It wasn't Jason Goh's first time in Italy.

But he still fell victim to an elaborate scam.

Now the Singaporean man wants to tell his story to warn fellow travellers to be wary when they are headed to the European country.

Two motorcyclists drove alongside his car

According to Goh, he was visiting the city of Milan in northern Italy in October 2018 with a group of friends.

He was driving along the street of Via Rubens and Via Sanzio near the Piazzale Brescia, a road leading to the central heart of the city into a busy shopping and dining area.

Goh then noticed two men on motorcycles riding up alongside him, and the motorcyclists said that one of his tyres was punctured.

Goh stopped the car by the side of the road to check it out.

The tyre was indeed flat, although Goh suspected that one of the motorcyclists had punctured it.

A third man stole their valuables

While they were "distracting" Goh and his two passengers, a third accomplice stole their belongings from the car.

Goh gave chase, followed by the two motorcyclists.

The third man dropped a couple of bags, and one of the motorcyclists stopped to pick them up.

Goh realised that the three were working together.

He then confronted the third man, but backed off when he got onto a motorcycle of his own, fearing that he may have been armed.

Singapore MFA helped the tourists

The robbers made off with a number of valuables and important travel documents, including:

• €1,500
• S$500
• US$100
• Gucci wallet
• iPad
• Huawei P20 Pro handphone
• Three credit cards
• Singapore NRIC card
• Singapore driver's license

Goh credited Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for helping them get a Document of Identification to leave Italy.

He has also written to the Italian authorities to let them know of the incident, besides making a police report.

Goh mentioned that while he was making a report at the police station, he encountered another group who had experienced a similar scheme, which to him suggested that there was an organised group behind this.

Travellers should be careful at all times while overseas, and Good Samaritans might not be so good after all.

Top image by Guan Zhen Tan.