A word of caution for female tourists visiting Egypt: be careful of the many of the men working in tourist areas in Egypt.
Although the vast majority of Egyptians have a high sense of honor and good conduct, it seems that tourist areas seem to attract a relatively high concentration of people with lax morals, who would exploit tourists in many ways. It can manifest itself as persistent aggressive begging, peddling cheap goods, charging 10X the normal prices for services and goods, and what this article focuses on: exploiting female tourists.
Looking at the bulk of the comments on my notes on compulsory army service in egypt they are mostly from non-Egyptian women who married (or intend to marry) an Egyptian man, and army service has become an obstacle.
So, once you here the word "habibti" (meaning "my love" in Arabic), and before you call him "Habibi", let alone go down the marriage route, read on below for more information.
The exploitation happens in many forms, but is normally centered around one of the following:
Easy and Free Sex
Many tourists come from countries where sex is more freely practiced outside of marriage. Youn g Egyptian men working in tourist areas who
are not married see this as an opportunity, and are met with acceptance from the female tourists.
A source for Money
Many Egyptian men who practice this scam view the "wealthy" tourist as a source of income. They keep asking their "girl friend", "fiance" or "wife" for money for various excuses, just like a professional scammer would play a confidence game on a victim.
An Opporunity for Immigration
Some of those men want to get out of Egypt, and see their marriage as a way to gain residence and citizenship in a Western country. The economy in Egypt has been stagnant for decades, and poverty, lack of opportunity and the high cost of marriage lures some youth to trying these tricks.
Why it works?
There are several factors that work in favor of the Egyptian scammers here.
One factor that helps is that most Egyptian men look desirable to Western women, being of darker complexion than their compatriots. The fact that the foreigners are white blonds work in making the women attractive and desirable for Egyptian men.
Another factor is that the woman is coming to the tourist place to have a good time. It may be a break from stressful work or study, or perhaps a past relationship. This helps blind her to what is happening.
Yet another factor is the cultural differences which also create temporary blindness.
Moreover, those workers being away from their village or city of origin, where they would be observed by their extended family and friends tend to make it easier for them to engage in sexual relationships and scams without being scrutinized by acquaintenaces, and no stigma is attached to these behaviors.
Finally, the scammers have perfected their techniques over the years, and are very skillful at what they do.
Blacklists
Blacklists have emerged on the internet, to warn potential female tourists from known exploiters. These have all the faults of user contributed content on the internet in that they can be innacurate, biased, or even rigged by rivals or pranksters. However, in the absence of any other information, they can be useful, provided they are taken with a good deal of skepticism and research and common sense applied.
- An overview article on what a "black list" is, at Arabia.pl.
- Dezy House: Blacklist for Hurghada, in English.
- Dezy House: Blacklist for Sharm El Sheikh, in English.
- Wanted List of Egypt.
- Egyptian Blacklist on Topix.
- KunstKamera blacklist.
Happens everywhere, not only Egypt
Before someone gets the impression that Egypt is a cesspool, and Egyptians are crooks, let me say it is neither.
The problem above is not limited to Egypt by any means. Any country where tourists come in to spend money has its share of exploiters. The above black lists have a Turkish one, and a Tunisian one, and there are lots of stories about French, Italian and Spanish men exploiting women tourists as well.
Of course, there is also the Russian bride fraud targeting well to do men in the West.
So, the problem is universal, although this article focuses on female tourists to Egypt.
Final Thoughts
There are many non-Egyptian women married to Egyptian men happily, so over-generalizing from the cases mentioned, or from workers at tourist resort is wrong. Chances are you will be happy with an Egyptian as a husband if you met him in a more natural settings, e.g. while studying or working, and getting to meet his family as well.
The "artificial" environment in resorts, being on holiday, and surrounded by some scammers lend itself to the disasters described.
So, beware ...
Further Reading
- Marwa Rakha: Relationship Warning: Do not get involved with Egyptian Men (also here).
- Global Voices: "Beware of Egyptian Men" says Canadian Embassy, also by Marwa Rakha.
- Trailing Grouse: Egyptian men marrying women for money.
- Yahoo Answers: Egyptian Men marrying foreign women to get out from Egypt.
- Sex, Sun, Stupidity and Gigolos.
- Amy Robson: n English girl who keeps falling in false love with Egyptian men (she finally returned to Britain).
- Someone searching on KunstKamera: for Honest Egyptian Boys?
- List if sites on Romance Fraud in German, and other languages.
- A movie documentary in the making on holiday romance, specially Hurghada.
- Female Sex Tourism on Wikipedia, has lots of links to extensive articles. While Turkey is listed as a major destination, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco are listed as "minor destinations".
- An article from a Canadian perspective: Sex tourism in full boom. Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic and the Caribbean are the major destination for Canadian women.
Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Mohamed Gouda Abdelgawad Badr - From Egypt
Sat, 2011/12/17 - 06:53Name : Mohamed Abdelgawad Gouda Badr
Age : 31 (born in March 27, 1980)
Nationality : Egypt
Marrital Status : Still married to a Canadian woman (his third official marriage. First wife was his cousin in Egypt (divorced in April 2010). Second wife was a French woman (we are not sure if this is true..) and the third wife is from Canada - they married on July 27th, 2010 and marriage still continues)
Lives in : Egypt, Giza
Work Experince : Training Manager at Sheraton Cairo, HR Manager at Grand Hotel Sharm, Training Manager at Kempinski Aqaba, Jordan.
Height : Middle-tall
Skin color : Dark
Hair Color : Dark Black
Physical Appearance : Thick legs, a little fat, nice smile, white teeth, round face, very hairy. Smiling all the time and looks very kind-hearted.
Father Name : Abdel Gawad Badr
Mother Name : Laila Nael
First Wife's Name (At the same time his cousin) : Engy Adel Abdu Badr
*** He fools women by saying he will marry them. He is one of the biggest womanizers in Egypt. He works on this internationally : Canada, France, Denmark, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland and many other countries.
*** If he tells you, you are his queen, dont believe him. This is a common word Egyptian men use.
*** He has more than one phone numbers. When you call, you may not reach him, because he is with another woman. He will probably say he is in a meeting, or sleeping. Dont believe.
*** He says he has “high blood pressure”. Don’t believe. This is not real. He is busy with something else, and uses this as an excuse all the time.
*** He says he is coming from a rich family – which is not true.
*** All he wants is easy sex and getting a visa to Europe with his relationships.
*** He loves slapping and violence during sex. He's not good at this either.. Stupid little d.ck..
*** He is banned from Canada. He cannot enter this country.
*** He will say "I'm not married". Don't believe this.
*** He supports islamic point of view which prohibits sex before marriage. But he has sex with everyone without getting married.
*** He loves to use the phrase “I miss you”
*** When you ask him some questions like "how come you can love me so much in such a short period of time?" he will asnwer "feeeelinggg, this is feeling.."
*** He loves to use "life is better when shared"
*** He uses his facebook wall for sending some messages to specific women. For instance, if you have a fight with him about trust issues he will write "life is better when trusted" on his wall.. Or another example would be "This is my life, I do what I want, I go where I want" bla bla bla.. All these things are some messages or clues from which you can guess what he's going through.. And under these Facebook Wall quotes, you will find either Arabic comments or some stupid women writing "yes you are right honey"..
*** Even if he does not let you pay for anything, do not think he is rich. He is making some kind of an investment on you. He wants to appear like he's rich.. Paying for a dinner or a little stupid gift, should not make you think that this will go on like this forever. He's playing. He's looking like he does this all the time, but after a period of time he can ask you to pay for his clothes, for a flight ticket, or even he can offer to stay in your house!
*** Whenever you ask something about his past, he does not reply clearly. He will say “past is past, it was before you, it was a mistake”
*** He supports the "Freedom and Justice" party in Egypt elections. This party was created by members of Muslim Brotherhood.
*** He has relationships with hotel guests – which is against hospitality rules in the world. He should be punished by hotel management for doing this. No other should accept his inquiries.
*** On his CV he says he graduated Law School and it is a lie.
*** He loves to chat on Skype of Messenger. He has different memberships on different web sites to meet people. He uses different nicknames on these web sites.
*** He is a member of all muslim marriages web sites.. He uses fake information there..
*** For example one of them is muslims4marriage. He is a member with the name "buildinglife".
*** He has kids. One of them is called Ali. He says "Ali is my nephew" but this is a lie. Ali is his child.
*** His actual Skype account is mgouda5 – where he chats with women.
*** He has no shame. He can share photos with many women on Facebook. When you ask, he will say “She is just a friend”, “She is just a guest at hotel”, “This is a joke”, “She is lesbian” and many other excuses.
***He is a muslim. He goes to pray as much as he can. But he does not apply the rules of islam. He drinks alcohol, smokes hash, and tells lies.
*** You can find him in many Black List web sites for Egypt. A lot of women from different countries always make comments about him.
*** He is jobless at the moment. I was with him and caught him chatting with another woman. I left him immediately. So if he wants to come to your country for job or relationship purposes, you must not accept. He will be a big burden for you.
*** He uses foregin women. He always tries to marry them to have international connections.
*** He will probably watch you sleep at night. And then you suddenly wake up (probably he touches you and you wake up); and see him watching you.. He pretends to look like he's deeply in love with you. He does this trick almost to everyone. And then uses this against you : "Habibty, I watched you sleep, if I weren't in love with you, why would I do that?"
*** He has inconsistent actions. If you're a hardcore muslim he will force you to wear a hicab (some kind of a single piece black cloth - which covers all your body excluding the eyes only) and he will not allow you to wear any make up at all. But if you're a modern woman, he will not care about how you dress, you can even wear bikinis or short with him. He looks to be open-minded (he loves to use this word)
*** This inconsistency is weird - he seems to have different personalities in himself. Some kind of a psycho.. Definitely he's mentally ill..
*** Check out his clothes.. He wears the same shirt for 4-5 years. Always rich women buy his clothes.. He does not pay for those things.. Everything he has is a gift.
*** He can be with rich & old women. He is a gigolo. He gets paid in return of fucking them. Horrible..
*** He wants to have connections in countries. Once he marries a foreigner, he gains the right to enter that country easily..
*** If you meet him online or in real, never believe or trust. He will probably say that a crazy woman wrote these things because he did not accept the woman's offer for relationship. Do not believe this.
*** I know this person in real and I went through this process. He is a great liar. His past filled with dirty stories.
*** He is HOMELESS & JOBLESS at the moment. This is a warning for any women, any hotels or any other company he will apply for.. Never ever believe in him or hire him.. You'll regret this after you get to know him better.. Check for references, research his schools he claims he graduated, and even contact Egypt embassy in your country. They will provide the same information..
Anonymous (not verified)
Mohamed Gouda Badr
Tue, 2015/12/15 - 18:38He still does the same shit. All said about his behavior is fully true. Words, gestures, " miss u" , praying, full of lies saying his family had a marble factory, that he used to be famous football player, that he studied in Canada , having apartment in Paris and having his own business with fruits export. But his wardrobe has 4 shirts ... I was blessed to check and find your comments about this sick person. He likes violence..
Anonymous (not verified)
Hady Elsayed Titanic Beach Hurghada
Fri, 2012/01/06 - 07:47The story is this: Hady Elsayed is a liar, tells every woman the same, my heart, my love, my wife, my family ect.wants to marry you straight away, has many women at the same time, 20 year-old for sex, 30 year-old better if she is a single mother from Germoney for visa purposes, and older as 45 only for money.
If you got to know him and would like more information, please visit this site: http://www.dezy-house.ru
lynn (not verified)
tito ,worked in sharm,he has conned thousands out of my mum.
Sat, 2012/01/21 - 16:01hello,my mother married a egyptian she met while on holiday in sharm he is 30 years younger than her ,he came to live with her in england,during his 3 years with her in england he has managed to con 50 thousand pound out of her ,he tells her he is building a holiday home for them both in egypt,i know this man is bleeding her dry but she wont listen ,he has been in egypt for the past 4 month ,he keeps tellin her stupid excuses for not coming back,my mum has no money left he has taken the lot but she still believes all his lies and stupid storys,he knows she has nothing left so he might not bother coming back too her,however he knows she will inherit money when her elderley mother passes away ,it makes me mad ,he is stringing my mum along with silly texts and phone calls and she wont have a bad word said against him,he has brainwashed her or something ,he said he was staying in egypt because he wanted to do a barbaring course,then he said he needs to do his driving license again he has a british licence because my mum bought him a car and paid for driving lessons for him and he already had a egyptian licence anyway so obviously he is lying about doing his licence again in egypt, then ,he keeps giving her excuses why he isnt coming back yet,but what i think he is doing is stringing my mum along until she gets her inheritance then he will have that,im so frustrated because she wont listen too anybody,he has done a proper job on her,anybody got any ideas how i could get through too her and make her realise whats happening to her ,she is so gullible its unbelievable,i have photos of him ,i would like to know if anybody else knows him and what he is like,thankyou
lynn (not verified)
his real name is attia
Sat, 2012/01/21 - 18:29his real name is attia ahmed,this man has scammed my mum bigtime,but she is in denial and thinks he is building a holiday home for them both,she has not even seen this place and it has been being built for 18 month,he keeps saying he needs more money to finish the place off,he acts all shy and innocent towards her ,he has truly brainwashed her
Isis (not verified)
Show your Mum this site
Sat, 2012/01/21 - 19:58It's very sad that your Mum can't see that she is being scammed by this creep. As she won't listen to reason, you could try leaving this page open on her computer or make the suggestion that she look at it. The more you condemn this relationship and her Egyptian man the more she will dig her heels in I'm afraid. It's such a sad story but will be a hard one to apply rationale to your Mum's way of thinking. I assume that the Egyptian man works in the tourist industry and that's how they met when your Mum was on holidays in Sharm. I can assure you that this man will be married to an Egyptian woman and they will have children together. Because of your Mum's genorosity towards this man, his immediate and extended family will be livibg very, very well. You could also search the Liars Cheats & Bastards web site for this man as I'm sure that your Mum is not his first victim as his modus operandi is too slick. Good luck!
lynn (not verified)
yes she met him in sharm ,he
Sun, 2012/01/22 - 07:20yes she met him in sharm ,he was a camera man who recorded the boat trip she was on,its crazy ,she hasnst seen him for 4month ,he keeps ringing her and telling her he loves her and he will be home soon,he is just stringing her along while trying to con more money out of her but she believes every excuse he tells her about why he isnt coming home
Isis (not verified)
He will have another woman
Sun, 2012/01/22 - 18:53Hi again - this man will have another gullible woman in tow in Egypt and that's why he is stringing out the return to your Mum. I doubt that he will ever return actually. The dive instructors and cameramen are the majority of gigolos in these areas just out to con vulnerable women of every thing that they can extract from them be it money or sex. Until your Mum realises that the whole relationship is a sham there is not much anyone can do. Fortunately she has a loving daughter who will help pick up the pieces.
All the best.
Misha (not verified)
I read on another site . .
Sun, 2012/01/22 - 17:23I read on another site . . that the rule of thumb is 20's for sex, 30's for visa, 40's+ for money . . Lynn, your mum may not be ready yet to acknowledge that her relationship has been a sham . . :(
lynn (not verified)
well my mums 53 so he
Sun, 2012/01/29 - 14:37well my mums 53 so he definetly wanted her money
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