You might be able to recover some $$ by getting a police report like the companies you contacted suggested. It shouldn't matter that you are in a different country, the only catch might be you would likely have to get the police report translated to English, which shouldn't be too expensive.
Other than that option, you are probably shit out of luck, chalk it up to experience, and move on. What happened to you is a known risk with these companies, be happy that you got fucked out of only few hundred bucks, it could have been way worse.
__________________
|