniber Jobs our of Santiago and San Fran Cisco De Macoris. One of my cousins saved up the money and enrolled because someone he knows supposedly had a relative do this and it was legit. After I got to checking and checking I found out that it was just another scam. My cousin was able to get his deposit back and didn't go through with it.

Point - the only way to get out of that country legally is to be sponsored by someone outisde of the country whether in Europe or the USA or to try and get a tourist Visa to somewhere.

I feel like crap every time I read stories like the one you posted!!! It's so damn sad!!!
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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Mirador, trust me I'm not on a moral high-horse at all. We are all guilty of our own personal (and quiet) sins. I'm no better. But to go out and scam poor people, keep the money, spend it lavishly and continue to live as if nothing has happened - is another story.

These people are another breed, she is a special person. Not a good one, but special nonetheless.

Miguel - who was the person you speak of? Never heard of it...
 

rellosk

Silver
Mar 18, 2002
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Mirador said:
Exactly! Que Cojones! that's what made her admirable, her !Cojones!..
It doesn't take much cojones to steal from others and live high on the hog. It just takes a lack of conscience.
 

AnnaC

Gold
Jan 2, 2002
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It's a real shame for sure.

In the years that I've been on DR1 and have read so many stories on the amount of money people get together to either end up being scammed or taking a yola to their deaths I always wondered if that money would be better used to start their own little business in their own country.

Is it the thought that all the instant riches are elsewhere in the world?
 

Mirador

On Permanent Vacation!
Apr 15, 2004
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rellosk said:
It doesn't take much cojones to steal from others and live high on the hog. It just takes a lack of conscience.

I see there is an inclination to take this thread to the DR Debates section....;-)

Rellosk, nobody would argue against your assertion that 'cojones' is preferable over conscience. However, any student of human nature would find difficult to deny that a 'lack of conscience' is a much more frequent attribute than 'cojones', and in practical terms, a 'conscience' without 'cojones' is next to useless...

....
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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AnnaC said:
... I always wondered if that money would be better used to start their own little business in their own country. Is it the thought that all the instant riches are elsewhere in the world?

Ana, I agree with you. I have two examples:

I have a very close friend that is a hairdresser in DR. She has spent so much money trying to leave the country, it seems as if every year she has a new 'plan' or a new 'way' to get out. She has been left behind, abandoned, turned down at various consulates, you name it, she's experienced it. Today June 1, 2006 - she is still in San Cristobal doing hair from her galeria probably thinking of how to leave tomorrow.

The other woman I know always wanted to leave. But she invested her money in her little salon. She started in her galeria, then moved in her sala, then made a second floor on her house and moved upstairs. Today, she has like 3 salons, various houses, a car and has a visa she got from the consulate by just asking for it. And now she wishes not to even travel because she has a life in DR she rather not leave behind.

Even if the money is to put a little colmado, sell some clothes from the balcony, or do hair, anybody is better off investing where they LIVE rather than on empty dreams. Unfortunately, when their hears are set, theres nothing else they can see other than the riches of "anywhere but here..."
 

miguel

I didn't last long...
Jul 2, 2003
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Ok!

Talldrink said:
Miguel - who was the person you speak of? Never heard of it...
It only happened a few years ago. It was all over Entertaiment Tonight and I believe that Dateline NBC or 20/20 did a segment on it.

Now, about scam-artists, if it takes "cojones" for them to do the things they do, eventually those "cojones" will be cut-off by someone tired of their abuses.

In my book:

Scam-artist= a lowlife who has no consideration for anybody. All they care about is money and don't care who they take down in order to get it. Axxholes, I say!.
 

bienamor

Kansas redneck an proud of it
Apr 23, 2004
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Mirador said:
Exactly! Que Cojones! that's what made her admirable, her !Cojones!.. She was a woman all alone in this world, no children, she lost contact with her relatives, and always managed always to eat in the fanciest of restaurants, sleep in beds covered with silk linen, dress designer clothes, etc. Everybody used to think she was an exceedingly wealthy woman. Two week after leaving Najayo, she was living in one of the fanciest penthouses in Santo Domingo. She had managed to convince the owner that if she lived there she had a better chance at selling it...
Talldrink, I'm sure if you try to stay away from the moral highground when dealing with people, you'll learn a lot more from them, not to say enjoy them better...;-)

So after her time in Najayo, she has learned nothing. She is still scamming people, either for money a place to live or something else, This type of person deserves no admiration! But they do deserve NAJAYO.
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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www.azconatechnologies.com
The woman's first mistake

Was double-dipping.

She was being offered a commission already for the workers and decided on her own to increase profits by charging people to apply for a job.

Some Dominicans just can't seem to do business without ripping somebody off. Seems they don't feel they've made any money unless they think somebody else feels they are missing some.

Nobody in their right mind would pay a fee to apply for a job and she just took advantage of the many people in this country who are not in their right minds.
 

rellosk

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Mar 18, 2002
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Mirador said:
Rellosk, nobody would argue against your assertion that 'cojones' is preferable over conscience.
I WANT TO BE CLEAR THAT I WAS SAYING THE OPPOSITE.

I was trying to disagree with you in a nice way. But let me be clearer. Anyone that expreses admiration for someone that scams others, is a bigger creep than the scam artist.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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"...Anyone that expreses admiration for someone that scams others, is a bigger creep"

Enough!....
 
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