More than 200 foreigners arrived in Santa Marta a few days ago hoping to start the business of their lives. After making a huge investment, citizens from different countries landed in the capital of Magdalena to later realize that it was all a scam.
The deception was created around an event called Cute Balloons Covention Master, which promised not only a four-day training on balloon decoration, but also offered lodging and food at the renowned Estelar hotel in Santa Marta.
Foreign citizens arrived in that city between August 3 and 4, since the course began on the 4th and ended on the 7th of the same month. After several inconsistencies with the plan that they had been promised with workshops, kits, among others, the unwary began to suspect.
Indeed, the more than 200 foreigners were cheated in Santa Marta. The framework was discovered after the event’s main organizer, who called herself Alejandra, stopped responding. In addition, they realized that she had not made any payments to activity providers, including accommodation at the Santa Marta hotel.
The large-scale scam was discovered when some of those affected realized that the payment supports that the legal representative of the business had previously shared were false.
From that moment on, a call was made to the authorities of Santa Marta to request an intervention. Despite the fact that the Police of that city arrived at the hotel where the foreigners and the supposed organizers of the event were staying, the latter were no longer on the site.
The woman who called herself Alejandra and other people who accompanied her fled the site, leaving the investors empty-handed, without lodging or guarantees, furthermore, without the knowledge for which they came to Colombia to start or strengthen their businesses.
Affected by the scam in Santa Marta request the intervention of the national authorities
Given the dark panorama, those affected asked the Colombian authorities to intervene in this case that still has a significant number of citizens of other countries stranded in Santa Marta.
According to the information that is known so far, the investors are European, South American, Central American and North American citizens. Although some apparently decided to return to their countries of origin empty-handed, several of them are still requesting support from the consulates to try to recover their investments.
In addition, according to the complaint revealed by the newspaper El Tiempo, many of those affected not only invested the 450 dollars that the supposed training cost, but also sent much higher sums with the idea that they were investing in a lucrative business. According to this medium, some managed to transfer up to 20 thousand dollars.
Affected people like Carlos Mendoza, an investor who came from Mexico to train in decorating parties with balloons, assured that everything seemed legal. In addition, he indicated that he made a lot of efforts to be able to afford the training with which he was looking for an opportunity.
“I worked hard to raise the necessary money to make this investment. Everything seemed legitimate, but now I don’t know how I’m going to face my family and friends back home,” said the victim, quoted by the Investigative Journalism Agency.
Another affected, identified as Roxana Jiménez, blamed the authorities for not having the necessary controls on websites that offer this type of training that turn out to be scams.
“I thought I had a great opportunity. Now I find myself in an unknown country, with no accommodation and no idea how to proceed. The authorities should increase supervision on websites to protect individuals from false promises that play with the well-being of so many families,” she said. with Infobae