What makes us an attractive target? We have been the target of criminals at least five times. Whereas we were the victim of petty theft the first two times, the last three times were more suspect. Besides the guys in Vinhomes Central Park that tried to kidnap you, we don’t know what the other criminals wanted to take from us.
A few days ago, a silver Nissan sedan tried to follow us home. I didn’t suspect that someone might be following us until we were within a handful of turns. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. But once I became suspicious, we drove past our community and then took a series of turns into the next community that eventually led us around a large half circle. After making a left-turn into the short dead-end road just before the main intersection and turning around, we watched the car idle at the entrance for about 10 seconds. It must have been sitting there for 20 seconds, in total. Then, the car sped off. It doubled back by making a right-turn at the intersection.
Considering the roads, it isn’t uncommon to see the same car(s) either behind or in front of us. If that silver Nissan sedan hadn’t run a red light behind us about 15 minutes prior, I might not have noticed it. Until we reached the pass-through community, the driver maintained a respectable following distance as if to be inconspicuous. But, when, I assume, the driver thought we were near home, it was only three-to-four car lengths back.
Every encounter that we had on Sunday has now come into question. We don’t know where this criminal found us. Given the amount of traffic on the roads, it’s hard to believe that it was in passing. Rather, it’s more likely to have occurred at either the ramen restaurant, coffee shop, or playground where we met a seemingly nice family with a little kid that you guys played with. There was a little girl with whom I assumed to be her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother said that they lived nearby.
Never have I ever been targeted in such a manner before you guys came into my world. I’ve been scammed by the Vietnamese government and taxi drivers in Asia, of course, and nearly scammed by a Viettel representative at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, but that’s different. It’s not life threatening. Your mother, unfortunately, can’t say the same. She’s been the target of motorbike criminals in and around Ho Chi Minh City several times while driving a motorbike. They tried to run her off the road. Nonetheless, I’m quite surprised that we were followed, especially while being in a car.
This event was a good exercise despite the circumstances, so far. We have re-learned that it’s not safe to be defenseless. Going forward we’ll take greater precautions when we’re out and about. I’ll have to find my switchblade soon. And we’ll buy a GoPro to use as a dashcam. I’d like to pursue other more extreme defensive measures had they been easier to procure and/or implement because it only takes one time for a crime to end up being life changing. It’s not like criminals state their intentions beforehand. But that’s it for now.
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