This happen to me in Phnom Penh during my second week in Cambodia, when a female & male approached me outside the Market, close to where I’m was staying. It started out innocent, as she mention that her sister (who I never meet) was going to New Zealand to work, then I mention I’m from New Zealand and that’s how the conversation starts.

This discussion happens in the morning and she said I could meet her sister in the afternoon as I already had plans. They pick me up and took me to their home, which they gave me a meal while we waited. While this was happen at this point I thought something was up when I asked about her job as she mention that she teaches only in the morning (but that’s when I meet her) and has the rest of the day off. During this time I was only talking to her but then her “brother in law” came in.

So again we discuss things and he mentions that he works for a casino in Phnom Penh and that he gets players. I wasn’t too sure what he actually meant but I knew how to play blackjack and was curious. He said he would teach me to remember cards and that was suppose to be it (my head was all over the place by this point, thinking how I could get out of this house without getting stab or shot).

Oh how I was wrong, all of sudden when he was going over the cards three times…I thought something was up but I really couldn’t do much as, one I was by myself and two I had no idea where I was in the city. During this time the Brother in Law was mentioning how his cousin got ripped off by this lady from Burma as she didn’t give his cousin the correct tip…as soon he said that the lady walked in and was there to play a game which ended up being Blackjack. By this point I was actually scared as I knew I was in a bad situation, so basically I went along when it and he gave me $300 cash to play. It got to a point were she made a high bet than me which i couldn’t match so he said what money do you have with you, so I gave him $20 (something was better than nothing I thought to get out of this situation) and he put the rest of credit…it got to the last round and I thought it was over but then she said what happens if you lose using credit? who will you owe, you need to show real money not credit as she was sure she was going to win. So we put our cards in envelopes and locked it away which she had the key for. She left the room as we discuss I needed two hours to get to my hotel and the went the lady from Burma left the room.

He started freaking out…asking me how much can I give him, so I said 2,000 USD. Thank god he believed me as I was shaking because of the situation I got myself into. Told them that I didn’t have my cards with me so I would need to go back to my hostel. During the scooter ride back to my hostel I said to the lady I wasn’t getting any money out and she would have to call her brother-in-law. By the point I got to my hostel I basically walked quickly and went to the helpful staff who sat me down as I was completely freaking out and pointed out where they were waiting for me.the staff at 19 Happy House 2 Backpacker and the Tuktuk driver outside. They managed to calm me down and the Tuktuk driver was even nice enough to drop me off so I could catch up with some friends for dinner for nothing.

After this situation I needed to remember it’s not Laos, where I had people invite me into there house for beer, food and company all the time.

Looking back at it now, I $20USD for a very expensive home cooked meal.