Hold on to your hats here, this is going to be fun.
I'm in the office yesterday when I get a call. It’s from a long distance number that I have been paged with several times in the past week. The conversation started off quite well, a man introduces himself to me as Doctor John Doe, a Canadian citizen of Saudi Arabian background. His story went along the lines of him raising his family here in Toronto and 8 years ago he had to go back to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a job opportunity. So now with his children reaching university age he would like to bring them all back to Toronto and finally settle here for good.
Doctor John stated that he will be flying to Toronto this very evening, staying in town for the next 10 days during which he will be extensively searching for a property to purchase. He also went on to say that he would not need a mortgage loan because "Praise be to God" life has been good to him. All he needs is an apt realtor to show him around. I look over my shoulder, "no one? anyone? okay Dr. John, I'm your guy!"
At this point, I love where this conversation is heading, I have a motivated buyer on the phone willing to buy ASAP. The story gets even better when I ask him what area he’s considering. Hogg's Hollow (wiki http://is.gd/gW27p). Praise be to God indeed.
Before we hang up Dr. John says to expect a call from his brother, Dr. Mike Doe, who will also be moving to Toronto with his family. I thought nothing of it and sure enough 10 minutes later my phone rings with Dr. Mike on the phone. If Dr. John was nice, Dr. Mike was even nicer; went on to say how lucky they were to have found me and wished us both the best of luck in our endeavour. Something was said though in our discussion that I needed clarity on, something along the lines of, "I trust my brother's taste...he has my power of attorney and he is able to purchase on my behalf”, at first I thought nothing of it. Before we ended our conversation I assured Dr. Mike not to worry, "I will help your brother find the biggest house on the Blok, big enough for both your families" to which he replies "no no Wael you misunderstood, we are buying two houses!"
How do you spell cha-ching?!
So now by midday I'm walking around the office shoulders held high thinking finally the god's have smiled down on me, finally some positive energy is finding its way back to me, "Lunch on me folks!"
5pm, I get a call from Dr. John who I expect to have arrived in Toronto by now, however there is a hint of distress in his voice. Believe it or not according to his explanation, Homeland Security has held Dr. John back for further questioning. He had already checked his luggage and for security reasons they also made him check in his carry on, his laptop and everything on his person. They assured him not to worry, that he will make his flight, they only had a few questions left for him.
Well Dr. John missed his flight and is now stranded in Fort Lauderdale with no wallet nor phone to call home. No problem I thought he can simply catch the next flight "just call your brother and ask him to provide a credit card number to the counter", "They will not accept a number" he said "they say I have to swipe the actual card. They do however accept a wire transfer", "Perfect" I say "so what's the problem?" to which he replies "Well you see Wael, its 2 am in Saudi Arabia right now and Western Union is closed. I can't believe I'm asking you this brother, but could you please wire me $$$ to this number".
POP!
As you might’ve guessed by now I've been duped. They worked on me the whole day and I should’ve known this sounded too good to be true. I mean the whole thing reads like a Nigerian email scam "I am PRINCE Bob Loblaw, I have money ready to give to you, all you have to do is pay the interest". I was disappointed yes, but more, violated. I mean the audacity of somebody doing this over the phone and paging me and calling back and forth...I felt so...used.
I want to leave this on a positive note. This whole saga revealed itself on my way to meet with a young couple I previously met in the summer. This was our first time reconnecting after 6 months and they were ready to go see some homes that I had lined up for them. But my head was not in it. The phone rings. It’s Esther, the young lady I'm meeting in 30 minutes.
Me: Yes Esther, I'm just running home to get ready for our meeting
Esther: Wait a minute. You're not going home to put on a suit and tie are you?
Me: Actually yes I am
Esther: Wael, when we first met you 6 months back we liked you just the way you were, we don't care what you're wearing. We met several agents in those 6 months but we liked you because you were real. So please, don't change.
Thank you. For bringing me back to ground. I had a great evening with them. Real people. Real stories.
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