This was posted on the internet yesterday. It is told by an American guy who posted his story to warn others about the dangers of travel in SEA. The first bit is a sort of general warning, which you don't have to read. The whole post is so long that I put it in a spoiler.
The second part is also long, so read on if you have about 5 minutes to spare.
If you don't have the time the summary is that a 6'1" and 250lb American guy got threatened by a gun by a gang of robbers in broad daylight while walking in the streets of Phnom Penh. The thieves then forced the man to a shop where they made him use his passport as ID to buy jewelry and max out his bank cards for thousands of US dollars. When he went to the cops, and when they asked him for $500 to investigate, he freaked out and took the next plane out of Cambodia.


Here goes: In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I was robbed at gunpoint in the day time on a populated street that wasn't a ghetto/seedy/red light district area. I wasn't wearing backpacker gear, but I was all alone and had an injured leg (no bandages) and walked with a very minimal yet subtlety noticeable limp. Ultimately, at least what you'd expect to be stolen was of course taken from me, including my wallet cash, wedding ring, and my max ATM withdrawal. Let's face it: that's basically standard protocol when being robbed, though an additional forced ATM withdrawal probably isn't quite as common. While for most 1st world citizens the typical robbery definitely sucks and potentially traumatic, it's usually not a truly life destroying quantity of wealth that's stolen.
My main reason for posting this is to advise you to NOT CARRY YOUR PASSPORT around on your person unless you immediately need it. The fact I was carrying my passport cost me THOUSANDS of dollars. It allowed them to force me to buy high ridiculously high price jewelry via debit/credit card(s) (well above and beyond my debit-credit card(s) withdrawal limits) that would not have been accepted without a Passport or a Cambodian ID card. I know this because the jewelry clerk refused my US State driver's license first before handing over my passport. My gut tells me the clerk somehow knew or might even have been in on it based on his/her exact behavior (can't even remember their gender it was so frightening).
My story:
I was walking around Phnom Penh, Cambodia by myself in broad daylight, sometime between 8-11am. I wasn't in a particularly seedy/dangerous part of town, nowhere near girly bars or anything like that, on a heavily populated and otherwise normal street like any other. I'm a decently large sized guy, 6'1" and 250lb (at the time). I did have one major problem that made me a target though; my knee was majorly injured from hiking in Malaysia, so I walked with a subtle limp that an armed robber would notice if they're looking for it.
So basically, a guy came up to me commenting something about my shirt, and as I tried to keep walking he began trying to offer me drugs (that I obviously had zero interest in buying). As he kept insisting whilst following closely behind me, he finally said he will "pull it out so I can "see it and smell it." I turned around to try to give him a firm "no thanks I don't smoke" because I didn't want drug anywhere near me for my legal safety, and because I hadn't been quite firm enough initially as I didn't want to cause tension.
Then the worst thing possible happened: he lurched forward and loosely gripped my arm, whilst pulling out a revolver with his other hand and pressed it against my stomach. Then he told me we're going for a walk and then going for a a moto ride, followed by more walking, and that the moto drivers were his friends and "armed and in on it." He suggested I turn around slowly, keep quiet, act normal, and that I "don't do anything stupid." He said something like that if I did anything dumb, he'd simply kill me and take my stuff, and told me to remember that Cambodian police "don't give a shit about you foreigners."
Right away I turned around without thinking, which unfortunately removed my only realistic opportunity to safely disarm him, not that attempting to do so would necessarily have been the smart, safe, or optimal choice. (For context, I'm a 2nd Dan black belt in karate and very competent in gun self-defense, not trying to brag or something arrogant, just providing context for having such a thought process). Very soon after I had turned around and walked a few steps, he said something to the effect of, "slowly pull out your passport so I can see it. If you don't have it, then we will go together to get it. If you lie at all about not having it or waste my time, I promise I will hurt you." Obviously I pulled it out without turning around, and he said ok walk. As we casually walked down the street (pretty sure he put the gun away right when I turned around), honestly my mind was racing while I was weighing my potential options , their potential consequences, and the probability of each consequence...
My mind was racing and frantically thinking all sorts of things (e.g. maybe I could turn around and get him to pull it out again so I can disarm him even if it's risky, there were dozens and dozens of people on the street and several somewhat near us, his gun only had 5-6 bullets maximum as it was a revolver, that while it's asinine to assume otherwise his gun might not even be loaded or might not even function seeing as most Cambodian guns are antiques, and his face/identity wasn't hidden at all. Would he really shoot me in front of such a busy street? Surely witnesses would identify him. If I yelled and others intervened, would he really shoot random locals too? There's tons of people yet he only has 6 bullets max, I doubt he would do it etc etc etc.)...
At least in the USA, I'd assume most semi-professional armed robbers would either wear a mask or leave no witnesses, so I feared that if I did nothing, he might actually kill me. I mean he's basically right that Cambodian cops are corrupt and don't give a shit. While I was lost in thought on what to do as we walked with me in front and him maybe a foot behind me, maybe 10 or so seconds later he quietly said something like, "there's a lady following us with a knife. If you run, she will stab you while giving you a hug, we'll walk you into an alley, and no one will notice." Well holy shit, who even thinks up stuff like that. Obviously I had no options.
Eventually we either walked to a jewelry store and then hopped on three motos after, or we first hopped on three motos and arrived at the store. I was so freaked out I can't remember. The supposed lady with a knife did exist and was with us now, though I never saw a knife. The three of us went to the jewelry counter and the guy did all the talking. He basically told them to try to run my card(s) for a certain amount, maybe $20,000 I can't remember, and that if the card gets denied, try again but for $1000 less until it works. The jewelry clerk demanded ID and wouldn't accept my US driver's license; for some reason only a Passport would be accepted. Eventually they ran all my cards (somehow ran them as credit even though they're debit cards, so no need for pin number...WTF? Holy shit, maybe he would have left me in an alley and done this by himself) until they were all dry or they were declining regardless of the amount
So seriously, doesn't everyone agree the clerk had to somehow be in on it? Who the hell spends what felt like 30 minutes slowly trying to charge $20k, $19k, etc., when the actual "customer" (me) neither spoke a single word, nor ever even asked what kind of jewelry "I'm" even supposedly interested in. What the hell. Anyways, of course there happened to convenient be an ATM inside the jewelry store (at least as I remember it), and the lady stood by me and forced me to try every single card that declined, (even weird cards that Americans would obviously know aren't connected to a bank, like a US-only prepaid Visa card), then the show available balance on each card, followed by making me attempt to withdrawal the entire amount (which obviously doesn't work). So too long;didn't read they made me withdrawal the daily maximum on every possible card.
Then we casually walked out with three motos waiting. The lady took all the jewelry and her moto went left, while my moto and the gun guy's moto went right. We rode all over the place in different directions, and eventually we arrived at the end of some big street behind an apartment complex. As the two supposedly armed moto dudes stood a few feet away, the guy emptied the cash in my wallet, took my wedding ring, as well as my phone (not before making me turn it off). For some reason I'll never understand, he wasn't interested in my passport or anything in my wallet apart from the cash.
He said walk in such and such direction for 5 minutes until you see a tuk tuk, go back to your *insert exact name of my hostel* like nothing happened (holy shit he knew which hostel I was staying in. Btw, it wasn't fun trying to pay a tuk tuk with no money), and to stay there for three days (no idea why three or why that mattered, makes no sense to me). I was only maybe a block from my hostel, maybe 1.5 blocks, so I thought maybe he just guessed. But then he basically said I was to stay there and don't leave the hostel (hostel had a bar and food, everything etc.). I was told to have my family or friends send me some money, and to only leave the hostel (without any backpacks or suitcases or any kind of luggage) to get the money and come right back. He said he would know right away if I didn't listen because he has "people" outside who keep tabs for him (I assume tuk tuk drivers; there's always like 4-6 tuk tuks just chilling right outside), and that I was to tell no one or contact the police.
So obviously I waited three days then got the hell out of there to the opposite side of the city. I went to a Cambodian police station to make a report, which I did, they then asked to see my passport. For some reason they said they needed to hold onto my passport (????) for 2 or 3 days and that by then I can come back and retrieve my passport, the written report, and that they would investigate the crime scene etc. the next day and collect evidence. Well when I came back after 3 days, it was a different policeman who looked at me like I had two heads. I asked for the report, passport, and gave my name, etc., and after sifting through a filing cabinet he produced my passport without anything else with it, not even the "report" the other cops wrote up when I first visited.
Basically he said unfortunately that my case was "difficult" and that if I wanted them to fully investigate, it would cost an "administration fee" of $500. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. I realized that absolutely nobody was going to help me with what happened. I used the money I was sent to get my stuff together and get an immediate flight out of Asia and back to the States.
Now I'm STILL working it all out with the bank. I asked why bother with having ATM daily withdrawal limits for debit cards when somehow they were able to charge my debit card as if it were a credit card for several thousands of dollars, and it actually went through. My main bank's account balance is current ~$-30, and the bank asked for a local police report. I did as they asked, but what the hell are local US police supposed to do?
Now I realized one major mistake I did make was not contacting the US embassy, which, even though I no longer had a phone, I could have borrowed one or physically taken a tuk tuk to the embassy.
So yeah, sorry it's such a long story, but I'm still shocked over how precise everything was, how many people it involved, and how smoothly it all happened. This had been the third or forth day in a row that I had limped the same route from my hostel to a pharmacy for supplies, so I'm thinking maybe some tuk tuk driver IDed me as their mark. I have no idea. The hostel itself was fantastic, clean, fun, quality staff, very well rated online, and one guy I became friends with used to always use the taxis outside to go places multiple times a day for months and months, having lived at the hostel for months and neither had nor heard of any similar problems either. The hostel employees said the same thing. Maybe it's because I was injured??? I have no idea.
Thanks for reading, or at least skimming it/reading the summary at the top. Don't walk around with Passports, extra debit/credit cards, or anything you don't need. Chances are it's safer in a hostel locker with a decently thick lock (thicker than most of the other lockers is my suggestion) and by placing everything in some sort of string bag/something to obscure valuables from being in plain sight if they're see through cage-type lockers.
Stay safe and enjoy your travels. It's a shame I had to cut mine drastically short. I was planning to teach/tutor English in Vietnam (have degrees and a TEFL etc.), but between having 0 money and being traumatized, I got the hell out of there.
Hope this helps even one person. They could have taken my passport and sold it (3rd world thieves LOVE 1st world passports to sell on the black market)...no idea why he didn't. If he had, I'd have been double screwed because I was an idiot and didn't have any paper copies of my passport, and either way I'd have been severely delayed from going home.
So yeah, be careful in SEA, especially poorer countries, ESPECIALLY Cambodia, seeing as it's filled to the brim with old war guns (hence all the "come shoot guns with us only $100 flyers in over half the hostels). I'm not saying don't visit Cambodia, but definitely avoid walking/traveling alone, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE VISIBLY INJURED. My leg got better every day, but the first day of walking to the pharmacy I was limping pretty bad. You couldn't have made me run even if you were coming after me with a chainsaw. I was incapable of even jogging.
I'm convinced someone noticed and made a phone call. Be very cautious. Me, a grown ass larger guy, was walking in broad daylight in a completely average area, and this short tiny skinny Khmer guy took me for everything I had. Stay aware and think twice. As you can see, the worst consequence of being offered drugs isn't being busted/extorted by the cops, believe it or not.

Sounds like a Philippino card scam and the victim made up a cover story so he did not look a credulous fool.

I've been coming to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia twice a year since 2002 (and now live in Vietnam). The only time I was ever robbed was by Thai Immigration officials... who extorted 2000 out of me.

weird... while reading this post, i started smelling the stink from the btb river wafting into my home.

I tend to FLBent's theory, or similar.
Stick-ups of westerners at gunpoint are very rare. (i have heard of only one other so brazen, years ago)
But at least he doesn't seem to be on a hate-Cambodia campaign.

He writes that his creditcards were used without pin. Is that possible? The new chipcards work without pin but only for small amounts. Is there a difference between credit/debit?

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:27 am Sounds like a Philippino card scam and the victim made up a cover story so he did not look a credulous fool.

Yeah, maybe he lost a card game and was told to buy a bunch of gems to settle the debt.

A 6 ft 1 second dan black belt terrified held up and taken around town to ATMs and shopping
that's believable

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:45 am This was posted on the internet yesterday. It is told by an American guy who posted his story to warn others about the dangers of travel in SEA.

My story:
I was walking around Phnom Penh, Cambodia by myself in broad daylight, sometime between 8-11am.

It's complete bullshit. If it had happened to me, I'd know almost exactly what time. Not "sometime between 8-11am".