Lady thieves spike their dates’ drinks with ‘sweet dreams,’ then steal their stuff

Four Cuenca men were treated at Vincent Corral Moscoso hospital Sunday morning after friends found two of them unconscious in their El Centro apartment. The two others were found groggy but conscious in an alley off Calle Larga. Police say that the men had been robbed of cash and other belongings.

According to one of the victims, the four men had been drinking with “some attractive ladies” when they lost consciousness. “It was the old ‘sweet dreams’ trick and we should have known better,” one of the men said. “They spiked our drinks with scopolamine or something like it and we didn’t see it coming.”

He added: “They seemed like nice girls.”

The men, attorneys from Cuenca and Quito, were celebrating the recent job promotion of a colleague.

According to police, so-called “sweet dreams” crimes are common in Guayaquil and Quito but rare in Cuenca. The crime, most often committed by women who target men in bars, involves putting the drug scopolamine or anther “knock-out” substance in drinks and robbing the victims when they lose consciousness.

Several dozen male tourists were victims of the crime last year in Guayaquil. Two Cuenca expats had “sweet dreams” in 2023, police say, but Saturday’s incident was the first reported in 2024.

According to police, 911 personnel are reviewing video camera images taken near a Calle Larga bar as well as near the historic district apartment where two of the men lived.