Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Foreigner falls victim to another robbery by fake cop in HCMC

Foreigner falls victim to another robbery by fake cop in Ho Chi Minh City



Foreign tourists in Ho Chi Minh downtown. Photo: Tran TamForeign tourists in Ho Chi Minh downtown.

The Ho Chi Minh City police are looking for a man suspected to have impersonated a police officer to steal an American tourist’s bag.

Kumar Bloomstein, 23, was riding a motorbike in District 2 Thursday afternoon when a man approached him, introduced himself as a criminal investigator and said he suspected Bloomstein was involved with drugs.

He ordered the American to come along to a police station, and when they approached one on Mai Chi Tho Street, the man told Bloomstein to leave his bag and go fetch his passport to prove he was in Vietnam legally.

The tourist went to his hotel in District 1, but when he returned the man had disappeared with his bag, which contained two tablets and a camera.

The robbery happened two days after a German tourist was robbed in a similar manner in the same area.

The police have not arrested the suspect in the first case yet, and it is still not clear if it was just the same person.

Vietnam’s tourism market has seen a strong recovery this year, with a 20 percent increase in foreign arrivals in the first five months.

Ho Chi Minh City hopes to welcome 5.1 million foreign visitors this year, up from 4.7 million last year, but safety issues could make that goal hard to achieve.

A Moroccan man was stabbed late last month while fighting off two men who snatched his wife’s purse in the city. He is recovering.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

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