WANTED

Do you know
these two guys?

The swindlers from "Greenland"

When I went to Budapest in November 2005 I met two guys who told me a heart-breaking story that they had got their bag stolen (incl. a camera, laptop and the credit card) and that they missed their plane though. The elder of them (see picture, right) said that he was 28, the younger 18 (left). Both were from Sisimiut, a little city (town) on Greenland. The elder, who said his name was Stevenn, spoke fluent German and English. The younger (Sven) kept quiet unless being asked. Finally they asked for money to get back to Greenland and I helped them out - as backpackers usually (?) do. I got a lot of help all over the world, so I saw it as sort of a "duty" to help them.
To cut a long story short: they were lying and the post address, telephone number and email address were all wrong. Fortunately I took a picture of them (see below) on which they might be recognised.

This pictures was taken in Budapest, in front of the ATM where we

(in fact a friend of mine, in the middle) withdraw the money for "Stevenn" and "Sven".

I contacted the Tourist Office in Sisimiut and got informed that they had already done the same thing in Antwerp (Belgium, June 2005), Bristol (UK, August 2005) and Prague (Czech Rep., also see map below). They change the names but seemed to tell the same story again and again.

They spoke some scandinavian language - so they might be from Denmark or Island, most probably not from Greenland. It did not really sound like Swedish or Norwegian, but nevertheless it still might be possible.

So, if you know these two guys or one of them - then get in touch with me. In fact it is not the money (in all they might have made 1000 € or so) but it is the trust and helpfulness of the people they cheat on leaving behind financial problems and an increased mistrust among people. Apart from that they spoil the image not only of Greenland but also of Scandinavian countries to a certain degree.

I would like to add that this is not a "faked" campaign against to people I don't like or so - the case is also with the Police of Dresden.

So, thanks a lot for you kind help and take care ... sure, not too much. I mean, Lenin is reported to have said "Trust is good, control is better." but let us change this attitude into "Control is good, trust is better."

Thanks, Michael.

Picture taken from www.alsace-usa.com/images/europe-alsace.gif , modified.