They met on a dating app in Colombia. The next day he woke up dizzy and without a passport.

(CNN) — When Carlos, an American expat living in Colombia, finally meets in person the attractive girl he’s been messaging on a dating app, his reluctance begins to fade.

“I was kind of skeptical when we met, but then we decided to go to my apartment to finish watching the soccer game. “Colombia was playing Mexico and we decided to watch my second half,” the single father recalls.

They had a glass of wine and talked at their home in Bogotá; Their chemistry seemed as special in person as it was online.

“Then the game was over… and we had another glass of wine and I remember a heavy weight on my head. And that’s the last thing I remember.”

Carlos, who asked that his real name not be used for professional reasons, was so dizzy the next morning that he went to the hospital. The doctors informed him that he had been given medicine. It took days for him to recover. When Carlos finally returned home, he realized that many of his belongings were missing, including his and his children’s passports.

Carlos is not the only one.

While this type of violence, mainly directed against women, is not new in Colombia, a recent series of violent incidents in which daters were allegedly attacked, robbed, and in some cases killed, has drawn the attention of the United States Department of State. .

The city of Medellin has reported at least eight “suspicious deaths” of US citizens between November and December 2023, according to a warning issued this month by the US Embassy in Bogotá about the dangers associated with dating and meeting apps. An intimate setting with only strangers.

“Criminals use dating apps to lure victims to meet them in public places such as hotels, restaurants and bars and then attack and rob them,” warned a security alert published on January 10.

“Countless American citizens in Colombia have been drugged, robbed and even murdered by their Colombian partners,” he added.

The alert recommends that U.S. citizens in the country “remain vigilant, maintain high situational awareness and incorporate robust personal safety practices.”

Most dating apps also offer helplines for dating problems and share the same advice: Always meet your date in public, especially early in the relationship, and if you feel pressured to go somewhere private, end the date.

At this time, US officials do not believe the eight deaths are related, “however, some deaths point to possible drugs, robberies and overdoses, and some involve the use of dating apps,” the embassy alert said.

US officials have also seen an increase in reported theft cases involving online dating apps over the past 12 months, the alert notes.

And he suggests that the actual number of victims may be higher, because “victims feel ashamed and don’t want to continue the judicial process.”

Burundian

Deaths of foreign nationals or tourists in Colombia are relatively rare: in the last two months of 2022, only one US citizen died in Colombia after drowning in the city of Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast.

But as travel and tourism in the country increases after the pandemic, violent crime appears to be on the rise as well. According to the embassy, ​​in Medellin alone, robberies against foreigners increased by 200% in the third quarter of last year compared to the same period in 2022.

And in many robbery or kidnapping cases, criminals use drugs and sedatives to leave the victim defenseless.

On a typical night in Bogota or Medellin, it’s not unusual to hear warnings about burundanga, the Colombian name for scopolamine, a powerful and hard-to-find alkaloid that, in concentrated form, can leave a victim unconscious for up to 24 hours. hours. And, in large doses, can cause respiratory failure and death.

Scopolamine is used legally and in small doses as an anti-nausea drug, but criminals have long used the drug for robbery and extortion: the US Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) has warned about scopolamine in tourist destinations in Colombia since 2012, including As of 2012, there were 50,000 drug-related incidents in the country every year, it said. In June 2023, the US State Department stated that scopolamine-related crimes appeared to be on the rise in Bogotá.

The effect of the drug can last for a long time.

Carlos told CNN that even though he was high on scopolamine and had an appointment on Tuesday, he continued to have headaches, mood swings and memory loss until the following Sunday.

“We want positive tourism”

Carlos hopes that the new scrutiny may change things because of the alert from the United States Embassy.

“I understand that Colombia is a country where a lot of crime happens, and I believe that crimes like this are seen by the authorities as minor… or maybe they don’t have the resources to deal with it. But now we are talking about eight people who have been killed in recent months,” said Carlos.

The US Embassy told CNN that in response to its security alert, Colombian authorities recently arrested and prosecuted people who drug and robbed foreigners in both Medellin and Bogotá.

However, the warning appears to have caused a stir among at least some local officials. For example, Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez told reporters last week that he would like to see more visitors focus on what he described as “positive tourism” rather than using dating apps.

“We want more foreigners to come to Medellin, American citizens, Europeans, whoever, but we want positive tourism,” he said when asked about the topic. “People who want to come here for sex and drug tourism are wrong.”

One of the first measures Gutiérrez approved after taking office on January 1 was a ban on drug use in public places. A similar order was issued in Cartagena, another tourist destination on Colombia’s Caribbean coast that has seen an increase in street prostitution and drug-related incidents following a post-pandemic surge in tourism.

“Last year 482,000 foreigners came to Medellin, so it’s not like everyone who comes to Medellin faces these problems. I guarantee that those who come to Medellin for positive tourism, to see our culture and to visit our museums, our squares, do not take any risks,” Gutierrez also said.

“She could have done anything.”

Reviewing the incident, Carlos says he feels relatively lucky and relieved that the woman seems to be acting alone. Security camera footage taken from a nearby store showed her leaving the apartment alone, carrying her laptop and other electronic devices.

Things could be worse. “If you think about it, it’s scary to be there, drugged, passed out, unable to defend yourself. “She could do whatever she wanted,” he said.

While he hasn’t used any dating apps since, Carlos doesn’t blame the apps for what happened to him.

However, he believes that authorities and society in general should take a new approach to responding to cases like this.

“Unfortunately, people around me basically said it was my fault for doing this (entering a dating app). I think that’s how a lot of people meet in this day and age, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Instead, some people blamed me. Made me realize that it was my mistake to meet women like this.”

He says that when he reported the incident to the police, he felt he was being blamed for not being more careful.

“(They were) essentially saying, ‘Why did you do this? You know it’s dangerous, these kinds of things can happen to you’ instead of taking responsibility,” he said.

CNN filed a complaint against Carlos with the Bogotá Police Department but received no response.