It Runs in the Family

It is often said that some people attract trouble. The story below not only confirms that as a fact, but it confirms that it's genetic.

You've heard wacky and at times frustrating stories of mine from Krakow, Munich (actually, Munich twice come to think of it), Romania and Bulgaria, Paris and a few others too.

My dad returned from Vietnam a couple of weeks ago, and he came back with a story. He had his dictaphone on him soon after this incident ended, and dictated his story while it was fresh in his mind.

One thing he doesn't mention - which he mentioned to mum and I when he told this story to us (on Mothers Day) - is that he knew Ure knew his stuff when he said his nursing sister was coming to Perth to work in St Vincent's Hospital.

Mum, who used to be a midwife, told dad there was no St Vincent's Hospital in Perth.

There's two things I should also mention. The first is that the cream dad refers to is some beauty cream he was trying to promote at a conference. It's the reason he went to Vietnam.

The second is that dad does like a bit of a punt. It's a hobby of his in fact.

Here is dad's story, as dictated contemporaneously and typed out by his PA. Hmmm, I need a PA.

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I met Ure with his sister in the street here, he approached me.

I think this was the 27 April 2009.

He stopped me in the street for 5 minutes and wanted to talk to me and also I said I was from Australia.

He said he had another sister who was a nurse who was going to nurse in Australia and that he was interested in obtaining details as to residence for his sister while she was nursing in Australia,

I gave him my card and told me where I was going to be and I said I was going to Vung Tau and would be back in a few days.

He asked me to ring when I was coming back from Vung Tau as he would take me out to lunch and discuss the possibilities.

At the time I mentioned I had some creams I was trying to distribute and he expressed some interest in the creams.

It was agreed we would meet up /contact each other when I came back from Vung Tau on the 30 April 2009.

When I got back from being in Vung Tau at about 11 am I rang him from the Mai Hotel where I was booked. He said he would pick me up.

He picked me up with his sister in a cab and took me out to their house for lunch.

I do not know where there house was, but it was a long way from my hotel.

When we got there and we sat down and had a coffee and I explained to his sister the creams I had and I gave her 2 brochures and the information that I had had typed and samples.

She expressed a lot of interest in these as she said she had a shop in Thailand and that she would be very keen on marketing these creams in Thailand etc.

Before Lonoh Ure said that he was a croupier who did croupier work for Star Cruises and also explained to me the ins and outs of winning/loosing at the Casino and also the situation where you can have an arrangement with someone who was gambling at the table to the effect that you the croupier/dealer in black jack could make sure that the customer won and you could split the winnings with you.

He said that after lunch he would take me up stairs and show me how to do it.
We had a Thai lunch at his house.

He then took me upstairs to what appeared to be a bedroom or at least his bedroom, it had a neat little table set up in one corner which could accommodate 4 people.

For about half an hour we sat at the table and he showed me the signs and signals when you are playing black jack as a means of the dealer co-operating to win. The signals include touching a ring, whether the pack of undealt cards was pointed diagonally or straight up and down on the table.

He also went through the series of signs you can make as to the number of cards as I recall the right hand on top of the left hand was an ace and half way up the forearm is 2, the elbow is 3 and the shoulder is 4. The left hand on top of the right hand was a 5, half way up the forearm is a 6, the elbow is a 7, the shoulder was 8, the left hand on the right should was 8, the left hand touching the chin was 9 and the left hand touching the forehead was 10. These were the signals he said a croupier could give to his co-operating party indicating what the value of the next card was.

He then put me through a couple of games to check me out. I think about half way through this time his sister came up with cups of coffee. We had the coffee.

The other signal he gave was that when you wanted to end the game you or the croupier would refer to the possibility of having a coffee, tea or a beer.

In the practice session he produced a series of blue, green and red chips. He went through the practice session and said it looked OK.

The next thing that happened he said that there was a lady he was playing with at the casino recently along this fashion and she had pulled a bit of a shifty on him because she had not given him the desired/ planned share of the winnings I think he said it was half and half and she had not given it to him. He said she was coming to his house to have a game at his invitation, apparently, and he was going to use this and myself as a means of getting the money from her.

The way he said this I expected it to be some time in the future.

Then in about 5 or 10 minutes this lady to my amazement she came far quicker than I was led to believe.

She was ……….heavily decorated with gold, spoke English with a Spanish accent, was apparently sophisticated, and certainly knew about her cards. As part of what I imagined the sting Ure gave me $US200 as an opening bank. We had a few hands and Ure used his signals to me and with his card skills I won. Eventually after one or two hands which I won she became a little bit aggravated and wanted to up the stakes so she could out-bet me.

I did not have the money so Ure "lent" me US$500 and asked me to initial something which I did. I had some more wining hands and she wanted to up the ante to many thousands of dollars and pulled out a wad of money which she said and appeared to be US$40,000 and this was utilised as stake for the betting.

Eventually the betting got to the stage of a final hand, I said it was the last hand and Ure gave me the nod that I could go all the way to cover her $US30,000 but I had to provide US$30,000 in credit.

All the way along when I was doing this betting Ure said to me wink nod that he would guarantee any sum that was payable.

On this last hand I had 3 cards totalling 21 and she the queen of diamonds and another card.

Ure was giving me the nod that everything was quite OK, don't worry about it, but come to the party and produce a credit/cash for US$30,000 to cover her US$30,000.

I said this was out of the question.

He took me aside and said don't worry about it, it will be OK, just put your signature on it. He tried to give the impression that I had the money at the hotel.

Eventually a deal was made of that, the two hands would be sealed in an envelope while Ure and I went out to get the money to cover the cash to cover her bets.

Ure magically produced these sealed envelopes and I put my three cards in my sealed envelope and signed it.

He took her 2 cards and made the notions of putting them in her envelope at the same time showed me that they were a total of 20 i.e. and I would win the bet. He sealed them in her envelope and she signed them. Her money and the sealed envelopes were then placed in a case with a combination and a key, and he gave me the key which was about ¾ of an inch long and gave her a key which appeared to be a different key as a means of giving everyone security.

The deal was that he would try to raise some money and I would go out and try and raise some money.

She was very insistent that the only thing she would accept was security on the table before she would lift her hand was cash, no cheques etc. She was a highly sophisticated gambler, a good looker and well jewelled in gold. I was told later she may have been from Brunei or had contacts in Brunei.

She appeared to be really street smart. Had no hesitation in handing over the $40,000 cash in any event the deal was that I would go off with Ure's sister Ann to find cash and we obtained a cab, in the cab was Ure's brother-in-law? side kick/possibly stand over man.

On the way back to my hotel Ure said he rang on his mobile and said he had raised $15,000 and was looking to see what I could raise.

During the drive to my hotel Ure rang his sister several times and wanted to know what I was doing etc. I said I wanted to go to the hotel to make telephone calls etc.

Ann his sister wanted to know if I wanted to get out of the game, and I said I think I do and I gave her the key.

In any event we got to the hotel and I got out of the cab and this would have been about 2.30 pm. I was asked to ring Ure from the hotel. At the time of dictating, 6 pm I have not been to the hotel.

It was evident to everyone I believe that I was extremely nervous in the whole matter as events had really out of my control.

In the ultimate I don't know why they needed me because if Ure was sure of winning all he had to do was to let his sister take my hand use the key and provide the money.

My concern was that I would be asked to put the money in or be "attended to" if I did not put money in and they could change the card and whole thing was a scam to get the money out of me and 6.30 pm the jewelled lady from Brunei was part of the scam.

As of the present I am reluctant to go back to the hotel because I think they might be waiting for me.

The man in the taxi when we were going back who was the alleged relation of Ure looked a bit on the heavy side in appearance and mannerisms. Ure asked not to mention to him what was happening.

I think him picking me up on the street as a pre-arranged operation as they hit me cold turkey about the whole thing in the street.

I do think however that Ure has a sister going to Australia and Ann his other sister had some operation in Thailand.

Ure had a card evidencing him as being associated with Star Cruises.

At the time of dictating I have not been able to find that card.

He said as the final carrot before I left to go that my entitlement out of the scam would be US$20,000 as he was going to take the other half.

I felt extremely fearful and ill at ease from the time of the last hand till about 2 hours later when I started thinking it through.

Ure was extremely skilful of the cards looking back as he seemed to be able to serve to myself and the lady in gold exactly what cards he wanted.

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Dad was to leave the country the next day, and ended up staying away from the hotel for about 5 hours. He was surprised that noone was there for him when he returned. He was also surprised that they didn't wait for him when they dropped him in the hotel. He didn't even go in - just walked straight off.