Dear Tico Times:
Yep! I was conned, grifted, scammed, taken advantage of this week after living here for 19 years and thinking that I was immune. A “Gringa” using the name Deborah Hart checked into my cabins last week, managed to wiggle out of the first payment and the con began.
With 30 stitches in her right upper thigh, she managed to gain entrance by claiming to have come from the hospital and would pay the next day when she went to a cash machine. Of course the next day she doesn't feel well, and you, of course, feed her and make sure she is okay and she put off payment yet again. And so the con lives on.
Her cover: She raises Arabian horses in Monteverde and she had sold three at the Esparza auction. After drinking and celebrating her sale, she allegedly cuts her leg open on a pool slide. After being attended to at the hospital, shoddily of course, she manages to find my place, which was recommended by a mutual friend.
She drinks like a fish and claims to be in constant pain with her injuries. Preying on the good nature and sympathy of all the guests and of myself, she manages to get alcohol and food. She is very good at reading people and conjuring up sympathy. But BEWARE! She is a clever con artist.
Paying for just enough drinks as she went along, having her credit card rejected and blaming it on Costa Rica, she manipulates people sufficiently to skirt along. Claiming to be a retired DEA captain and well connected, name dropping is her thing. She intimidates you with her brazen self-confidence and pathetic drinking habit, all the while working your good nature.
After the gig was up she managed to slip away, leaving the guests and myself with our mouths gapping, a hefty bill and one incredulous story.
Jamie Pettitt
Casa Canadiense
Puntarenas
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