This is a very embarassing story and I am reluctant to post it as I will be made to look like a fool. But here goes. I hope this will help someone. I want to give this advice first. When your wife or novia first comes to the US take her passport from her. Tell her you want to keep it in a safe place for her. More on this later.
I first went to Latin Connection last September. I met a woman named Vanessa Garcia Garcia. I went down there five times. On my first trip down there she introduced me to a woman she called her mother. This was not her real mother. Over the course of my many trips down there I took this fake mother to lunch many times. She came to my apartment and hotel after we were married many times. Vanessa would never take me to her house because she said her father was very hot headed and would cause many problems for her and her mother. She said that her mother was in bad health and she did not want to jeopardize her condition by telling her father.
She said she had a sister who married a German and they had to elope because of her father. These were all lies. But I bought into this because I wanted to believe her. There is a lot more detail to this aspect of the story but I was conned into not being able to meet the real parents.
We were married on March 11 in Cali. Either on my wedding night or the next day my ATM card was stolen. Guess who knew the pin number? I did not know it was stolen until we were in Cartagena on our honeymoon. While we were there the card was used in Cali to the tune of about $4000. I did not know you could get money out of an ATM card if there was no money in it. Boy was I wrong. In the US if you have a zero balance and try to use your card you won't get any money. But in Colombia I was told later, there is a 1 or 2 day delay. I thou;ght it was like here. My banker said they can get at least $4000 or posssibly much much more before it is blocked. I know you are wondering if I knew it was stolen why didn't I suspect my wife. Well the card was used in Cali while we were in Cartagena. I couldn't believe someone would steal their husbands card on the wedding night or the next day. I have a bad habit of leaving my wallet on a desk or bureau whenever I am at home or in a hotel. That is where is was at the Hotel Torre de Cali. Guess who came to our hotel room the next day? You are correct. The fake mother.
