Ladies Scam in Budapest, do not believe what you see.

"I fell for it, but it was perfect"

In Budapest. Two girls normal looking, not too pretty and walking down the street. I am moving slowly, I catch their eye. She spots my Czech football jersey, and says 'oh Sparta' not directly to me. I initiate a conversation. We are chatting casually about who is from where and what each of us are doing here and what is going on in Budapest, and errata; nothing in particular, but for them, as I was to discover, every single sentence was a reinforcement of a specific story. She is helping her friend find a job in Budapest and comes from a small town near the border, she says. She goes back at the end of the week. She doesn't know the place too well and we talk about the city. The other friend motions her to leave (she seems less interested in hanging around) but the long blond girl says 'we should stay and talk, we're having fun' Then the other says she wants to go get a drink because she is tired from walking the streets looking for work and motions her friend away again (she mentions this tiredness several times indicating that she is always on the verge of leaving).

They look like they are about to leave and then the long blond haired girl whom I was chatting to asks the other one 'why don't we ask him along'. Theo ther is hesitant and it looks like I am on my own. At this stage, I would love to have a drink with these two friendly girls who are fairly attractive and besides I could elicit local information on the town, find the interesting places and enjoy my stay here all the more.

They are acting not too coy but coy enough to generate a slight sexual tension, mostly they are friendly and are chatting with me freely. The other gives the look, 'isn't is dangerous to ask a man we don't know to come for a drink with us', but then shrugs her shoulders and the other invites me. I accept. So we go looking for a bar.

The first one we come to, has an outside seating area and we go to sit down, but then the tired one says 'I don't want to be outside it's cold' We get up and all them time talking and laughing, moving to the inside of this bar reached by an outside elevator. I'm really lucky I think, to meet these two pleasant women' and then of course my dick takes over and fills with brain cells of its own. The possibilities...It tells me. So we to the elevator. 'Lets try this place' says one. We go up (the tall one is standing in front of a price list I don't see until later). We go in to a cheesy red bar with overstuffed chairs, tablecloths, a crap kenny whatshisname kitsch music ensemble up on the stage. We sit down and smoke a cigarette talking about our silly lives. A waitress comes over and asks what I would like to drink, a beer says I. Oh, we only have budweiser. 'No local beer?' I ask. I couldnt drink a budwieser, I say.

The long blond haired girl says 'You know, you should try a typical hungarian drink, it's made with fruit and it's very strong' No thanks, I say, having been to Vegas once already. But she says, ' Oh you should, you're in Hungary' OK, says I, I'll give it a shot. Three tall fruity drinks arrive with a spangly decorated straw that has gold flowers sticking out of it that get up my nose. The drinks taste just like all fruity drinks all over the world - fruity, and a waste of liqour. Chat, chat, chat 'I can't believe I am telling so much to you' says the blond. The other smaller one, acting as a counter point, a small bit of tension, not extremely interested in me, but wants to talk about her funny hobbies etc. She is the pause required for me to absorb the long blond haired girl, to form an opinion about her, to find her more and more attractive. I tell them I don't want to stay here because it is really schmalzy, let's go get some beer, I says.

I call for the bill, but listen, I just arrived and was not used to the currency, so all I see is 62000 forint. That must be 25 euro I think. So I look in my wallet and think, 'The currency exchange guy ripped me off!, I got a tenth of the money' I don't do the maths right. Then I tell them, I don't have enough, I have to go to an ATM. The smaller girl offers to come with me and the waitress. I take my bag, but the longh blond says, just leave it there and so I do, my mind on other things (of course this was so I wouldn't do a runner). The waitress made sure to get some of the money off me first. I go down to a currency place and exchange 50 Euro, and then I figure out how much the bill really is 250 Euro!!!. Thats right, 250 euro. Now do I think it is a scam yet?

No, I don't because I am a stupid TWAT. I go back in and just think it is excessively expensive (Jesus h, Colm!) and complain loudly and refuse to pay the rest, like a sily boor. The manager says she will call the police and I say do that, fine. So I sit and wait. The girls are very apologetic and say they hadn't realized what this place was and that drink is normally cheap. The waitress explains that the drink includes Brandy XO and I ask the blond, did she know what was in the drink and she says yes but normally people drink it with cheap brandy. All the time, the two girls expertly work with the waitress. They ask them questions, simple questions like 'Where is the toilet', 'How long has this place being here'. All very well done as if they were never there before. I swear, these girls were on 100 percent of the time. You look into their eyes you see curiosity and sympathy, nothing else. They never over do it. The small one is telling the other one now that they will get in trouble with the police and say that they should try and get money themselves. I say no, we'll wait for the police. 'We don't want to get into trouble' says the girl. Then I say, well then you go and I'll deal with the police (not knowing what I'd when they arrive but at least to confront the management), but the girls say they couldn't leave me like that. The two girls offer to pay too, but they look and only have a 5 euro with them each. But they add it in anyway (how nice).

We sit and wait for the police (I see the manager dialing) and one says 'maybe we should just pay it and write the whole thing off' (notice the We). Okay I say and pay the rest and leave, wishing the manager a specific afterlife in a Hades I had described to her along with some expletives. We leave and walk down the street to another bar, but Phonecall! Oh, their friend who has the only keys to the apartment they are staying in wants to meet them and go home. The penny is dropping slowly now on my idiot dickbrain. They never say 'We have to go', they just stand there and it is me who feels that I should move off. They say , let's start all over again tomorrow. We'll meet in the afternoon and do something, explore Budapest. They write down their phone number and then I realize their one mistake, they never asked for my name, not once. A big mistake alright, but it was their only one. I walk around the corner, circle the block and there they are at it again, bumping into some guys on the street by accident and starting a conversation. I loop the block again, hoping to catch them back at the bar. I go up the elevator and enter. The manager is standing there, I say I left something behind. I go in and there is another sucker with two women on either side. I go up and I say 'do you realize you are paying 250 Euro for these drinks?' ' He looks stunned, looks left and right and begins to move' The manager grabs me from behind and starts to curse at me, telling me to get out and I keep on going looking around the bar for the other girls. Suits come in as reinforcement and I take my leave. Outside on the street, I bump into the girls that took me there and tell them I know their game.

They say they have no idea what I am talking about, don't understand etc. etc. and say they have to go and disappear around a corner and will talk tomorrow. What could I do? Take their bags and extract my money out of them? I didn't want to end up in jail and what about the police? The only crime was that I was a complete idiot.

Hookers are easy to spot in a street. It is the way they approach, their purpose is clear. These girls were scam artists, working a set up, so on approach to me, they were initiating a well thought scenario that had the finesse of a ballet with the execution of a talented method actor. You may think that I must be really stupid, and to a certain degree I refused to let some obvious signs interrupt my desire to be with these girls, but their scam takes all of that into account, every bit of it. Your doubts are caressed by several off hand comments dropped in at the appropriate moment, just like a good screenwriter who has reversals, conflicts and objectives. It is subtle and brilliant, they are reworking and adapting moment by moment and know where to place the right pause, know what distance to maintain and know how much or how little to smile. My dick is now in solitary confinement for the month, but punishing my private parts doesn't take away the humiliation and never the 250 euro. Take care in Budapest.

For your information we started a legal battle against this phenomenon.

related links:
Clubs in Budapest
Stories of ripping off, Budapest -1
Stories of ripping off, Budapest -1
Dangers, Warnings and Annoyances, Budapest Hungary
Ladies' scam
Ladies' scam #2
Place, location, map of the bar that rips off tourists

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