Wadi Rum itself is a beautiful place, but PEOPLE who live there are very disgusting. They will be smiling to you, they will invite you to their home to show how good and nice they are to you, but…it is ALL a facade and a fake show. They do it with the only purpose – to impress and charm you. They will blind you with very sweet words and hospitality, they will make you believe that you are needed and they want you to come back, but behind your back the situation is quite opposite – they hate you and spread very bad things about you. All they need is just to take ALL the money you have, till the very last cent. The whole village is taking part in the scamming process, getting money and sharing the roles.
Of course, the Bedouins (along with a few uneducated western women that live in Wadi Rum and married a Bedouin) will say the female tourists go freely with them and the female tourists give them money freely. True, they didn’t hold a gun against these women’s heads. But they were not told: “hey, I am charming your socks off and falling in love with you, and I want you to meet my family who are part of my scamming game. When you return to your country I am going to tell you how much I miss you and love you every thing we speak on the phone. You will return to Jordan soon again and we lovers will have such a romantic time together. You will be paying for everything. Then back in your country, I will phone you to tell you a very sad fairy tale lie, about my horse that is very ill, and that I can’t pay for a vet and I can’t work now. That I need about 500 JD. I will make the story worse until you offer to help me and send me money through Western Union. I will talk about our future together, make plans with you, and you will return to Jordan again. Of course I will work my way to persuade you to bring me: a new mobile, and a video camera. When you leave, I will have another woman coming to see me in Jordan. Then one day you will find out and start asking critical questions. That is the time to ditch you. I am fine with that, cause I have 2 other women that I love and they love me and send me money too.”
It is a hidden secret and a very well kept secret, that everybody knows and nobody talks about. Only to be disguised through sharp observation or the hard way. Even the police and local authorities are aware, but do nothing when female tourists report to them.
So it is very necessary to spread the word, to create awareness and to warn (naive) female travellers not to fall for their crap. Besides the fact that they are screwing up the reputation of Wadi Rum and Petra, they are damaging the females emotionally and financially, who were convinced they were in a serious, committed relationship until they found out that they’ve had really bad time.
That is why, no matter what they say or how nice they are to you, never NEVER believe any word they say, otherwise you will get stuck in their net and will become the next victim. My story is one of these examples.
Complain On Mosa Saleah Al-Zalabeih (Wadi Rum, Jordan)
“It is a very sad story that took place with me in Wadi Rum. It is unbelievable that such a thing can still happen in the 21st century.
On January 1, 2014 I crossed the Israeli border with the only wish to spend a couple of days in a magnificent desert of Wadi Rum. At 1 pm Mosa Saleah Al-Zalabeih, – the owner of the WADI RUM GALAXY CAMP, – to whom I came to work as a volunteer, came to pick me up. He was not just cute on that day. He was incredibly handsome. I fell in love with him from the very first moment. He seemed to feel the same. He was smiling and looked happy.
On the way to Wadi Rum, I was feeling how this beautiful desert was putting magic on me. Everything was so familiar, as though I had been living there before. I was more than sure that it would be the right place to create a family and to stay there for life.
After 4 months (on May 13, 2014) I came back to Wadi Rum and we got married.
The first weeks that I spent with his mother were not really happy. The family was very poor and lived in terrible conditions. No kitchen, no shower, no bed linen, – nothing. Children slept on the sand and very often there was no food at all. When the school year got over and all the crowd left to the desert, I was left alone. Mosa locked me in a small dirty room which I shared with mice. He didn’t allow me to speak with anyone and controlled all my steps. I was kept like a slave in a jail. Very often he forgot about me and I had to stay hungry, without food and any means of communication. Through lie, sweet words and sometimes pressure my husband managed to take all my money. He scammed absolutely everything I had. When there was nothing else to take, he decided to throw me away like a trash. He never treated me like a wife. He didn’t spend a JD on me. No house, no food, nothing.
All the family knew that there was something wrong, but did noting. No one came to visit me or to ask whether I need anything. It seemed that Mosa waited for my death from starving. Then he would bury the body and sign with relief.
When Mosa decided to get rid of me, I managed to survive only thanks to the family, who found me. They brought me to their home, gave food and clothing. During 2 weeks the family took care of me. Thanks to them I went to the Tourist Police, wrote a complain on my husband and returned all the money. I had to put him into the jail, but under the pressure of the family I agreed not to do it. I was very sick and tired. The only wish I had was to return the money and to go back to my home.
Wadi Rum is the worst place you can choose to come. People lie here and treat foreigners VERY badly. The last time scamming is growing so rapidly in this region. In the police I was told that my case unfortunately was not the first one in Wadi Rum.
My husband treated me so badly. He lied to me from the very first day I know him. He made me leave my job and country. He made me take Islam. He organized a fake wedding in the village to make me believe that I will stay for life with him. After he scammed me for 4100 JD, I was needed no more. He threw me away like a trash. Only thanks to my complain that I wrote in the Tourist Police, I managed to return all the money and finally to come back to my country.
Sorry to say, but Wadi Rum, like Petra, has become a platform for scamming. People forgot their real values. Traditions and religion are dying here. Money has taken their place.”
www.stop-scamming-in-wadi-rum.com?
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