I’ve been through a lot in my life and have experienced what I thought was pretty much everything that could happen, both negative or positive.
This malicious fake lost or stolen passport report committed by someone else to harm me is the worst ordeal I’ve gone through – courtesy British Home Office.
It served as a huge “wake-up call,” reminding me how dangerous the world is today, thanks to online scammers and hackers targeting innocent victims for fun.
Did Social Media Hackers or Scammers do this, or were Locals in Cambodia involved?
I’ve since learned that many social media influencers are hacked, and passport cancelations are used to trap people like me in faraway countries across the globe.
If this is true, it puts even more responsibility on your government to protect you. They should be obliged to contact you and ask if you have your passport instead of brutally canceling it.
They could and should have contacted me via email or the British Embassy in Cambodia, where I was at the time.
Please watch my YouTube video where I explain the full story:
Sadly, they didn’t, which resulted in me being trapped, stuck, detained, and then deported from the Philippines as I was flagged to be traveling “illegally” with an invalid passport!
I do not yet know who reported my passport lost or stolen, but I will soon find out by making the British Home Office tell me.
Until today, the British Home Office has done nothing to help me during this ordeal. The opposite, they made everything more difficult by delaying and lying to me via the Passport Office during my application process for a new passport.
The Passport Office promised an immediate passport replacement for free, with the remaining 5 years I had on my passport. However, that didn’t happen despite them insisting daily that the replacement would come soon.
It did not.
Instead, they issued a new passport, which scandalously took 2 weeks to deliver, despite the urgency and me being stuck in a hotel in expensive London.
The Let Down and Cancellation without Confirmation with me is a Scandal
The fact my government left me stranded without a passport 7000 miles away in Southeast Asia is a scandal, disgrace, and possibly even a crime against me and my safety.
Instead of checking with me, the passport holder, they brutally canceled my passport with no concern about the fallout, cost, loss of time, and mental health damage this action caused.
The result: I was stuck in the Philippines and was then deported like a criminal
It appeared to the Philippine officials I was illegally attempting to enter their country with a passport reported “lost or stolen,” which I had in my hands at the immigration point.
How was this possible?
I ask you, my dearest government of the United Kingdom and its officials:
Why can random people, hackers, or scammers report my passport lost or stolen when I have it in my possession?
Why did you not contact me, dear British Home Office, before canceling my passport and getting me into unbearable hot water?
I will demand full reimbursement of all costs, plus adequate compensation for the mental, physical, and emotional damage my government inflicted upon me.
The British Home Office not only wrongfully canceled my passport, they then lied to me during the replacement process, making my life a nightmare for over 2 weeks.
Final Thoughts
Is there a lesson to be learnt here despite me doing nothing wrong? The answer is yes.
1 – Be extremely selective about whom you provide a copy of your passport to.
2 – When you have to provide a copy for landlords, hotels, car rental, etc, make sure to black out the passport number.
3 – Always check the status of your passport with your consular service before departing from one country to another.
Now that I know this terrible scam is possible, I will firstly choose the countries I next visit very carefully, and second, I will likely stay well away from deeply corrupt countries.
Rob
I would like to invite you to subscribe and follow me on:
Click here to Subscribe to my YouTube channel |
Click here to Follow me on TikTok |
