Aphrodite Akropolis Club

by Dave
(London)

To whom this may concern,

I am a 29 year old British tourist and highly-respected Publicist who recently visited Budapest on Tuesday 08 July and was robbed/extorted/threatened but the guys at Aphrodite Akropolis.

After leaving London and arriving by plane into Budapest on 08th July with my friend, we checked into a hostel around 1pm, spent the day looking around the city before having a meal at one of the many restaurants in the main strip.

We then decided to go and get a few drinks and stumbled upon a club called the Aphrodite Akropolis Club Address: Kecskeméti utca 17. V. district.

We noticed that it was a strip club, but decided to pass - however, on walking past the club, one of the doormen ask us to come in. We said that we wanted to find somewhere to watch some live music - not poledancers. He said that they had some live bands playing after 10pm in the club and that we could wait and have a cheap beer before the music started.

So we walked in tentatively, and then noticed that the place was completely empty, other than 3 bouncers and around 8-9 girls.

At this point, we turned round to go out saying 'thanks but no thanks', but the door was shut behind us and guarded by a very intimidating bouncer. They then told us that we had to buy a drink, so we said we'd have a beer then leave. At that point, 2 girls jumped on our laps and began asking us for a private dance and whether we would like to buy them a drink.

I flatly refused and so did my friend but a round of drinks were still bought to our table by the management and the girls wouldn't get off our laps despite our refusals. There were also three or four very large bouncers standing over us so we were, to be frank, helpless - especially seeing as the door to the club had been locked.

We remained calm.

After maybe 15-20 minutes of sitting there shell-shocked, and with no live music taking place as we were originally told, they presented us with a bill of around 380,000 HUF which equates to a staggering £1,290.

We flatly refused to pay the bill and said we would only pay for a beer each and then leave. We were then told that if we didn't pay the full amount they wouldn't let us leave the club alive, threatened to put a corkscrew through my head and also told me that my penis would be chopped off.

At this point, we were terrified but I said I would go to an ATM to take out the money as they wouldn't accept cards. So they told my friend to stay in the club while I walked with one of the bouncers and one of the girls to a series of ATM's where I was told to withdraw all of my money.
I tried 4 separate ATM's but my card wasn't accepted so we went back to the club. At this stage, my friend said he had some cash back in our hostel and was prepared to give it to them if they would let us go. So this time I waited in the club while he was taken back to where we were staying by the same bouncer. While in the hostel, he was told that if we didn't pay the full amount, I would be killed and thrown into the River Danube but he told them on several occasions that he had no card and only cash to see him through our whole trip - which was the truth.

He had around £350 pounds in Hungarian money that upon return to the club, he gave to the venue manager. We were then told that we still had to pay the remaining amount and at this stage they were getting very angry and the treats of death and hurt continued. We were stunned, angry and scared for our lives as we didn't have enough to cover the bill they demanded we pay.

They then told me to go to a Western Union to take out my money as my cards weren't working at the various ATM’s in the city, so they again made my friend wait in the club while they bundled me into a car with one of the bouncers, guys who worked the door and girl and they took me into central Budapest.

Upon arrival, I was told to leave the car and then to hand over my card to the girl behind the counter at the Western Union which I did. At this point, another 4 or 5 guys arrived at the Western Union and surrounded me, demanding I take out all of the money on my card - this will be evident on any CCTV footage outside the Western Union. None of the passers-by on the street did anything and I was scared to make a huge fuss or run away as my friend was still back in the club and may have been in huge trouble should I have tried anything risky.

At my side with a knife to my back, the bouncer then asked the girl behind the counter how much money was left on my Lloyds Bank card despite me telling him he can't ask. She then, rather surprisingly told him I had a £640 pounds available balance which I believe is against the law.

At this stage the threats got worst and I was told that if I didn't take it all out, my friend in the club would be killed and so would I. So rather than face more threats and possible death, I took all of the money out in cash and gave it to him. He then agreed to forget the further outstanding balance and they took me back to the club. Upon arrival, I was told to hand over the cash to the owner who then flatly told us to 'Leave' which we did.

We then went back to our hostel shocked and humiliated - and above all, very angry and demoralised. We called up our families and friends and told them what had happened and they told us to report the incident to the British Embassy in Budapest and NOT the police who we feared would dismiss the incident as being our own fault. By now, it was 3am, we were shocked and extremely tired and after trying the British Embassy maybe 5 or 6 times, nobody answered. We were now completely broke and really worried about the rest of our trip.

We've since reported it to the British Embassy who are contacting the police


Dave