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Be wary

S

Stephanie Georgiou

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
(2017 September)
Pilgrim claims to have walked from Hungary with her dog. Attaches herself to other pilgrims who will pay her way.
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Just wondering what makes you believe she is a con artist?
Please note I am not doubting you. I've met a few people on the CF who I think could well be con artists, mostly going in the opposite direction.
 
she collected about 30 euro from fellow pilgrims to help pay for food and stay at an albergue in Mansilla. Then she lied to the albergue saying that the pilgrims had already paid it and she needn't pay for her stay. Turns out the albergue could check her story out and she was caught out. Just lies really... maybe not con artist worthy, but deceptive none the less.
 
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HedaP said:
Just wondering what makes you believe she is a con artist?
Please note I am not doubting you. I've met a few people on the CF who I think could well be con artists, mostly going in the opposite direction.
Click to expand...

The OP has offered a useful fair warning to pilgrims that there ARE people on the Camino who are posing as pilgrims and trying to take money from other pilgrims. We've all met them I assume. In some parts of Europe this type of con seems to have been raised to an art form. They have a complicated tale of misfortune that plays on your feelings of charity, leading you to give them money in a good cause. Some of them are very good at it, the quality of their performance being worthy of the 10 euros they are trying to get from you. Others are a little more transparent. My favorite was the con artist who had the misfortune of telling his tale of woe to a Swedish pilgrim, in english. As he told me the story, "That guy was not Swedish!" Well, how do you know.....I asked him? "He doesn't speak Swedish!". Perhaps he decided he'd try his hand at being Hungarian instead.
 
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I think I am not too good in differentiating the cons from the real cases.
So probably I should do something like that:
* Give never money on such stories... even if I think, it is true. But give in the next donativo-albergue additionally the money that I would have spent if I would know that the story is true.
* Say to the person, who tells the story, that I do not have extra money to spend. But we could cook together and I could buy the ingredients... someone, who has really no money should be glad about this... and if it is a type of con the person should decline the offer.
 
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Whilst not an overly experienced pilgrim (only 2 caminos), but after more than 60 years on this earth and some extensive travels I think I can spot the frauds a long way off. I like the suggestion about offering to share a meal, or even pay for a their bed at an albergue. But from experience such offers are often rejected out of hand - all these "pilgrims" want is money. Approaching Saria I had three women try to solicit money for a child in need of medical treatment (the child lived in Spain!!!). I ignored them and received some less than complementary comments!

@domigee - no I have not even been to Hungary - but can you please explain why having visited a country makes one see things differently! My understanding of the OP was that the pilgrim claimed to have walked from Hungary and was (as I understood it) not painting all pilgrims from that country with the same brush. Hopefully by June next year I will have had my Hungarian experience and will be able to comment on seeing this interesting country. Cheers
 
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IF someone is on THE CAMINO, walking, trying to survive, I will not be sad, if I get hustled out of 10 Euros!
 
There are people who "live" on all trails. Have for millennia. It's a way of life for some. I met some on the AT as a kid when we would do multi day backpacks there. We called them 'trail bums'. Not very politically correct, granted. On our CP we met a guy who would launch into a story with everyone he met, even hospiteleros, how he had no money and even poor locals were giving him 20 euros here and there so he could eat and how he was sleeping in barns etc. We just listened with interest and nodded. He never came right out and asked for money. If so, we probably would have said, we only have a set amount of money for our own camino. We did give him our tapas after we finished a big pilgrims meal and were not hungry for more food. I don't think he was a 'bum' but he definitely was financing his camino from others.
 
Scammers and con artists everywhere love "being from Hungary" because Hungary is a different country far away, thus they may not be able to access their own money or get help from their friends and relatives. And Hungarian language is difficult and very different from most other European languages, so there is a little chance that somebody starts talking to them in Hungarian and rips the mask. Except certainly the real Hungarians themselves but these are not that many, much less than English or German speaking people.
 
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I simply can't refrain myself from posting this:
Sorry if it's a bit off topic
 
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