A DIABOLICAL SCAM
She should have known better. Nothing is for free, and there are always strings attached to everything. She was far too trusting, and she knows that now. But no one could have guessed what this group was up to, and if their niece hadn’t warned them when she did, they would probably not be around today to tell their tale.
It began with a phone call the day Louise was heading out the door for her book club. She didn’t have time to talk to him then, but she liked his voice so she told him to call back the next day after 2 p.m. She would be home then and would answer all his questions. He said they were probably paying too much for their gas and electricity and that there were new companies now making the industry more competitive. Prices were finally coming down, and savings up to 20% were possible.
If only she had asked him more questions, but she didn’t. Instead, she just answered all his questions about their energy use so he could calculate what category they fit into. As he explained, the larger the home, the more savings there would be, and when he heard that they also owned a very large home in the country that they seldom used, he practically guaranteed a substantial savings. So one by one, she carefully described in detail the exact size of both of the homes, the number of rooms, how many occupants there were, the various appliances they had and what time of day they used most of their energy. Were they home most days, or was their consumption primarily in the evenings only? What about weekends? And how often did they visit their second home? If that one was vacant most of the time, which it was, then he highly recommended switching to a vacation saver program which was offered by only two of the new companies.
All of this made sense to Louise. How could they possibly give her a quote on possible savings if they didn’t know how large the homes were or how often they were there. In the end, though, the time she invested on the phone seemed worth it all when she was told they qualified for a 17% reduction if they chose the third company on their list and if they were willing to pay monthly by direct debit.
Her husband, Henry, on the other hand, was absolutely livid when he discovered much later that not only had Louise divulged all the personal information about their properties and their day-to-day lives, but she had also given a complete stranger their bank account information, both cell phone numbers and all three of their email addresses. “What were you thinking?” he yelled. “How could you have been so stupid??”
Crying and nearly hysterical, Louise kept saying how sorry she was over and over again. She had only intended to save them some money because Henry was always complaining about how high their energy bills were and what a waste of good money it was. She could kick herself now, but he sounded so nice and polite and she trusted him immediately.
Henry felt guilty later for taking it out on her. Besides, it was all water under the bridge now, and they should be grateful to just be alive with most of their money and both homes still in their names. It was their niece who had saved the day when she happened to drive by the country home one night and noticed a strange car entering through the open gate. That’s when they discovered that someone had moved in and was living there part of the time, only leaving when Henry and Louise visited one weekend a month. Much later, after the police did a full investigation, were they able to piece it all together. A prostitution ring that serviced elite pedophiles who wanted a private and luxurious setting safe from public eyes. Working with computer hackers and legal forgers, they mostly went after only the big estates. Step One: identify the perfect home in the perfect setting. Location, location, location; Step Two: access all the owners’ personal and private information, monitor their whereabouts through their email and cell phones, and then begin the transfer of all their assets to a holding trust; and Step Three: dispose of the original owners and replace them temporarily with imposters.
Copyright © 2015 (Michelle Parsons, Getting Back on Your Path). All Rights Reserved.
