State Department warns travelers about drugging-dating scam in Brazil

Yahoo

01-03-2025

The State Department and its consulate in Rio de Janeiro are warning American travelers about a scam in which criminals seduce unsuspecting visitors, drug their drinks and steal their belongings. The scam occurs year-round, but the agency expects to see predatory behavior during Carnival, the raucous party kicking off this weekend and running through March 8.
The U.S. consulates and embassy in Brazil issued a security alert Feb. 3 titled 'Carnival and Drugging-Dating Scam 2025.' Steve Royster, consular chief at the consulate general in Rio, told The Washington Post in an interview Thursday that scammers typically target young, male tourists in bars, nightclubs and crowded areas or through dating apps.
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'We want Americans coming for the party to have the latest information on a crime pattern that we've seen in Rio de Janeiro and other places around Brazil,' he said.
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How drugging-dating scams work
Royster said the multistep swindle starts with female con artists approaching male visitors with the promise of romance or intimacy. They will seek them out in tourist areas or lure them through dating apps. Once a connection is made, they will move the 'date' to the traveler's hotel room, where they will serve drinks or food spiked with a sedative. While the victim is incapacitated, the thieves will steal their personal belongings.
'The victims wake up, sometimes two hours later, to find they're missing money, phones, passports and other documents and valuables,' Royster said.
The primary objective, travel safety experts say, is to rob the traveler and not injure or sexually assault them.
'They are trying to take anything they can sell on the black market,' said Tyler Hosford, a regional security manager for International SOS, an international security risk firm.
Royster said the State Department noticed an increase in incidents in 2024, when the Rio consulate tracked about 40 reports involving this crime. As of Thursday, this year's count is at least three, though the actual number could be higher because of underreporting.
'We only see people who come to us when they need to get a new passport,' Royster said, 'so they can travel again.'
Though the agency most recently singled out Brazil for the dating hoax - Colombia earned a similar warning in 2023 - international security experts say it happens around the world.
Hosford said travelers should be on alert in destinations popular among college-age and other Gen Z partyers, such as the Caribbean and Mexico. He has also detected the crime in Southeast Asia and Europe.
Cities with a high population density, large concentration of bars and nightclubs and throngs of 'unsuspecting young people' are fertile ground for this crime, said Mike Ballard, director of intelligence at Global Guardian, an international security provider. The rise of dating apps is compounding the issue, he said.
Ballard said drugging that leads to sexual assault is almost always men targeting women, but drugging for robbery or kidnapping is more evenly split. He said gay men in Brazil have also been marked for these types of crimes, and robbery can escalate into murder.
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How to avoid being scammed
The State Department urges travelers to take precautionary measures:
- Do not wearing flashy or expensive jewelry or clothing.
- Travel in pairs or groups.
- Do not go to bars or nightclubs alone, and never accept a drink from a stranger.
- If rendezvousing with a match from a dating app, bring a companion and choose a public meeting place.
- Enroll in the agency's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which will send out alerts and advisories from the local embassy. The Brazil consulate also has a WhatsApp channel.
At the start of your trip, Hosford recommends storing your valuables in the hotel safe. On your phone, delete all but one payment app and download a tracking app, so your friends and family traveling with you and at home will know your whereabouts.
'It's like going to a party in college,' he said. 'Use the buddy system.'
You should also disable the biometric features on your phone, so no one can use your face or fingerprints to access your personal information and accounts.
'You get drugged, you pass out. They hold the phone up to your face, and bang, they open it,' Hosford said.
Whether at a bar, party or your hotel room, he said to select beverages that come in a sealed container you can open yourself. If this is not possible, carefully watch the person mixing your drink, a safety practice that, he admits, can dampen the passion.
'If you meet someone special and are trying to have a romantic evening,' he said, 'it can be kind of a buzzkill.'
But, it goes without saying, being the victim of a crime is even more heartbreaking.
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