The Notorious Ned Kelly Conned in Cambodia by The Infamous Scammer James Whitlow
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 1:04 pm
Posted on the Cambodia Scammers Facebook Page:
"Well. As much as I hate to admit to being a sucker, I was suckered. I was conned. I lost $1500 to a JAMES WHITLOW who spells his name on Facebook "WHILDLOW" and here is his profile:
https://www.facebook.com/Gezzaaa/
Mr. Whitlow and a Khmer friend of his convinced me that they would be able to sort out the trouble I was having with a particularly nasty landlord, who may in fact get his own write up here by me once I've got the situation sorted, because the Khmer associate presented himself as, and appeared to authentically be, a Military Police Captain. He had a lot of pictures of himself in uniform, that I can attest to. And a fairly nice bike.
I was referred to James Whitlow by a mutual friend, who I shall not name, he has already been yelled at by me enough. And ultimately it was my fault - I handed the money over - I was the credulous sucker in this instance. The buck stops here. Or more precisely, it left from here and went into this asshole's pockets.
Basically: He talks a good game. Drives a Lexus SUV. No idea where he got that from or if it's legal or what. He convinced me that his MP friends could easily intimidate the landlord into coming to more reasonable terms with me and returning my property (as opposed to extorting me, which is what he has been doing to date.)
Mr. Whitlow claimed to be part owner of a hostel called "Funky Flashpackers" in Siem Reap, along with some other guesthouses and such down on the coastal islands. I suspect this is probably not the case. No, indeed. He is in fact a notorious Golden Sorya sexpat, scum of the scum, and he bounces around from guesthouse to guesthouse, back and forth between PP, SR, and Sihanoukville. He is not employed in any legitimate fashion. He is very overstayed on his visa ... On his real passport. He possesses two passports, both of which appear to be him by their photos and look to be authentic, so if I learn the name on the second one I'll update this post. Oh, and he enjoys gambling on "The Fish Game," which is so dumb that it makes my being ripped off by him even more painful a public admission for me to make, but I do so anyways.
What else? He appears to like "DJ" stuff - techno, whatever they call raves these days, that sort of thing. He's British, not sure from where but if I check all those screens I just took I could probably tell you. He was in Thailand for a while and also Singapore for a bit. Bills himself on his profile as an "event promoter," which is ironic given that I actually am one and can back that up with evidence of the actual events I promote, but whatever.
Revel in the schadenfreude or take pity on my stupid ass, but do not trust James or "Jay" Whitlow under any circumstances or for any reason. You'll get burned.
I heard what I wanted to hear, believed what I wished was true, and handed over about $1500 to him in two payments over the course of maybe 48 hours. Sheer idiocy. I know. He then absconded with it and proceeded to taunt me and threaten to blackmail me over some mention I had made of my days as a computer hacker. He claimed to have video of me discussing this point of personal trivia when we met in a coffee shop. I remember the conversation and I think it's pretty obvious what context I was operating in, but it's of no consequence because if he had video of it he'd have shown it to me already. And this blackmail idea of his is actually somewhat comical, given that I haven't been good at that particularly since the days of dial up, but whatever.
So, he's a real charmer. He now sends me the occasional threatening message because I've been unkind enough to object to his taking my money and running off with it instead of providing the mediation services he proffered, and he bizarrely made the mistake of friending me a little earlier this evening to do more of the same, so I was able to screenshot everything from his profile that was on there, and thus I felt I had enough information to write this tribute to him here.
He is - even as I write this - chatting to me and attempting to get me to say incriminating or sensitive information about my dispute with this landlord or about my hacking days 20+ years ago or my other youthful misdeeds and whatever else. No doubt his response to this post will be to smear me in whatever manner he feels people will find plausible. If he does, so be it.
Enough of you know me and know me well enough to know what I'm about and whether I'm a bad person or a good person or somewhere in the middle. I've been here for about 6 years. I have a Khmer fiance from a decent family. I am regularly employed as a teacher (I have a BA, TEFL, Advanced TEFL, and MA-ESL so I'm vastly over-qualified for this job market apparently, no offense to those who are faking it until they make it) and occasionally as an events promoter. I book most of the touring bands that come to Phnom Penh that play certain alternative genres of music. I play in bands here myself. I've written for The Advisor and Khmer440. I'm interviewed about English teaching in the book "Move to Cambodia." People probably have done exactly that, moved here, based at least in part on the somewhat generic advice I've given them therein. You know? I'm not exactly a drifter or an unknown quantity. I'm no James Whitlow, that's for fuckin' sure. =)
My status and activities here at present are entirely legal, whatever some gossipy types may randomly allege in this or any forum, and I contribute to both the economic health and the cultural life of the city (whether you're a fan of metal or punk or not even remotely interested, at least it's something to attend vs nothing at all, right?) So Mr. Whitlow can attempt to paint me in whatever negative light he so chooses as he frantically tries to salvage his reputation or prospects here. I think people will trust their own experiences first. And my experience with James Whitlow tells me that he is a liar, and a thief, and a scum-bag, and, admittedly, a pretty good con-artist."
"Well. As much as I hate to admit to being a sucker, I was suckered. I was conned. I lost $1500 to a JAMES WHITLOW who spells his name on Facebook "WHILDLOW" and here is his profile:
https://www.facebook.com/Gezzaaa/
Mr. Whitlow and a Khmer friend of his convinced me that they would be able to sort out the trouble I was having with a particularly nasty landlord, who may in fact get his own write up here by me once I've got the situation sorted, because the Khmer associate presented himself as, and appeared to authentically be, a Military Police Captain. He had a lot of pictures of himself in uniform, that I can attest to. And a fairly nice bike.
I was referred to James Whitlow by a mutual friend, who I shall not name, he has already been yelled at by me enough. And ultimately it was my fault - I handed the money over - I was the credulous sucker in this instance. The buck stops here. Or more precisely, it left from here and went into this asshole's pockets.
Basically: He talks a good game. Drives a Lexus SUV. No idea where he got that from or if it's legal or what. He convinced me that his MP friends could easily intimidate the landlord into coming to more reasonable terms with me and returning my property (as opposed to extorting me, which is what he has been doing to date.)
Mr. Whitlow claimed to be part owner of a hostel called "Funky Flashpackers" in Siem Reap, along with some other guesthouses and such down on the coastal islands. I suspect this is probably not the case. No, indeed. He is in fact a notorious Golden Sorya sexpat, scum of the scum, and he bounces around from guesthouse to guesthouse, back and forth between PP, SR, and Sihanoukville. He is not employed in any legitimate fashion. He is very overstayed on his visa ... On his real passport. He possesses two passports, both of which appear to be him by their photos and look to be authentic, so if I learn the name on the second one I'll update this post. Oh, and he enjoys gambling on "The Fish Game," which is so dumb that it makes my being ripped off by him even more painful a public admission for me to make, but I do so anyways.
What else? He appears to like "DJ" stuff - techno, whatever they call raves these days, that sort of thing. He's British, not sure from where but if I check all those screens I just took I could probably tell you. He was in Thailand for a while and also Singapore for a bit. Bills himself on his profile as an "event promoter," which is ironic given that I actually am one and can back that up with evidence of the actual events I promote, but whatever.
Revel in the schadenfreude or take pity on my stupid ass, but do not trust James or "Jay" Whitlow under any circumstances or for any reason. You'll get burned.
I heard what I wanted to hear, believed what I wished was true, and handed over about $1500 to him in two payments over the course of maybe 48 hours. Sheer idiocy. I know. He then absconded with it and proceeded to taunt me and threaten to blackmail me over some mention I had made of my days as a computer hacker. He claimed to have video of me discussing this point of personal trivia when we met in a coffee shop. I remember the conversation and I think it's pretty obvious what context I was operating in, but it's of no consequence because if he had video of it he'd have shown it to me already. And this blackmail idea of his is actually somewhat comical, given that I haven't been good at that particularly since the days of dial up, but whatever.
So, he's a real charmer. He now sends me the occasional threatening message because I've been unkind enough to object to his taking my money and running off with it instead of providing the mediation services he proffered, and he bizarrely made the mistake of friending me a little earlier this evening to do more of the same, so I was able to screenshot everything from his profile that was on there, and thus I felt I had enough information to write this tribute to him here.
He is - even as I write this - chatting to me and attempting to get me to say incriminating or sensitive information about my dispute with this landlord or about my hacking days 20+ years ago or my other youthful misdeeds and whatever else. No doubt his response to this post will be to smear me in whatever manner he feels people will find plausible. If he does, so be it.
Enough of you know me and know me well enough to know what I'm about and whether I'm a bad person or a good person or somewhere in the middle. I've been here for about 6 years. I have a Khmer fiance from a decent family. I am regularly employed as a teacher (I have a BA, TEFL, Advanced TEFL, and MA-ESL so I'm vastly over-qualified for this job market apparently, no offense to those who are faking it until they make it) and occasionally as an events promoter. I book most of the touring bands that come to Phnom Penh that play certain alternative genres of music. I play in bands here myself. I've written for The Advisor and Khmer440. I'm interviewed about English teaching in the book "Move to Cambodia." People probably have done exactly that, moved here, based at least in part on the somewhat generic advice I've given them therein. You know? I'm not exactly a drifter or an unknown quantity. I'm no James Whitlow, that's for fuckin' sure. =)
My status and activities here at present are entirely legal, whatever some gossipy types may randomly allege in this or any forum, and I contribute to both the economic health and the cultural life of the city (whether you're a fan of metal or punk or not even remotely interested, at least it's something to attend vs nothing at all, right?) So Mr. Whitlow can attempt to paint me in whatever negative light he so chooses as he frantically tries to salvage his reputation or prospects here. I think people will trust their own experiences first. And my experience with James Whitlow tells me that he is a liar, and a thief, and a scum-bag, and, admittedly, a pretty good con-artist."