Yesterday we ran into a guy talking on his cell phone, saying that he was frustrated that no one spoke English in Varna. (Should have been the first clue, because there are plenty of people who speak English). I went over to him to ask if we could help, thinking that maybe he was a traveler needing a bit of translation.
He told us a sob story about how his bag was stolen, he had missed his flight home, and he had a dissertation to defend on Tuesday. I should have known. It was too thorough of a story and there were too many holes in it as well.
But we were trusting, and gave him 250 euro. He insisted on wiring us the money from his bank before he would accept the money. When we got home, we realized the receipt was fake, from a fake bank, and the emails he gave us for him and his father were fake. It was a scam- one that I foolishly didn’t expect to be played in such a poor country.
There were moments when I felt wrong, but we went ahead, giving this stranger the benefit of the doubt. Now, I feel sick to my stomach, knowing that he took advantage of a young family, with a baby no less. 🙁
I know, we shouldn’t have been so trusting. I think I was waiting for Nikola to say something, to confirm my feeling, and he never did.
It isn’t like we are rich. We pretty much emptied our bank account for that guy. <Sigh>
Now, how do I make the feeling of sickness and sorrow in the pit of my stomach and behind my eyes go away?
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