Scam Alert Warning For Contractors Dealing With Unscrupulous Homeowners
Almost every story then I read in the newspaper is about
contractors that are scamming the homeowners. This story is going to be
something a little different, it's about homeowners that don't think
twice about scamming contractors.
I was contacted one day by a man who told me that he was very impressed
by my website and my overall knowledge about construction. He continued
to butter me up as he started to tell me how we can help each other out.
We could trade services, I could work on his house and he could help me
with my investments.
I rarely fall for this type of scam, but I wanted to see how far this
man would take it. I knew that it was going to be a waste of my time,
but I knew that I could get a pretty good story from it, especially if I
worked at it.
I went over to his house and he had his entire family waiting to meet
me, like I was a long-lost friend. I actually thought he was going to
invite me over for dinner and he probably would have, if everything
worked out like he wanted it to.
I was pretending to be somebody that he wanted me to be and he was
falling for it, hook line and sinker. He showed me everything in his
house that needed to be fixed or replaced, before taking me into his
office, where he asked me how much money I had to invest and how soon I
could get it to him.
I made up a ridiculous number, just to see what his reaction would be. I
told him that I had over $400,000 in cash, in seven bank accounts and
was only making 2% interest on my best account. I thought this guy was
going to literally shoot through the roof. He informed me that this
would be perfect and that he could double my money in only three years.
Again, I pretended like I was interested and asked him how he would do
it. I don't even think that this guy even knew what he was talking
about, when he started telling me about how much money he had made for
other people who he had traded work with. This guy wasn't even that good
of a con artist.
I think you have a pretty good idea, what type of person this guy was
and you'll probably appreciate what was about to happen next. While this
guy was on cloud nine, I dropped the bomb. I told him that I didn't
appreciate him scamming me and I was going to report him to the
authorities. You should have seen the look on this guy's face.
He told me to get out of this house and to never come back. I
immediately departed from his residence, but this guy actually had the
nerve to call me three days later and apologize. He was actually trying
to scam me again, that was when I decided to teach him a lesson and
invite him to lunch.
I told him that I was going to be working out of town and if he could
meet me for lunch, I would give him a check for $50,000 and if he
doubled that in three years, I would give him the rest of my money to
invest.
He tried his best, to get more money but I stuck to my guns. I wasn't
really working out of town, but I told him that I would meet him at a
specific restaurant that was over 100 miles away from his house. He
agreed to meet me there at a specific time, and I warned him that I
could even be an hour late.
I was never planning on meeting with this man, but wanted to teach him a
lesson, one that he would never forget, hopefully. He called me that day
about an hour and a half after her we were supposed to meet and asked
where I was.
I told him that I was running a little late and I would be there within
30 minutes. He never called me again.