02-14-2008, 12:00 PM
So a young friend of mine called me the other night. He got ripped off. Let me give you some background.
This guy fishes with me. Recently he got married, 3 months later had a kid, bought a house. All on a pizza delivery salary. He upgraded his job and became a transporter in a hospital (these are like the orderlies that move patients from their room to various tests and back). Needless to say this job paid poorly and he was in debt up to his ears. Then his wife has some major operation that paralyzes her wrists and she cant work (she worked in a hair salon). The house he bought had 2 illegal apartments but if he rented them he would be OK. They were rented. Still he had this hole he needed to climb out of. He borrowed $8,000 form a loan shark. OK, there's your background.
Recently his grandmother passed away. This left her house vacant. Now my friend looses his job in the hospital near his home and gets another one around 1n hours drive away. So he figures he can move into his grandmothers house and rent his place. He can actually make a few bucks. So he puts an ad in the paper renting the apartment for 2 grand (way too high, but he figures what the heck). He gets a call from a guy in London who needs a place to stay for a 18 month job he is doing on LI. They agree he should send a check for 4 grand to cover month 1 and the security. The check comes & my friend moves out of his house... Except the check is for $7,500. My friend calls the guy back. It's an "accident" but to expedite the guy tells him to deposit the check, keep an extra hundred for his troubles and send a check back for $3,400. My friend deposits the bank check and after it clears sends the guy his money via Western Union wire as requested. 2 days later the bank calls and rejects the check. My friend..
a-moved out of his house
b-is out $3,400
c-has no tenant...
He called the guy and threatened to call the cops. The guy laughed saying: "go ahead".
The cops turned it over to the FBI who is powerless. The perp is in Nigeria.
Not too long ago another friend of mine had something similar when trying to sell a boat. I talked him into not even cashing the check. Told him to tell the other guy to issue a new check. The guy disappeared.
This guy fishes with me. Recently he got married, 3 months later had a kid, bought a house. All on a pizza delivery salary. He upgraded his job and became a transporter in a hospital (these are like the orderlies that move patients from their room to various tests and back). Needless to say this job paid poorly and he was in debt up to his ears. Then his wife has some major operation that paralyzes her wrists and she cant work (she worked in a hair salon). The house he bought had 2 illegal apartments but if he rented them he would be OK. They were rented. Still he had this hole he needed to climb out of. He borrowed $8,000 form a loan shark. OK, there's your background.
Recently his grandmother passed away. This left her house vacant. Now my friend looses his job in the hospital near his home and gets another one around 1n hours drive away. So he figures he can move into his grandmothers house and rent his place. He can actually make a few bucks. So he puts an ad in the paper renting the apartment for 2 grand (way too high, but he figures what the heck). He gets a call from a guy in London who needs a place to stay for a 18 month job he is doing on LI. They agree he should send a check for 4 grand to cover month 1 and the security. The check comes & my friend moves out of his house... Except the check is for $7,500. My friend calls the guy back. It's an "accident" but to expedite the guy tells him to deposit the check, keep an extra hundred for his troubles and send a check back for $3,400. My friend deposits the bank check and after it clears sends the guy his money via Western Union wire as requested. 2 days later the bank calls and rejects the check. My friend..
a-moved out of his house
b-is out $3,400
c-has no tenant...
He called the guy and threatened to call the cops. The guy laughed saying: "go ahead".
The cops turned it over to the FBI who is powerless. The perp is in Nigeria.
Not too long ago another friend of mine had something similar when trying to sell a boat. I talked him into not even cashing the check. Told him to tell the other guy to issue a new check. The guy disappeared.
