Tuesday, December 2, 2008

You've been had!

Mom-in-law came back from the CSA library a tad stressed out. She mentioned how everyone was talking about an expat lady who was stopped by a couple of men posing as cops and demanding her passport!


Technically, as per law, you are supposed to carry your passport showing your visa/ resident permit, and, the police can haul you up / fine you for not carrying the passport. The poor lady was not carrying her passport, and the so called cops threatened her with imprisionment unless she paid up cash.


I am not very sure, but I believe she had the presence of mind to tell them that she needed to call her husband, and, they would talk to the cops. On hearing this, the scamsters vamoosed.


Since I roam around quite a bit on my own, ma-in-law was very worried that I should be careful and not get caught by some scamsters trying to act funny. While its never happened to me, I guess its never harmful to be a little wary and be careful. In any case, replicating a Cairo cop's uniform is of no difficulty at all!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

AS far as i know there are no fines that can be paid in cash on the streets in Egypt other than traffic violations and that's only after the new traffic law was implemented.