U.S. Embassy Issues Warning as Crimes Against Tourists Rise in South America

If you’re planning a trip to South American countries, there’s news you should pay close attention to.

The U.S. Embassy has issued a travel warning due to a recent surge in crimes targeting foreign tourists in some cities in Colombia.

According to reports from the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian of England on January 20th (local time), the U.S. Embassy in Colombia recently warned that “crimes targeting foreigners, who have entered the country using the “Digital Nomad (Workation) Visa” (a special residence permit allowing long-term remote work in a country) issued in large numbers after the COVID-19 pandemic, are significantly increasing.” The embassy urged caution when meeting local women.

This is a response to the deaths of eight Americans in Medellín, the second-largest city in the Antioquia department in Colombia, over the past two months, along with dozens of kidnappings and robberies.

According to the embassy, most of the victims were male tourists who fell victim to crimes after making contact with local women through dating apps. They had used online dating platforms like Tinder and Bumble to communicate with local women and arrange in-person meetings, only to become targets of robbery or kidnapping.

According to a report released by Colombian police, drug gangs are involved in these crimes. The gangs approach foreign men who are meeting local women, secretly drug their drinks, and commit crimes when the victims lose consciousness. Afterward, they kidnap the victims, threaten them, and withdraw money from ATMs.

The gangs primarily target unmarried foreign men, believing they will be less likely to report the crimes. In Colombia, where prostitution is legal, some tourists who travel for this purpose are targeted, as the criminals believe they will be unable to expose the crimes if they fall victim to robbery or other offenses.

In one such incident, a comedian from the United States lost his life.

According to the report of Newsis, comedian Tou Ger Xiong, who lived in Minnesota, was kidnapped and later found dead after visiting Medellín in December last year.

At the time, he had met a local woman through a dating app and went on a date, only to go missing a few hours later.

The kidnappers called his friends and family to demand a ransom, and it was confirmed that approximately $3,000 was indeed transferred to them.

Tou Ger Xiong was found dead near a cliff the following day.