Your friend's visit to Morocco

Submitted by Lisa, May 15, 2017 at 15:16

Since there is no changing her mind about visiting him, the best you can do is to warn her. I would not tell her directly to be cautious of her Zakaria (that won't sit well with someone who is "in love") but you can say you've heard stories about this and that. This way, when a similar situation comes up, it might ring a bell and she'd, by God's Grace, be wary.

Have not happened to me but some of the tricks are :
1) car rental: after renting a car in her name, the rats will get people to damage the car a little and then antagonise and threaten the victim. The rat himself will play the good cop and "advise" the victim to pay up (a huge amount!!!) in order to avoid trouble. Someone will even offer to take her to the ATM to get money. He would never appear to be involved but he is part of the scam.

2) Scammers will have people knock at the door in the middle of the night posing as cops, create a panic situation and demand for money to avoid trouble with the police and a prison term. Whoever, cops or scammer friends, she will need to pay and the amount will not be small because we are talking in exchange for a prison term for breaking the local law!

In Morocco, it is an offence punishable by imprisonment and a huge fine if an unmarried couple (one of whom is a Moroccan) is caught staying overnight together in a house/room, whether or not they have a sexual relationship. Google Penal Code 490 and read the report on Human Rights about how the police stripped a man and a woman (who had nothing to do with one another) in order to frame them.

3) Threaten her with a photo copy of her passport (if they stay in a hotel) and have someone accuse her/them of theft (stuffs missing in the room) etc. Once again the rat will advise her to pay up to avoid trouble with the police. Caught in such intimidating situations, most victims cannot think straight and will just pay to stay out of trouble in a foreign country. Zacharia will feel oh so sorry for what happened and deep shame for his own countrymen. That would be the reason why he wants/NEEDS to leave Morocco. A woman in love will try her best to get her man out of the shithole of the country he was born in.

If Zakaria really wants to marry your friend, i.e. he hasn't any offers from other women who may be more attractive or younger, this situation with your friend will drag on while he tries to scam her over a period of time. For this trip, I think he's more likely to want to impress her and win her trust before he goes in for the kill. Thus your friend could be quite safe on this trip - but we never know.

However, some scammers may find that they are not at all attracted to the victims when they meet in person (or they might have met another better victim) and they will intentionally create tensions and fights and then just leave.

You are right. He would probably suggest starting a business with the excuse of having something they "share"; something to connect them. In which case, we can only hope that your friend would be smart enough to have everything registered in her name.

There may be promises and wishes to build a love nest in Morocco that's "just for them" and pre-calculations of how much cheaper that would be compared to having to pay for 2 rooms at a hotel whenever she visits - after all,he loves her and wants her to visit as frequently as possible. But this is used normally on victims living in Europe because we are only about 3-4 hours flight time from Morocco and therefore able to visit more often.

Your friend will probably have a great time in Morocco on her first trip while he plays his role as prince this time. He is not going to let his mask fall so soon.

It is a very sticky situation for your friend. And terribly hard to convince her of the risks since she sounds like she's already in the love-web of the rat.

I apologise if I sound speculative and judgemental but I've been through hell with a moroccan (and it's still not over) and would not wish it on any other person.

Sadly, I cannot believe this is not a scam.

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