A 66-year-old pensioner who goes by the name Joe had been to Bali, Indonesia multiple times before, on this particular recent trip he befriended (or maybe it was the other way around) a young lady inside a shopping mall. Of course, they became fast friends. She invited him to her home so that he could meet her family.
When Joe arrived at the young lady's house, the family at that time was playing poker. Joe had never played the game before as he wasn't the gambling type. Joe initially pulled only $200 out of his pocket and started playing while being coached by the family.
A few moments passed by, and as Joe began to feel more confident and comfortable in playing poker, a wealthy-looking man suddenly showed up and joined them. The family told Joe that the seemingly-rich man was in the oil and diamond business.
The odd tycoon suddenly whips out $200,000 out of his pocket, to which Joe could not match as he doesn't have the money. The family encouraged him further on until the tycoon is placing a bet of $50,000. The family had successfully convinced Joe that he cannot lose.
Now, this is the point where it gets so much weirder. At one point, Joe flies back to Perth and comes back to Bali with $50,000 in cash. We can assume that he lost the bet and felt the need to return home to get the money and pay. Then, the game resumed, and after several more flights back and forth to his home and Bali, in the end Joe lost an entire $200,000, which is actually his pension savings, to which he handed to two family members in a KFC branch in Manila (Philippines), and they skedaddled with it.
Joe told the reporters who interviewed him that he was only trying to help the family. As a reminder to anyone else falling for the charms of Balinese women, their food and/or the game of poker, he said, "I worked hard all my life, and it's gone in five minutes."
Penny Lipscombe, Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection, said that the scam is not a new one and warned tourists not to fall for this modus operandi.
As a reminder to those who are traveling to various countries, while it is good to make new friends, be extremely cautious when at those times it suddenly involves you shelling out a ridiculous sum of money. Take a step back, and analyze the situation carefully.
Source:
https://www.highstakesdb.com/8575-aussie-pensioner-loses-200000-in-bizarre-balinese-poker-sting.aspx
