Advice/vibes need for some Jackson, WY locals who are in trouble.

[HankScorpio]

I know this isn't ski related but we need some help.

My fiancé's brother and his wife are on a year long honeymoon, driving from their home in Jackson, WY all the way to the southern tip of South America. They left last March and are traveling in a Tacoma with a camper on the back, surfing and hiking along the way. My fiance's sister joined them for Christmas in Peru on Dec 22nd for the holidays.

Their camper was attacked a couple days ago and all were brutally attacked, kidnapped and robbed near Cuzco, Peru. The camper was trashed, they were all roughed up, missing teeth, hundreds of stitches between the three of them. They were held at gun point by an angry mob and managed to get away after 24 hours of interrogations and abuse. Everything was stolen - money, passports, clothing, surfboards, all their gear. Their camper is also trashed and is now not really functioning. They are afraid to go retrieve the truck because that's near the place of the attack.

They managed to get to a medical clinic to get medical treatment and are currently hiding out at a hotel in Cuzco, Peru.

So far I've called the Wyoming Police and they had me call the WY FBI office and I left a message. My fiance is writing and calling local WY government officials trying to get some help. But they are still stranded there with nothing but the clothes on their back. They have filed police reports but local police are not being helpful. According to them, no one is being helpful - they couldn't even get an ambulance ride once they escaped. The only people who have helped them are people at the local U.S. Consulate office

I'm hoping someone of authority in Wyoming (or anywhere) can help. These are good local people who are in desperate need of help. You may now these folks if you live in Jackson - they're great people who love traveling and adventure.

Help, advice is appreciated.

[userA]

buy em a one way ticket back to paradise.
bF

[Bottleman]

Holy shit. Don't know what to offer for help or advice but that's an awful story. I wish them the best.

[gointhedistance]

Wow - terrible to hear this kind of thing...

Good luck with getting them home, recovery of property, and serving some type of justice...

[HankScorpio]

buy em a one way ticket back to paradise.
bF

I wish it were that easy. Their trying to set an account so we can wire them money.

[Tye 1on]

local consulate is prolly their best bet?

[N1CK.]

holy crap.

If they're money and passports are gone, I can't see how they'd get back without the help of the Consulate.

[FussyDutchman]

Sorry to see this VT, hope everything works out and quickly!

It may be a stretch but in a state like WY I might try reaching to Congresswoman Lummis' office, they might be able/willing to make some calls and get the right people involved to get things straightened out.

Best wishes for a safe and speedy return.

[hutash]

No real helpful advise beyond contacting the US consulate, which appears to have already been done. Might send a PM to Rideit, I think he is the Peru expert around here. (seriously, or I would have suggested Rontele)

[snapt]

Vibes man, did they have any sort of emergency or evacuation insurance like global rescue?
You've probably been here http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/...cies_1212.html but attempt to get in touch.

[weasel1]

Verify, verify, verify. Distressed traveller scams are among the most common and can be EXTREMELY convincing. Do not send any money by wire until you have verified the situation through the US Consulate (using contact info YOU have found, not given to you by them). Money you wire can be picked up anywhere and is unrecoverable once picked up.

I am NOT saying your friends are the scammers. I am saying that often impostors pose as travellers you know to scam money like this.

[4matic]

Verify, verify, verify. Distressed traveller scams are among the most common and can be EXTREMELY convincing. Do not send any money by wire until you have verified the situation through the US Consulate (using contact info YOU have found, not given to you by them). Money you wire can be picked up anywhere and is unrecoverable once picked up.

I am NOT saying your friends are the scammers. I am saying that often impostors pose as travellers you know to scam money like this.

My mother got that call. Someone claiming to be her niece and that she was in a car wreck in Mexico needing money right away.

[igBand]

VTsession - PM sent. Your fiance's sister is an old (and favorite!) friend of my wife and I and we want to help however possible.

[Danno]

Verify, verify, verify. Distressed traveller scams are among the most common and can be EXTREMELY convincing. Do not send any money by wire until you have verified the situation through the US Consulate (using contact info YOU have found, not given to you by them). Money you wire can be picked up anywhere and is unrecoverable once picked up.

I am NOT saying your friends are the scammers. I am saying that often impostors pose as travellers you know to scam money like this.

sadly, this.

[Hugh Conway]

If they are in Cuzco, there's consular affairs, the South American Explorers club, tons of other travellers. There's also, I think, an amex travel office. Don't wire money unless you've verified.

[TWINS]

Cuzco is full of English speaking foreigners that would help them out.I was just there last month.Everyone was very friendly.Not sure that they can fly out of Cuzco back home though.International flights that we had came out of Lima.
$250 per person for the flight from Cuzco to Lima.
Good luck and I hope its just a hoax/scam.

[BigDaddy]

Sounds serious VT-S, but yes, double check. Why an angry mob and why having to hide out? Weasel has some good advice.

We were robbed in Bonaire (B&E) and had to have a copy of an expired passport faxed to the US Consulate in order to get a new one. Now, I always travel with a copy of my passport (and use a safe).

Consulate is probably the best option or mags down there?

[haydukelives]

This is not a surprise in today's world,except that they made it that far without this sort of event.

If you are thinking of doing something like this,DONT

[jetlag]

Bummer to hear. I grew up in Latin America and still do business there. On surf trips I meet people doing these North to South transcontinental drives all the time. All that comes to mind every time is "sketch". There's a ton of risk driving around Latin America with US plates and a nice camper. What does surprise me however is that they were totally beaten since in my experiences the LatAm banditos are not totally irrational beings and are mostly interested in taking your assets than leaving a permanent mark on you. Did they resist the hijack? The best thing to do ALWAYS is surrender everything and don't open your mouth. It's not a battle youre gonna win. Make the job as easy as possible for them. Anyways past is past, sucks it turned out that way.

Their best bet now is to contact the local US consul and shortly thereafter get a one way ticket home with the nearest date possible. Not that I think theyre still in danger (the banditos already have what they want) but Jackson, WY sounds like a way better place to recover from this trauma than the Altiplano.

Given the riskiness of driving around LATAM I would hope they legitimately insured the car and camper for each country they visited. If not, then i'd unfortunately say both are a total loss and to not waste too much effort in their recovery. If they were insured then theyre in for a rocky ride to recovery but if it was a legitimate insurer, they should get full compensation.

It actually surprises me they made it all the way to Peru without problems. The Central America stretch is by far the worst.

[HankScorpio]

Sounds serious VT-S, but yes, double check. Why an angry mob and why having to hide out? Weasel has some good advice.

We were robbed in Bonaire (B&E) and had to have a copy of an expired passport faxed to the US Consulate in order to get a new one. Now, I always travel with a copy of my passport (and use a safe).

Consulate is probably the best option or mags down there?

They've spoken to the consulate but right now we want to expedite the process so they can get to the embassy which is 650 miles away in Lima. I don't know much about this stuff, but the consulate has limited power when it comes to getting 3 americans out of the country who have no money, IDs or anything. They also need real medical attention.

Its a very long story, but they were camping in a remote part of country, someone must have seen them, some sort of mob planned an attack on them and kidnapped them until they fled.

[Tye 1on]

whoa, friend here in jackson just sent me link to their blog, holy shit. Not a scam.

[Soups]

God damn. That's crazy. So this is 100% for real/verified?

Reminds me of a guy I used to work with that went over to Africa to visit his inlaws. They were ambushed on some back road and pulled out of the car, robbed, beaten, and made to kneel while AK's were pointed at there head. He came back a different guy.

[rideit]

Someone PM some details, I still have some serious connections in Cuzco.
I need to hear the whole story, I will look into it.

[JeffreyJim]

whoa, friend here in jackson just sent me link to their blog, holy shit. Not a scam.

Link me.

[neckdeep]

Sounds like an intimidation beat down, both to chase them off and scare away anyone else. Could be they just wandered too close to an area of coca production or processing where white faces with prying eyes are simply not welcome. Or, if the government had been in the area conducting coca eradication (which is funded by the US) then the locals could have been itching to beat the shit out of some americans and grab some "compensation." The fact that the local crooked cops won't help says it all. It says "cut your losses and go away", there is something up there the cops don't want to fuck with.