As we sat outside one mild march evening, munching on a fresh batch of doughy Pierogi dumplings on one of Kraków old town’s busy streets, my friend spotted a suspicious looking young lady prowling the cobblestones ( I did not see her at first, I am far too absentminded).
She appeared to be offering something to passers by, specifically men, most of whom declined. Periodically she would shuffle back to a group of people huddling around an alleyway, leading to who knows where. The first, more sombre looking girl was replaced by her smilier, blonde accomplice, who was a lot more forceful in her approaches.
We discovered, by the grace of trusty Google and some sniffing around the alleyway, that we were witnessing one of Poland’s most notorious scams in action. Little did we know that travellers are warned across Internet forums not to follow these women, who tempt blokes with happy hour free drinks and strip club trips. When revelling is over tourists have woken up in a spike-induced daze, often to find themselves dispossessed of their valuables, more than slightly hungover and in some cases missing a mere five thousand euros from their bank accounts.
Leah and I sat, mesmerised by the scheme unfolding before us, fancying ourselves as the next Holmes and Watson.
The moral of the story seems to be, when in Kraków , stay away from strip clubs and just stick to Pierogi’s…
