to send money to a Moroccan taxi driver

[Autumnterm]

Back in 2018 I went to Marrakech on holiday with my son. I can’t remember exactly how but I ended up getting the phone number of a friendly local taxi driver who took us from A to B several times. When we went back the following year we used him for our airport transfers both ways.

Since Feb 2020 we haven’t travelled abroad anywhere but I would occasionally get a text from him saying hello or how are you, to which I would respond hello/salaam/labas and that was that. I didn’t think much about it except that he was checking in just in case I was headed to Morocco and was tempted to use another taxi driver....and I did at one point recommend him to a relative going there but their trip was recently cancelled due to COVID.

Anyway cut forward to this week. He texted again and said hello my dear friend how are you and your family, and I responded as usual.

But this time he went on to say that life is hard for him, he has had no work due to the collapse in tourism and as a result he cannot pay for his kids to go to school. He sent me a picture of them - a boy and a girl, they look to be about 3 and 5 years old so I presume he means nursery school.

Stupidly (maybe) I asked how much was school and he said €90.

He has since sent me several texts asking if i will help pay for his kids to go to school. His English is not perfect but it sounds like he wants €30 a month for three months and he says in return if/when we go back he will drive us anywhere we want.

On one hand I know that Marrakech is one of the scam cities of the universe (lots of the people who run investment scams targeting UK pensioners are actually based there). I have no way of knowing if the kids in the photo he has sent me are really his and if there really is a charge to go to school and if he really has no work.

On the other hand €30 is affordable for me and I genuinely do feel sorry for people who rely on tourist revenue who have had a very hard time of it over the last two years. Morocco is open for tourists now but it was locked down for the whole 2020 season and some of 2021.

Would I BU to send him some €?

Interesting that he's picked on the OP who was presumably a lone woman travelling with her son.

I doubt he will be contacting women who were travelling with a man. Or men, themselves.

while I don’t think childcare is the most important factor in this case, would you say “nursery isn’t compulsory you don’t need to send your child” to a British person who was trying desperately to earn a living and was looking for decent childcare?

Absolutely I would say "no need" even to a British person if decent childcare to earn a living would mean the person had to resort to begging. Clearly the living s/he is earning is not enough to cover costs of nursery so what's the point. One of the parents need to stay at home which is why some or most people become stay at home parents.

@AlternativePerspective

That is what I am asking you. What evidence would you accept as proof the request is genuine?

To be fair if OP wasn't a woman travelling alone with her son she'd probably not have exchanged numbers in the first place but she'll have done so because it's good to have a taxi driver you feel you can trust in a foreign country if you're in a slightly more vulnerable position

I was just discussing this with a friend on the phone. She’s also heard of these before but says the scam is that it isn’t the actual taxi driver contacting the Mark. The taxi driver gets a one off payment by selling telephone numbers, or social media accounts where they continue to add tourists as friends, to a central scamming outfit.

The scamming gang get thousands of contact details from taxi drivers, waiters, tour guides, all similar type service roles where a fleeting relationship can be established during the holiday. It’s a numbers game, using long game automated interaction to see which Marks will bite.

Of course the OP’s taxi driver situation may be an exception and absolutely genuine. I guess the point is she will never know for sure, so, if she can afford it it’s a win win, whoever ends up with the money will be happy and the OP can feel she has done the right thing.

*The people on here prepared to give money to scammers are essentially scammers themselves because they are perpetuating an industry.

If my DP wanted to give family money to someone pulling this kind of sob story it would change the way I think about him, and would make me think very carefully about not combining finances with him in future.*

My DH would happily give money in this situation. It's one of the reasons I love him.

To be fair @girlmom21 the OP knew nothing about the taxi driver until she got into his car. How on earth did she know he was 'okay' and how would exchanging numbers confirm that?

All it's done has made it possible for him to contact her.

There was no issue with her saving his number but clearly she gave him hers. Which is a very odd thing to do with a taxi driver anywhere in the world.

Would you give yours to a taxi driver?

Okay, so then there are two adults in the family who can between them either work for the money they need, or provide childcare while not working, in order to save money on preschool in the short term. But your contact hasn’t mentioned that his wife is earning, has he? He doesn’t seem to have mentioned her at all. He’s making it sound as though he is solely responsible for the children. Why might that be?

Saving his number and calling him from it would automatically provide her number, though.

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

This kind of contact is so normal in Moroccan culture! Nothing to do with scamming money from people. It's a different culture with different norms.

OP isn't from Morocco though, it's not normal in British culture to hand your mobile number to strangers

”” there is nothing which would convince me this was genuine in any way shape or form.

A taxi driver met 4 years ago on holiday texts you asking you for money? Come on. Do you really think that you ware the only person who gave him your number? Why do you think he would have thought “oh, I know, I met someone 4 years ago, maybe she can help me.”?

@JinglingHellsBells it's not something I'd do personally but OP has used his services on a few trips so she chooses to trust him

Exactly, that is what happened. Sending texts to/from a UK phone in Morocco is expensive though so I used Whatsapp to let him know we were on our way and to tell him when we were finally through Customs at the airport and he used Whatsapp to tell me where he was waiting because it can be a mob outside that airport. It is no more weird than giving your number to a courier company or something like that, it just makes logistics a lot easier.

It reminds me of the 25 year old foreign waiters who convince western women over twice their age that they're in love with them.
Then his mother suddenly becomes oh so sick and needs money for an operation, my brother's business needs financial input, my father's leg is hanging off and he can't work. Please can you send money oh love of my life.
Sure 😂

You enjoy getting scammed, so carry on. Not sure why you need our approval here.

@Addicted2Kale not your job to decide what OP can and can’t post.

This thread is a nice little survey for scammers though isn’t it?

Someone posts “AIBU to give money to someone with a sob story who I met 4 years ago,” and around 20% tell them that of course they wouldn’t be unreasonable. Of course they should give the scammer, erm I of course mean the poor hard done-by taxi driver money.

And any scammy mcscammerson knows that it’s worth scamming people because there’s about a 20% return on his scam.

In fact for all we know the OP could be the scammer.

@FeathersMcGee I would be very surprised that the wife is at home, actually the Moroccan women I know all work out of home. The Spanish towns of Ceuta and Mellilla are serviced by Moroccans, they need all hands earning cash. Morocco was completely closed down during the pandemic even to its own nationals, many actually stranded abroad. Women fruit pickers were stranded in Southern Spain for months, helped by locals, the Church, the town halls of the villages where they were staying, all had little ones in Morocco months without their mothers and their incomes. It was only solved once pcrs became available and the Andalusian government had to pay for them because Morocco refused. If you can´t work in Morocco it means zero income. I would beg too.

How would you know that when you haven't read the thread? Millions of people have picked up on it

I can guess your name...is it...Dee Luded? Because it's not moderator. Play nicely and stick to the topic please.

You are such a mug. He’s probably conned loads of people and taken €100 from each of them. This won’t stop. Suddenly his children or his mum will be ill and need “lifesaving” treatment that he can’t afford. Suddenly he’s lost his home and can’t afford to buy his children things etc.

Except @Autumnterm that in the UK most taxi companies have a switchboard/ office taking bookings. You don't call an individual driver. And you don't have his number. In the UK you'd be stupid to hire a mini cab or a taxi run by one individual who you don't know from Adam.

Maybe that is just why he gave you his number? So you would contact him directly?

And can't you see now that even if that is how taxis work in Morocco, it's not sensible for a woman to give her number to a driver.

YOU CAN HIDE YOUR NUMBER WHEN MAKING A CALL FROM YOUR MOBILE.
It's the sensible thing to do, so you stay in control.

Alright, love 😂 you're the one telling OP what she can and can't post.

There is a difference between giving your number to a delivery company ( a company) and a taxi driver. (unless you gave it to a company.)

And as I said before, you can always make the call as a private number and find ways of meeting the driver without you calling him and your number being visible.

It reminds me of the 25 year old foreign waiters who convince western women over twice their age that they're in love with them

Yes, and practically every one of those insist that they're "going by their instinct" and they're "convinced he's genuine" as well

It really is easy to see how this happens so often, especially when there are others who'll encourage them