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Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
02/2/2016 at 8:16am
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My default position has always been that everybody is out to con you, why should this not be so? If you get a phone call offering you something or somebody stops you in the street & offers you something ie "lend me 400 & I will repay you 600 in a few days" then they are doing that for their benefit not yours. It's much the same as falling for a 'boiler room' shares scheme over the phone.
If you look at it like that then there is no way you will ever get conned because as soon as the first words are spoken you get an idea of what they are on.
In my 40odd yrs of lorry driving, I was approached by these sort of people on a regular basis at services, sob stories, selling watches/jewelry. I just closed my window & turned my head away & they went off to annoy somebody else.
I will help anybody, I am the man with the tools who fixes your car or caravan, but I will at all times give my time but never my money.
There is no end to the cons that people dream up, wicked ones, like pretending their kid has cancer & the 'donations' flood in as random acts of kindness. It is possible that as suggested, this 'story' is actually a con in itself.
As Al Stewart sang... "I know your head is in the sky, you're easy to deceive, but how you fell for this I really don't believe".
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02/2/2016 at 8:47am
Location: West - North Yorkshire
Outfit: Swift Speedbird 490 Mondeo Estate
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Just so that people can make their own minds up, here is the story copied from Facebook, which Geoff who wrote it has invited people to 'Share':
I know this has little chance of any success but do you recognise the man in this photo? If not, please repost as I want to let you, and as many other people as possible, know about what happened to me a few days ago.
I'm in my mid-sixties, own a motorhome and enjoy travelling around Europe in it by myself. I left Calais last Sunday morning with the idea of travelling south to Northern Spain and after a few hours into my trip stopped at a services called Agip Aire du Ressons, north of Paris on the A1.
As I was filling up with diesel i was approached by a well dressed young man who tells me he was on his way back to Ireland and has had his wallet stolen and needs money to get back. This pleasant and very plausible Irishman allegedly called Martin McDonagh claims to be a dog breeder and gave me an obviously expensive laminated business card about "The Puppy Palace" in Navan. He then showed me his Passport and driving licence from which I took all of "his" details. I also took the picture of him on my phone which I've attached but just when you need the internet most there's never a signal so I couldn't check any of this out.
I then called from my mobile to an Irish number beginning 00353 that he gave me which he said was his wife, Winifred. I spoke with her and she said how she was beside herself with the worry of how Martin had been robbed, how was he ever going to get home and that she couldn't help because everywhere was closed on a Sunday. I heard a young child crying in the background.
Martin kept telling me how he believed in God and showing me the crucifix around his neck even after I'd declared my atheism. Anyway, 400 would help him to get home but he would transfer 600 by western union as soon as got back and we would meet again one day to enjoy a whiskey. I said I wasn't interested in profit, only of getting my money back.
Anyway, to cut a long story short I decided to part with 400 in cash. Martin said he would phone me again when he reached Dover and again when got to Holyhead. I never heard from him again although on Monday I did call his "wife" again and surprisingly she answered saying she was hoping he'd be home later that day. By the evening neither of their numbers could be reached or were receiving calls.
I went to the British Consulate in Bordeaux for advice and then went on and reported the matter to the police in Bordeaux. However, they have said that because he was Irish and I am British it would better for me to report it when I get back to the UK in two weeks time. My guess is when I report it in the UK they will say it was a crime committed in France and will need to dealt with by the French and so it will go and it will be all too easy for "Martin" to carry on his scamming.
In the meantime, I reckon that if "Martin" is only working an hour a day for five days a week but is successfully carrying out just one of these scams a day then he's earning well over 100k a year. I'm resolved to the fact I will never get that cash back but if I can help just one person not to fall for his charms then I'd like to do it.
And at the bottom of the story is a picture, taken with the phone, of the man who called himself Martin McDonagh.
I suppose I feel sorry for Geoff, the guy who was conned, because twenty-six years ago I was 'stranded' in a similar position in a filling station, when on my way home from a three week holiday in France, on my own, with my sons. Lack of planning, meant I was almost out of cash. I had a bank card, but was on the road on a Sunday and the filling station 'device' wouldn't take my card. In those days ATM's on filling stations were a rare thing, and the nearest ATM was apparently in St Dizier, a very long walk away!
A British car pulled in - a lovely man, in a rather nice Jaguar. He obviously recognised that I was upset and asked if I was OK - I told him what had happened, and he paid for the fill up in cash, and gave me some cash which would help until I got to a bank! We swapped addresses, and I repaid the money as soon as I got home - but thereafter I always have sympathy for those 'conned' in this way, because without my Samaritan I don't quite know what I would have done.
Yes, I know, it was my own fault............. but it's easy with the benefit of hindsight to make judgements.
Post last edited on 02/02/2016 09:22:56
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Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
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Topic: France
There's a lot of detail in the post on Facebook, including a picture, which makes it a very plausible story. 
