Trout

iTrader: (1)

...oh dear.

A salutary tale from a colleague of mine who I have worked with for over fifteen years in various different companies. He has always been a top earner but has always had a commensurate lifestyle and so does not have huge savings.

Three years ago he was invited into a property deal 'where you can only make money'!

Although it sounded too good to be true he got involved. He also took the advice of the people setting up the deal to use their 'solicitor'. 'You don't need your own solicitor, why waste money when you can use ours!'.

As the deal progressed he was advised to provide some credentials that may be stretching the truth - 'don't worry said the solicitor - you can't lose - there is nothing to worry about'.

The deal went ahead, the property market then collapsed as we all know, and he lost all his money.

End of issue.

Well he thought so for two years until a knock at the door came from the Fraud Squad enquiring about the falsified credentials. My friend said he was under stress and was only following advice. He demonstrated that he was being treated for depression and it all went away...

...until last week when he was arrested for mortgage fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.

The total scam apparently has run into millions with many banks being involved. I am not exactly sure how the scam worked - but I think they were taking the 'investments' and using them as deposits to get multiple mortgages on the same property.

If he had used his genuine credentials the he could easily demonstrate that he was the victim of a con. However as he followed advice and used false credentials it made him a co-conspirator.


Until his arrest he was earning around £20k a month on a contract and has now been fired and given what he does professionally has no hope in hell of getting any new contracts. He has substantial outgoings with his kids at private school etc.


That is a hell of a long way to fall based on one stupid deal of being drawn into a get rich quick scheme. Sadly ignorance or stupidity are not valid pleas in a court of law.


And he is now going to pay a hell of a price for being stupid!

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Simple greed ?

Sad tale.

dunx

P.S. Trout I have this brilliant idea for farming fish..... you wanna be first in ?

pslewis

Greed ..... for some people enough is never enough ..... I assume he is not mentally disabled? And reasonably intelligent? In which case .... tough luck I'm afraid.

I feel for his family, not him. I mean, they will now have to go to the same state schools most of us had to .......

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Think of the lifestyle re-alignment he's facing !

dave247

Get rich quick?

£20k a month would be fast enough for me

+Doc+

Haha I though that.

Perhaps it is the wake up call he needed?

SPEN555

GlesgaKiss

Think anyone would go down the dodgy route when there's a lot of money to be made. Yes he was greedy, but that's human nature. Things that only seem insignificant at the time can turn out to be serious. Feel sorry for the guy but a line has to be drawn somewhere when it comes to the law I suppose.

CrisPDuk

I beg to differ GlesgaKiss, I've had the opportunity to 'get rich quick' in a dodgy way offered to me once or twice in the past. I had no problem turning the offers down.

I don't feel sorry for the guy at all, he broke the law, he should pay the price

Trout

iTrader: (1)

SPLOSH!!!!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I do agree with most of this. He is a smart guy hence his high contract rates.

But his family is really going to suffer - his father had a stroke earlier this year in SA and my mate was paying for all his medical care.

I am not trying to engender sympathy as I cannot believe the madness of this situation - but many people are going to suffer because of his rank ignorance.

twooo

iTrader: (3)

Fraud normally means a stretch inside if I'm not mistaken, too.

Poor bloke

Yes, I do feel slightly sorry for the innocent victims of his greed, but hopefully that'll make him feel even worse about getting into what was obviously a scam of some kind. And if he didn't realise it was a crooked deal, then he was incredibly and almost unbelievably naive.

Sorry, not much sympathy for fraudsters at the moment.

hodgy0_2

and greed (coupled with unbelievable laziness)

but the real crime is getting caught

Mus

iTrader: (2)

That's very common in the property Market it's clever but still fraud it's similar to vendor gifted deposit

scoobeenut

Trouble is the more you have the more you spend, the more you spend the more you need.

pslewis

Wrong ....

I have been offered the promise of amazing wealth on many occassions ....... I reply the very same each time, "If the offer is so great, YOU invest YOUR money into it ..... hell, it's so good, BORROW money to do it - why do you need my money - why offer ME this wonderful deal?"

I've been offered a share in a full Oil Tanker .... been promised 20% Returns in 30 days .... why would anyone want to make me rich? They wouldn't! I walk away!

I can resist very easily indeed!

53

iTrader: (41)

Big Ron has that effect

GlesgaKiss

I don't mean that, because personally you'd have to be a sucker to buy these get rich quick schemes. My emphasis was more on making yourself money in ways that seem pretty insignificant, although they are technically breaking laws. Even things that would just be classed as morally wrong. I'm just making the point that everyone in life is greedy in some form or another. People put the most priority on their own interests and in a lot of cases it's either you that benefits or someone else, it can't work both ways.

I think it's a shame for this guy that it's cost him so much when actually he played a very minor role and was suckered himself in the process, but as I said originally, the law is the law and lines have to be drawn, etc. It just seems totally out of proportion what has actually happened to the guy in this case. You hear of rapists being caused less upset.

pslewis

If he is/was on £20k a week than I would suggest that the sums involved were huge .... to get big returns in a fraudulent operation does not entail a 'minor role' ...

Trout

iTrader: (1)

It was £20k a month - in management consulting £1k a day is quite normal - there are many who earn a lot more than that!

I am not sure I agree with your second point either. I don't know the exact sums involved - but investing say £100k into a property deal can be quite a minor role as some property deals run into millions.

Lee247

My God, how the other half live

Innocent - yes, greedy - very much yes, sympathy - no.

what would scooby do

.. well to be honest only a Muppet would do such a thing without checking everything out carefully beforehand..

urban

iTrader: (1)

Poor bloke - yeah don't drop the soap big lad, cause big bubba's gonna get ya!

TingTongPJ

iTrader: (24)

i don't feel sorry for him one bit as stated above it's just greed, anyone is entitled to try to make extra money but someone with the earning potential of £1k per day has enough sense to get things checked out by their own legal people even if it does cost you and thats how it will be viewed by the law you don't just hand over large sums of money and just leave them too it. i just can't believe he knew nothing about it.

it's the kids i feel sorry for no more silver spoon and they will have to go to a public school imagine the hassle they will get coming from a private one let alone the fact their dad will be a jail bird.

Luan Pra bang

There is a local scumbag round here who specialises in that kind of thing, he is highly skilled at making people think he is their best friend and completely trust worthy. He has in conned all kinds of people some rich some poor and some wealthy intelligent busness people. He has the knack for drawing people in in stages but always keeps himself in the clear when they go wrong. His reputation soon caught up with him though and now he has to travel pretty far to find more victims. This guy will spend months or a year on a mark introducing people to his family, throwing money around and only when the mark asks the question where do you get all this cash from does the scam start.
Life is tough and **** happens but I can kind of see why it works and have a little sympathy for the guy who got conned.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Sorry, but I can understand anyone coming unstuck over a poor investment etc. but as soon as he was asked to falsify credentials..... well only the stupid or the greedy would proceed .... he obviously isn't stupid so no sympathy I am afraid.

As for his family yes it's very sad, but **** happens!

Leslie

He is certainly paying for entering into such an arrangement. Too many clever sharks about these days to allow yourself to be tempted into a hooky deal like that.

Pete's advice is as good as any, just walk away. Really not worth losing all that he has now is it?

Les