A British man has recounted the horror of being “robbed at knifepoint” while travelling through Vietnam at Christmas.
After Tom Anderson from Peterborough was laid off from his engineering job, he decided to use the money to travel the world – setting off for Asia almost three months ago.
Starting in Bangkok, Thailand, the 27-year-old arrived in Vietnam on 21 December, looking forward to spending the holidays in a foreign country.
But tragedy struck just 24 hours later, when Tom claims to have been robbed in the middle of the night.
He had been out with friends and was on his way back to the hostel at around 3am when he spotted a drunk fellow traveller in the street.
Worried she might’ve been “spiked”, Tom decided to walk her home first.
Minutes after dropping the woman off, he was attacked by two strangers.
“I was on my way back to the hostel and went down a dark alleyway, and these men came up to me and told me to give them my cash,” Tom told Jam Press.
“I only had 50,000 dong on me (approx. £3) so they told me to get my card out and took me to an ATM, and forced me to make several withdrawals until my card was finally declined.
“I was really scared.
“I could feel the tip of the knife in my back and thought ‘what the f**k’.
“The guys were big with masks and sunglasses on.”
Tom went to the police to report the incident but as he had been drinking and couldn’t remember the exact address of the ATM or street he’d gone down, says “they couldn’t help me”.
The Brit, who also holds US citizenship, visited the UK embassy in Vietnam on multiple occasions, but due to the holidays, claims he has not been able to speak to anyone yet.
He’s focusing on trying to reach his banks in Britain to report the incident and hopefully be able to get his money back.
According to Tom, the victims came away with around £200-£300.
He said: “I went to the police afterwards but they couldn’t help me.
“I didn’t know which street it was or if there were cameras.
“I also went to the UK embassy, but the security guard told me it was closed.
“There isn’t much I can do to get my cash back but I’m trying to figure out if my insurance will cover it.
“For now, I’m relying on friends and strangers to help by taking out cash and then I send them the money through my online bank, as my cards don’t work.
Thinking back now, it was really terrifying, though I don’t feel scared walking around after what happened because I was stupid and walking alone late at night.”
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