Hearing-aid-3

November 16, 2013

"I was trapped by him," she said. "He approached me, pretending to be a real-estate manager. He introduced me to a residence in a suburb. He said that the property was worth two times the amount that he was offering it to me at. Good location, good quality. So it would be good for an investment also. I thought it was good for living at the present, and for selling it in the future. But he was a perfect fraud."
She explained what happened to her. She went to the house with the guy who called himself a real-estate manager. He wore a nice suit and spoke professionally. But at first, she didn't think to actually buy it, just looking. He offered her the chance to stay in the house as a trial --completely free-- for a week. (She said that this was the first time she was offered this type of business.) After a week, she came to like

this house and thought that the price he offered was rather cheap for this quality. She decided to buy the house. After she paid half the money as a deposit, he disappeared. She couldn't enter the house again because the electric key code was changed. She went to the police. After the investigation, the police told her that the house was owned by a person who was now in vacation in Florida; of course, the owner didn't intend to sell his house. She was tricked.
He was surprised that she had that much money but didn't say anything about it. He asked her to take him to the house. It was a two story gorgeous building in a quiet area. He asked, "Did you ask the neighbors about the house?" She pointed to the house next door and said, "Yes. In this house, a nice old couple live and they explained that they didn't know much about the owner because the owner is not sociable."
He asked her to go to the house again, saying he wanted to make sure of something. She wondered what that was, but didn't ask and pushed the buzzer of the house. While they were waiting, he closed his eyes. When she was about to push the buzzer again, the door opened and an old woman appeared. Soon the woman recognized her and said in a worried voice, "Oh, poor girl. We told the police that we will do anything to cooperate. Is this your boyfriend?"
Her husband also came to the door and they invited them in for coffee. They talked about the crime but the couple repeated that they didn't know much about the owner. He asked the couple to use the bathroom.
(To be continued ...)

*sociable :enjoying being with other people; friendly (O)