Scammy apartment dude: Update
So I've spent the last few days working with the tourist police to try to get my money back. It's been quite an adventure, I must admit.
First of all, the tourist police office used to be located in the middle of downtown, but they recently built themselves a brand new (and VERY nice) building, OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF FREAKING NOWHERE! The day we first attempted to file a report, we went to the old office and were told we had to go to the new one ... but that it was closed for the dinner hour, and wouldn't open again until 6. Since it was about 4:45 at the time, Mr. Zarea (big boss-man) decided he would take the extra time and visit a friend in the hospital, so I killed some time chilling in the back seat of his car ... finally, we made it to the police station, only to learn that our info was wrong, and they actually wouldn't have anyone there to take my report until 10 PM. Hmm ... we decided to just return another day, during normal business hours.
So, we go back and tell the story to some chief-looking guy (nice office, bosses everyone else around). He actually CALLS Baher, who claims, "I only have my $150 commission, but I'll return that to her!" The police decide that it was Baher's agent who stole the money, without Baher's knowledge (which is clearly incorrect, since BAHER is the one who lied about how much the apartment cost - why would he do that so that his agent could take the money???), and so the officer decides that I need to return with a second report, that more explicitly discusses this agent - he's the "key figure" in this whole thing, apparently. Ahh, police work at its finest. But whatev ... so we get up to leave, and I ask if I can use the restroom. ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! This is a new building, and so it actually has a women's WC ... the problem is that no women work there, and women rarely visit, so it's kept locked. After 20 minutes of frantic searching, the maintanence staff was forced to conclude that the key had, in fact, been lost ... it was incredibly funny, and would have been even more so if I hadn't needed to pee so badly ... :P
So the next day, we return with my report written up, translated into Arabic, signed and dated by me and the translator, Osman ... it seems like it should be a quick get-in, get-out situation. But NO. Because the report can't just be filed ... it has to be transferred to an official report form - verbatim, BY HAND. So the officer reads it to another guy, who writes it all down (using CARBON PAPER, no less - I thought I'd gotten away from that stuff!), stopping for smoke breaks, tea, phone calls, etc. This country is SORELY lacking in efficiency! But, finally, the report is official, signed, dated, assigned a number*, everything. Phew.
So I got back to the office, and emailed Baher just to tell him that the report's filed, and now I'm going to pursue other avenues (don't know WHAT other avenues, but he doesn't know that). He'd already asked me to meet with him to resolve this, but I told him that I wouldn't meet with him anywhere other than my office, during business hours, and only if he was going to return my money. That shut him up until my latest poke ... but this morning, I had another message waiting from him, which said, "I'd like to resolve this outside the police system, but I only have the $150 commission. I'm willing to give you $200 to let this go."
Huh. First of all, if he's innocent, why is he offering to pay me extra? Doesn't he have faith in the police system to suss out the truth? (Answer: hell, no! And, from what I've been reading in all of these reports, in his shoes I sure wouldn't assume that I'd be okay since I was innocent ...) But, a question I find much more interesting: HOW CAN HE ONLY HAVE $150 WHEN I WIRED HIM $200???? So I emailed him back with that question ... we'll see what he says.
So, good point: I think he wants to get this fixed. Bad point: I think it's going to take a HELL of a lot of effort. But, well, it isn't like I have a lot else going on ...
* Funniest thing EVER: So, we get back to the office and the lawyer that's been helping me, Akhmed, writes down the report information for me. The report number: 2. That's right. 2. My report is the second report that's been filed in June 2006. Which is even funnier because that means that Tak, my Japanese friend from the hostel, was the first. My theory - no one can find the new building to file any reports!! But, I guess if this is only the second case of the month, they might have the resources to investigate ...?
First of all, the tourist police office used to be located in the middle of downtown, but they recently built themselves a brand new (and VERY nice) building, OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF FREAKING NOWHERE! The day we first attempted to file a report, we went to the old office and were told we had to go to the new one ... but that it was closed for the dinner hour, and wouldn't open again until 6. Since it was about 4:45 at the time, Mr. Zarea (big boss-man) decided he would take the extra time and visit a friend in the hospital, so I killed some time chilling in the back seat of his car ... finally, we made it to the police station, only to learn that our info was wrong, and they actually wouldn't have anyone there to take my report until 10 PM. Hmm ... we decided to just return another day, during normal business hours.
So, we go back and tell the story to some chief-looking guy (nice office, bosses everyone else around). He actually CALLS Baher, who claims, "I only have my $150 commission, but I'll return that to her!" The police decide that it was Baher's agent who stole the money, without Baher's knowledge (which is clearly incorrect, since BAHER is the one who lied about how much the apartment cost - why would he do that so that his agent could take the money???), and so the officer decides that I need to return with a second report, that more explicitly discusses this agent - he's the "key figure" in this whole thing, apparently. Ahh, police work at its finest. But whatev ... so we get up to leave, and I ask if I can use the restroom. ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! This is a new building, and so it actually has a women's WC ... the problem is that no women work there, and women rarely visit, so it's kept locked. After 20 minutes of frantic searching, the maintanence staff was forced to conclude that the key had, in fact, been lost ... it was incredibly funny, and would have been even more so if I hadn't needed to pee so badly ... :P
So the next day, we return with my report written up, translated into Arabic, signed and dated by me and the translator, Osman ... it seems like it should be a quick get-in, get-out situation. But NO. Because the report can't just be filed ... it has to be transferred to an official report form - verbatim, BY HAND. So the officer reads it to another guy, who writes it all down (using CARBON PAPER, no less - I thought I'd gotten away from that stuff!), stopping for smoke breaks, tea, phone calls, etc. This country is SORELY lacking in efficiency! But, finally, the report is official, signed, dated, assigned a number*, everything. Phew.
So I got back to the office, and emailed Baher just to tell him that the report's filed, and now I'm going to pursue other avenues (don't know WHAT other avenues, but he doesn't know that). He'd already asked me to meet with him to resolve this, but I told him that I wouldn't meet with him anywhere other than my office, during business hours, and only if he was going to return my money. That shut him up until my latest poke ... but this morning, I had another message waiting from him, which said, "I'd like to resolve this outside the police system, but I only have the $150 commission. I'm willing to give you $200 to let this go."
Huh. First of all, if he's innocent, why is he offering to pay me extra? Doesn't he have faith in the police system to suss out the truth? (Answer: hell, no! And, from what I've been reading in all of these reports, in his shoes I sure wouldn't assume that I'd be okay since I was innocent ...) But, a question I find much more interesting: HOW CAN HE ONLY HAVE $150 WHEN I WIRED HIM $200???? So I emailed him back with that question ... we'll see what he says.
So, good point: I think he wants to get this fixed. Bad point: I think it's going to take a HELL of a lot of effort. But, well, it isn't like I have a lot else going on ...
* Funniest thing EVER: So, we get back to the office and the lawyer that's been helping me, Akhmed, writes down the report information for me. The report number: 2. That's right. 2. My report is the second report that's been filed in June 2006. Which is even funnier because that means that Tak, my Japanese friend from the hostel, was the first. My theory - no one can find the new building to file any reports!! But, I guess if this is only the second case of the month, they might have the resources to investigate ...?
posted by Teale at 2:15 PM
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