Some travel scares in the Philippines

[BadAmmoWitch 208]

Hey everyone. My fiancee got her K1 visa and we successfully made it home to the USA last night, but we had some scares along the way.

 

Our flight out of Manila was Sunday morning at 9:30 am. About 6am, we took the elevator down to check out of the Airbnb and get a taxi to NAIA. The elevator then got stuck and powered down on the 5th floor. This is somewhat of a nightmare for me, and I was picturing us missing our flight. I was already sweating, now stuck in this tiny, hot elevator for who knows how long? I can't imagine the elevator techs in the Philippines are going to be easy to conjure at 6am on a Sunday. I sounded the alarm from inside the elevator, and finally one of the residents on the 5th floor woke up and got security, who opened the door from the outside. We were only stuck for about 30 mins.

 

We made it to the airport and proceeded to go through the initial security checkpoint with all our bags. The security officer noticed something in the scan of my fiancee's bag, and pulled us aside to investigate. One officer started filming everything on his phone, which scared me a bit. They emptied and searched the bag, but came up with nothing. Then they re-scanned the empty bag and now noticed a second suspicious item. In the liner (!!!) of the bag, accessible via zipper that she or I had never opened, the security officer found two 9mm bullets right in front of my eyes. 

 

I bought this bag, a typical medium-sized piece of luggage, in the Philippines for my fiancee in 2019, and it was never out of her possession. I read stories online about airport security planting bullets and then extorting money to let the traveler go. Airport security involved a police officer, who grilled us for about 30 minutes. They ultimately believed us and let us go. We know that someone planted those bullets, but we can't figure out who or when.

 

We made our flight with a little time to spare, but I got a few gray hairs out of it. Everything else went smoothly, and hallelujah, we made it home.

[flicks1998 1,044]

Thanks for sharing your story.  Yes, there was quite a big issue with bullets being planted in bags although I dont remember the years.  I believe it spanned over the 2015 to 2019 timeframe or so.  It seems now that travel is getting back to more normalcy, they are back to their old tricks.  If you are on any other message boards, I would share your story.  I know in the 2015 to 2019 timeframe, some travelers gathered together and went to the media, where the story was published, which for the time being, stopped this.  I flew in and out of Manila almost every weekend for 9 years and never had any issues with security, although at times I only had my passport, credit card and phone on me.  Glad you didnt have any bigger issues develop or any type of bribe requested.

[Verrou 1,898]

glad it work for you. that's crazy story. it never happened to me, i'm from 3rd world country as well. guess have to check bag more thorough next time ( for me)

[Adventine 3,187]

Sigh. They're back to their pre-COVID tactics. What a shame.

 

 

[MarJhi 911]

Before my first trip to the Philippines  in 2019 I did a lot of research on the do's and don'ts about travelling there and I remember reading about the bullet scam. They were even suggesting you shrink wrap your luggage before it got in the hands of the airport workers in the Philippines. Just before I went I remember Duterte had threatened to execute anyone caught doing the bullet scam on tourists and suddenly the scam stopped, maybe since he is on his way out of the door some of the old scams are coming back.

[MarJhi 911]

By the way, is it just a coincidence your profile name has the word "ammo" in it and security found ammunition in your fiancés bag?

[MarryMe987654 241]

I might be paranoid but yeah, this scares me so much too.

 

I wrapped both my bags with saran wrap when I traveled to the US in 2019. I just don't want to give anyone an opportunity to hassle me, I guess.

 

On my way back to Philippines this year, I lined my luggage with cardboard box along the zipper line, placed all my things in a huge garbage bag and placed inside the luggage, and tied the zipper with metal wires from bread. I heard of airport people trying to open zippers by stabbing them with a pen to break the zipper so they can steal the contents.

 

I plan on shrink-wrapping my luggage this month too, when I go back to the US.

[Hank_ 9,171]

6 hours ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Hey everyone. My fiancee got her K1 visa and we successfully made it home to the USA last night, but we had some scares along the way.

 

Our flight out of Manila was Sunday morning at 9:30 am. About 6am, we took the elevator down to check out of the Airbnb and get a taxi to NAIA. The elevator then got stuck and powered down on the 5th floor. This is somewhat of a nightmare for me, and I was picturing us missing our flight. I was already sweating, now stuck in this tiny, hot elevator for who knows how long? I can't imagine the elevator techs in the Philippines are going to be easy to conjure at 6am on a Sunday. I sounded the alarm from inside the elevator, and finally one of the residents on the 5th floor woke up and got security, who opened the door from the outside. We were only stuck for about 30 mins.

 

We made it to the airport and proceeded to go through the initial security checkpoint with all our bags. The security officer noticed something in the scan of my fiancee's bag, and pulled us aside to investigate. One officer started filming everything on his phone, which scared me a bit. They emptied and searched the bag, but came up with nothing. Then they re-scanned the empty bag and now noticed a second suspicious item. In the liner (!!!) of the bag, accessible via zipper that she or I had never opened, the security officer found two 9mm bullets right in front of my eyes. 

 

I bought this bag, a typical medium-sized piece of luggage, in the Philippines for my fiancee in 2019, and it was never out of her possession. I read stories online about airport security planting bullets and then extorting money to let the traveler go. Airport security involved a police officer, who grilled us for about 30 minutes. They ultimately believed us and let us go. We know that someone planted those bullets, but we can't figure out who or when.

 

We made our flight with a little time to spare, but I got a few gray hairs out of it. Everything else went smoothly, and hallelujah, we made it home.

Common scam ... the security guards planted it more than likely.   Lots of info on that bullet scam bs

 

When they emptied & searched the bag the first time is when they planted the bullets .. otherwise they would have shown up on the first scan  .... thus the "need" to scan it a 2nd time and suddenly the bullets appear

Edited June 6, 2022 by Hank_

[Carpe Vinum 2,308]

4 hours ago, MarJhi said:

Before my first trip to the Philippines  in 2019 I did a lot of research on the do's and don'ts about travelling there and I remember reading about the bullet scam. They were even suggesting you shrink wrap your luggage before it got in the hands of the airport workers in the Philippines. Just before I went I remember Duterte had threatened to execute anyone caught doing the bullet scam on tourists and suddenly the scam stopped, maybe since he is on his way out of the door some of the old scams are coming back.

My wife and I were just talking about this. I have no opinion either way about Duterte as President as it is not my country but he did seem to eliminate this scam...

[MarJhi 911]

2 hours ago, Carpe Vinum said:

My wife and I were just talking about this. I have no opinion either way about Duterte as President as it is not my country but he did seem to eliminate this scam...

Oh by no means was I rebuking or endorsing Duterte or any other political figure there, I'm just stating what I remember hearing/reading before my first trip in 2019. I've only visited that country, I never lived there,  so I can't pretend to understand the political dynamics. 

[Carpe Vinum 2,308]

Just now, MarJhi said:

Oh by no means was I rebuking or endorsing Duterte or any other political figure there, I'm just stating what I remember hearing/reading before my first trip in 2019. I've only visited that country, I never lived there,  so I can't pretend to understand the political dynamics. 

I know you weren't 🙂 It was just funny that my wife and I were talking about the bullet scam and the President's execution response a few days ago.

[MarJhi 911]

Just now, Carpe Vinum said:

I know you weren't 🙂 It was just funny that my wife and I were talking about the bullet scam and the President's execution response a few days ago.

I was remembering how paranoid I was about that before my first trip. Apparently the airports in LA and San Francisco were offering to shrink wrap your luggage for $10, after it went through security of course.

[Carpe Vinum 2,308]

4 minutes ago, MarJhi said:

I was remembering how paranoid I was about that before my first trip. Apparently the airports in LA and San Francisco were offering to shrink wrap your luggage for $10, after it went through security of course.

I don't think there is any way to protect yourself with carry on luggage as you depart the Philippines. You are at their mercy. I think I would use the stand firm I want to talk to the head cheese defense))) They are counting on you being scared and paying off at the lowest level. But, as I remember the scam went pretty high up the chain before.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Carpe Vinum

[Adventine 3,187]

My husband and I are proactive. We always use the "Let's look broke" defense. We always show up at the airport wearing old clothes and we never have expensive pasalubong in our beat up suitcases. Works like a charm. We've never been hassled.

[MarJhi 911]

3 minutes ago, Carpe Vinum said:

I don't think there is any way to protect yourself with carry on luggage as you depart the Philippines. You are at their mercy. I think I would use the stand firm I want to talk to the head cheese defense))) They are counting on you being scared and paying off at the lowest level. But, as I remember the scam went pretty high up the chain before.

My fiancé and I talked about this before. She suggested the next time I travel there I leave clothes behind with her, so that when I do travel back and forth I can travel lightly without the need to check a bag. Anything else I need I can buy once I am there. But like you said a simple carry on would be enough for a scammer to screw you over.