Today, while driving back to Santiago from the Sheraton Hotel in Viña del Mar, we suddenly noticed something wrong with the tire on the mountain road just before getting on the highway. The driver of another car next to us signaled for us to stop. We pulled over and found that the left rear tire had blown out.
The man from the other car, a middle-aged individual, was particularly enthusiastic in helping us open the trunk, move the luggage to the back seat, and take out the spare tire. My husband then changed the tire, and the man asked me and my child to stand behind the car, watching for oncoming traffic and signaling them to drive on the left to avoid accidents.
At that moment, it felt a bit strange, but since he was standing with us, I didn’t think much of it. Before we finished changing the tire, the man drove away. After we were done, we discovered that one suitcase and two backpacks had been stolen from the car. We lost our passports, wallets, cards, computers, and cameras.
We immediately reported the cards as lost, and within a few minutes, we received a call from the bank saying that someone tried to use the card, but it was unsuccessful because we had already reported it. We called the police, but after waiting for half an hour, no one came, so we went to the nearest police station to file a report, and then drove back to Santiago.
Reflecting on the incident, we suspect that we were targeted at the hotel, possibly even by the doorman, who parked and retrieved the car for us and might have tampered with the tire. During the tire change, this man kept us occupied so we wouldn’t look inside the car, and there were likely other accomplices in his car responsible for the theft.
It was a well-planned trap, and we were caught off guard. In the past, we’ve encountered many kind people who offered help, so this time we easily trusted a stranger. We contacted the embassy, and they can issue temporary documents for us to return home, but it will take a few days due to the holiday.
The embassy staff were very helpful, returning our calls and adding us on WeChat during the holiday, asking us to send photos of our passports. After verifying with the passport issuing authority, they can issue a travel document. Our return flight has been delayed by a week. The cash loss is not significant, around three thousand, but losing the work computer is quite troublesome, and we’ll have to slowly recover the work data.
My daughter joked that I should have brought my homework, so I could really tell the teacher that my homework was stolen. Fortunately, we kept our phones in our pockets, so we still had them, and we used WeChat Pay to eat in Chinatown in Santiago. I hope everyone remains vigilant when traveling abroad and immediately reports lost credit cards if their wallet is stolen.
#ChileTravel
