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)
Adel from Tropicana Azure
Thu, 2012/06/21 - 14:48Adel from Tropicana Azure Club (BIG manager) 1000 euro for the operation and finish!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous (not verified)
Advice Please
Tue, 2012/06/26 - 09:21Hi Everyone
I have recently returned from a wonderful vacation in the Red Sea area, do not wish to name the resort for reasons which will become apparent. I met a charming young man while I was there who ticketed all the boxes, handsome, well educated, impeccable manners. By the third day I had fell hopelessly in love. I had met him on previous vacations but nothing happened, just exchanged telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and became best friends on Facebook. This time the situation changed and we met for drinks every night and spent most days together when he was not working.
On my last night he booked us into a local hotel and we spent the whole night together. I was on holiday with my best friend (female). Now this is where my story becomes a little complicated, I am English living in Germany with my English boyfriend. We own a property in Germany and also one in England. I explained to my Egyptian lover that I lived with a guy but did not go into details on sleeping arraignments. He said it did not matter as if I loved my English boyfriend I would not be in bed with him. My Friend even help me cover up my night of passion by texting my English boyfriend from my phone. Since ariving home in Germany I have thought non stop about my time in Egypt and have constantly chatted, messaged and texted my new friend. Compared with him my English boyfriend is boring, slightly overweight and old.
I am now thinking of leaving my English boyfriend and as, I am entitled to some money from the properties we jointly own, buying a property in Egypt to live with my new man.
My question is do you think I can trust this guy, he new I was in a relationship when I met him. Religion is not a problem as I am a non practising Christian and he is a Coptic Christian. I am 41 years of age and he is about 17 years younger. He is university educated but has to work as a tour guide to support his mother. I know this lifestyle change would be dramatic as I would give up my job and life as I know it, but cannot get this guy out of my mind.
Do any of you see the red flags in what I have said.
Many Thanks
Hannan (not verified)
Yes, stick with your English
Wed, 2012/06/27 - 16:03Yes, stick with your English BF.
lynn (not verified)
you will end up in a world of
Wed, 2012/06/27 - 18:16you will end up in a world of pain,dont do it,just read through the stories on this website also the internet is full of horror stories,dont do it.
Isis (not verified)
Many Red Flags
Wed, 2012/06/27 - 20:12Forget this man or you will lose everything you currently have - a stable relationship with your boyfriend and financial security. You are being scammed big time and everything that the Egyptian man would have told you would have been part of the scamming. I doubt very much that he is university educated (is he another engineer I wonder?)and he only has what he can gain from you in his mind. You will also never be able to own outright a property in Egypt and property transactions particularly in Upper Egypt can be fraught with fraud and deceit. You really need to do some more research on the tourism culture of Egypt as the resort areas of Hurghada and Sharm are full of Gigolos.
You are treading a dangerous path - beware!
Anonymous (not verified)
What a shame for your boyfriend?
Thu, 2012/06/28 - 01:33You are in dangerous waters - you will find a maxim here that states - young for fun and old for gold. Just wait and see how long it is before there is a crisis and he needs some money urgently.I am sure your current bf does seem boring and fat compared with your 24 year old. I would suggest also that your current relationship is over in any case and that you might consider doing the decent thing and draw a line on that relationship before embarking on another.
Anonymous (not verified)
Thank you all for your valued
Thu, 2012/06/28 - 07:12Thank you all for your valued comments. I would like think that I am a little different than some of the woman who have been scammed, no offence implied, although I am over 40 I keep in good shape and am not usually taken in by guys like this, I often get told how good looking I am by younger men. I work in the legal profession and my Egyptian Guy looked a little bemused when I told him my salary was in excess of 40,000 Euros per year, he said he could only ever dream of earning that much in a lifetime. He said he is lucky to earn the equivalent of 5 to 8 Euros a day when he worked, which was not guaranteed every day. I felt so sorry for this poor guy who has to work so hard for so very little. When we were out his friends and himself did buy us a few drinks and ensured that when we paid we paid local price and not tourist price in resort, this was a favour for his English Lady friends. Also he did take a risk by organising a few excursions for us by taxi, with him acting as guide, again we only paid the local price for the taxi and admission charges were a lot lower than with the tour company. If he had been caught he would have lost his job, does this not indicate that his intentions are honourable or is part of a wider scam.
He told me he has studied languages at a branch of Cairo University but can only find work in tourism because of the unstable nature of the Egyptian Economy. I have seen him converse in English, German and Italian fluently, which are three languages which I speak. He maintains that his father is dead and his brothers all live and work in Europe but he has to stay in Egypt because of his mother, he said he could have a good life in Europe but is family orientated so wants to stay near his mother. I have said that I love Egypt but he does not know that I plan to move to be with him, although he says my heart belongs in Egypt.
As I said I thought I had won the lottery when this handsome, fit guy told me how much he loved me, I never went to Egypt looking for a man but I now feel like I did when I was 20, he flatters me and treats me like his queen. I would like to think he is genuine but one of many things I am unsure of is him knowing that I am in a relationship with an English guy, he has met him on one occasion. Isis please advise me, I know you are married to honourable Egyptian, would a good honest Egyptian man make advances to a woman knowing she is in a relationship. He has not asked for money or gifts, although I did give him an old cell phone as a token gesture as his developed a fault while I was there. Germany England
My mind is in turmoil, I look at my English guy with his slight belly and boring ways and can only think of being in the arms of my Egyptian guy watching the sunset over the Red Sea, Am I deluding myself. He is now posting love poems, in Arabic, all over facebook, he will them send me a text or message translating the poem. My English boyfriend is now asking questions so will have to make a decision very quickly, I know I may sound like a love struck middle aged trollop, but honest I have never felt or done anything like this in my life.
Thanks once again
Almohamady (not verified)
As an Egyptian man, I can
Thu, 2012/06/28 - 17:05As an Egyptian man, I can assure you that decent Egyptian men are jealous in nature, no self respecting Egyptian man would ever get involved with some1 who is already involved with some1 else, the ones that do that are only looking after themselves and are using you..
You seem like a wonderful person and I would hate to see you get hurt by another conman, the sign of him being another gigolo is obvious (trying to get your sympathies by telling you about how his life has been put on hold because he has to support his mother therefore he can't leave Egypt), I can assure you that if you go though with it and come to Egypt to live with him, he will start asking for money for "emergencies" and once he has taken all he could from you, he will leave you, move on to another victim, do the same thing to her then move back to his home town and marry some girl from his church ..
Please get away from that man, cut all ties, unfriend him on facebook (and block his account), block his email and change your phone number..
I would normally suggest that you try to work on your relationship with the English man, but to be honest I think you should break up with him and move on with your life, since obviously you are not happy with your English man, so you shouldn't continue with him any longer, it's not fair to you nor to him, you deserve to spend your life with some1 you love, with some1 you trust, with some1 that makes you happy, you really don't wanna live a lie for the rest of your life .. Just make sure you pick an honest partner next time ..
Hannan (not verified)
I am also married for many
Thu, 2012/06/28 - 17:05I am also married for many years to an honourable Egyptian man, we got engaged then married before spending anytime alone. This is the right way for muslims and christians in Egypt. If he went with you knowing you had a boyfriend, then he is not honourable, he will only marry a coptic girl, I am sure you are a nice person, but you do not understand the culture in Egypt, they do not live the same as europeans, and the men who work in the tourist resorts are not to be trusted, he will have sold your old phone by now, also I doubt you paid local prices, he will have commision for any taxi rides he got for you. Isis is right, listen to her, or get your heart broken. Regards Hannan. from UK.
His lady (not verified)
I too have an egyptian
Thu, 2012/06/28 - 17:09I too have an egyptian partner, who is now over here in britain, studying...reading your post, i think and hope your egyptian partner is honest..he sounds genuine...the little things that he has done for you that makes you feel special.... i got that too when i went to egypt to meet him..he is a muslim, but does not love his faith..he worked in a shopping mall in cairo, and gave up his job when i went last year so we could spend all the time together...i wish you all the luck...BUT dont rush over there, find out more about him, could you move out from your place with your english boyfriend?? make that your first break, and go from there..see how things go....
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