"Warn Dutch tourists about bezness!" [Article]

This - from 2011 - was posted via twitter today. And, felt this may be of interest here at expat-blog, specially after reading a heartrending narrative recently:

Tourists, beware of bezness

"Warn Dutch tourists about bezness!" Radio Netherlands Worldwide received this heartfelt plea from Egypt. 'Love criminals' who prey on naïve Westerners are a flourishing phenomenon in Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia.

'Bezness' is simply a corruption of the word 'business', but in fact it's an organised crime involving big money. Marjolein – not her real name, it's too risky to reveal it, she says – has been living in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the past four years. She sees it happening time and again, she says.

"Young men who pretend to be in love start up a romance with a tourist. For these people it's usually about four things: money, a visa for the West, sex, and the opportunity to avoid military service by marrying a foreign woman."

"I see Dutch women who go home a wreck when their marriage or relationship finishes. They're intimidated or isolated, abused, threatened. Sometimes they lose contact with family and friends and all the money goes to their lover. It's real crime, with big returns."

Young women
Bezness is certainly nothing new, but the methods – and the victims – have changed in the past couple of decades. The targets are no longer older women on the lookout for a toy boy. Increasingly they're young women and men. The perpetrators are expert at working out who's ready for a flirt and who's got money. The requests for cash only come later, says Marjolein.

Fantastic liars
"It happens hundreds of times a year. Not just in Egypt, but also in Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey. They're fantastic liars and actors. I think many Western women aren't used to all that attention and romance. They get swept off their feet."

"Just go to an internet café, you'll see all these guys sitting there. They're calling their sweetheart in the Netherlands. 'Hi love, how are you? My father's ill and we can't pay the doctor's bill.' Or he's going to build a house for their future together. 'Please transfer money quickly.'"

Blind trust
Marjolein's helped out destitute Dutch women in the past. The tourists who get swept away by romance are sometimes naïve, she says. She has little confidence at all in marriages between Dutch women and Egyptian men.

"If five percent of them work out normally – in other words without deceit, exploitation, imprisonment or a second, Egyptian wife – I'd say it was a lot. These women are so naïve they take tens of thousands of euros out of their bank accounts to pay for all sorts of wonderful plans."
"I sometimes ask them, would you do that in the Netherlands without a contract? Recently there was a woman who signed away nearly 30,000 euros. She didn't understand a word of the Arabic, but she trusted her lover blindly."

Egyptian law
Marjolein's advice: make sure you know your rights and take your own translator. But even then your position might not be strong enough. An Egyptian husband can forbid his wife from travelling. And after a divorce, in principle the children go to the man or his family.

And another tip: many people involved in 'bezness' work in tourism themselves. If a man approaches you in the street and he drinks alcohol, watch out, people often say. But Marjolein says the most important thing for women is that they keep their feet on the ground. Don't stop thinking, no matter how much in love you are.

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