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Shit happens when you least expect it. And sometimes you don’t even realise that shit has hit you. Now that’s what I call a good shit.
Ok, nuff of shit-talk.
Being suckered right under your nose is something you really don’t want to go through everyday. Actually, not ever, if that’s possible. I had the liberty of experiencing first-hand, the feeling of being angry, frustrated, baffled then suckered on Sunday. Wasn’t a good feeling I tell you. Not too distant from the kind you feel when you are the practical joke – just a whole lot worse. Not quite planned with Al-Qaeda precision, but it was planned nonetheless.
It all started off from a call from my colleague, who informed me of a potential print design job for a property company. Apparently, it was going to be a rush job and the Singapore-based client was eager to meet up with him to brief him on the project. However, as luck would have it, my colleague was on holiday in Johor and that’s how I had come in contact with the client instead. Sounds good so far right? Property client, needs brochures, collateral for launch, Singapore-based, nada nada.
Nice.
Some phone communication was exchanged directly with Desmond, the client, the day before, and an agreed meeting at Starbucks, Plaza Berjaya at 3.30pm, Sunday ensued. I was there on the dot, while Desmond appeared some 15 minutes later. I was already finishing up my coffee when he arrived. After a brief intro, I requested for his name card which he didn’t have, citing it was with his wife, a Ms. Ng, who was to join us with a few others. I gave him mine. Well-spoken and decently dressed, Desmond explained that the materials were with the others, and that they had trouble finding Plaza Berjaya, being unfamiliar with KL and more accustomed to the PJ area. Fine. 5 minutes passes. I then get a call from Desmond’s saved number and a Ms Ng greets me. Sounding friendly and bubbly, I was asked to pass my phone (which evidently is the crappiest piece of sh*t ever - Sony Ericsson T68i) to Desmond. Leaving his pouch and a document on the table where I was sitting, Desmond said he had to pop by at KL Plaza, as the others were there. He continued to speak to Ms Ng on the phone as he disappeared amongst the shopping crowd.
So I waited. 15 minute passes. I’ve read all the magazines in Starbucks. Strangely, I get a call from Desmond via Starbucks land line. He told me he would be 5 minutes. And so I waited. And waited.
And waited. 6.00pm. I had a hot chocolate and a bite of bun. My patience grew so incredibly thin, I decided to leave. I took his pouch and document, and left a note to Desmond at Starbucks to call my house phone to arrange for another meeting and obviously to reunite with my phone and he with his belongings.
Rushed off in haste back to PJ where I was to have dinner with my family.
I had no contact numbers with me at that time, but fortunately had my iPod which I store some contacts in. I called my colleague. I also try to call my phone but the line is dead. Both my colleague and I were baffled. All this trouble to steal a phone? Come on! How much is it worth? RM50? RM100? Or is there more to it? Attempting to rationalise, perhaps something happened to Desmond? My colleague attempts to call Desmond, and also his friend who introduced Desmond to my colleague.
The barter items which I really didn't want!
I realised I was truly suckered when I forced opened the pouch, locked with a padlock, the next day. A piece of rock wrapped in newspaper. An empty cigarette box. A diskette with keywords like “Financial statements”, “Board of Directors” and “CEO message”. How very well planned and covered up. How gullible I was.
To this very moment, I am still trying to find the logic behind the planning and effort to steal a phone. This modus operandi is actually known and reported in the news. There has been cases where victims were left with a suitcase full of rocks. The thing was that I did not suspect due to the fact that Desmond, was introduced to me by my colleague’s friend. A friend.
Upon some digging, it was revealed that Desmond actually called my colleague’s friend, part of a multi-national, with interest in purchasing some elevators for a property project. And it was also revealed that my colleague has never met this Desmond dude.
So. Suckered. Victim of a scam, a sham I am.
I am still wondering if there’s more to it than the phone. Perhaps the way they operate is extracting your contacts from your phone. Perhaps they were looking at other belongings but found that I had none on me and therefore just took my phone? Is there a possibility that they would use my data? I still find it horrendous that their plans are merely to steal a phone. And a crappy phone at that. I’m not bothered that they stole my phone. In fact, I was gonna give that piece of shit away anyways. It’s just the rationale and morality behind the act that I am totally pissed about. I’m not even going to mention that he will have his hands chopped off if I ever see him again. I can remember his face vividly.
Becareful peeps. You never know what’s out there these days. These people were professionals and they knew the industry, the terms. They were well-spoken and smooth. Keep your eyes peeled.
Last 5 posts in Raving Rants
- Server Downtime - December 10th, 2008
- Summons, summons, summons - October 3rd, 2008
- Dear Adobe - August 31st, 2008
- Streamyx Connection Up to Spec - August 26th, 2008
- Con Man Strikes Again - August 26th, 2008
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14 comments ↓
sorry for posting this here but just wanna let u know that ur caricature really look like u-lah! that smile of yours and the eyes, totally, totally the same.
sorry, the above comments was by me, casey shanks
hey, the bugger has no economy sense at all. what happens if u’re using a shittier sony ericsson, say t100? how to make a living like that? but at least he knows how to use a cheapskate pouch to lessen his “overheads”.
casey shanks
WTF? Cheapskate motherfarker.
I felt damn pissed when I read your post. Yeah, we’ve all heard about this scam via fowarded emails, but for real?! Desmond (obviously not his real name) ought to be gutted and his entrails be force fed to himself.
I am a firm believer of Karma, especially bad ones.
*hugs*
poor Vernon…
at least it was a lesson learnt
may “Desmond” get some incurable skin disease that rots his body as bad as his soul
got conned by a person that fits the description. as far as i know, he’s been conning designers for years since my encounter with him was back in the 90s. a few designer in doxob.com had encounters with him before but unfortunately some idiot mod deleted the thread.
i’d like to warn all designers doing freelances to be vary of this fella. Dark, big size, tall, curly hair, looks eurasian, uses digi number (016), smooth talker, know a bit of shit about printing-publishing line, offers quite a good deal for design fee, which is too good to be true if you do a lot of freelances. never ever loan him anything.
sounds familar, i’m 1 of the victim, back in beginning of the year.
anyway, what you could do next is warn all your designer friends, because his target, is eager designers out there.
and, i believe, he got my name/and phone number (landline) from a magazine that i’m involved in.
I suspcted something amiss, when he mentioned my boss’s name, where NO ONE ever address him that way.
Good luck
happened to me and my friend this year as well.
he appeared to us as YAP. not “Desmond”
does he look and speak like this?
http://cleanpapercut.com/conmanyap.htm
Juan,
The picture you sent to me is quite a good resemblance. I’m sending this to a friend who is in the Special Forces. He will be tracked down and put in his place.
I’m the same… Victims. It’s happened at Mutiara Hotel Cafe. As same bloody story teller … ya.. from Singapore came with his with. He named himself as William.. a corporate look but is a bloody conman!
As reached to the Hotel Mutiara cafe… started showing portfolio.. shaked hand.. supposely sit opposite chair, but later sit beside me as the reason can’t manage to see my portfolio instead. Talked very near( stink breath) as eye contact(I think this is the time I’ve being horned ” Pukau” in B.Malaysia)Proper way as meet client we should have eye-contact… afterthat..William said need to call his wife to come over to have a look on my portfolio… asked me to call by my handphone SonyEricsonK700… I told him its low batt.. can make a call… he refused to accept my reason.. I show him my phone. So, he said his wife need to guide the director from Sinapore to meet up & discuss about the project & the meeting room booked. So he asked me to charge at the receptionist counter… then, I said I go myself & charge it …I stand up ..on the way walking out from the Hotel Mutiara Cafe.. just reached the door, he pushed me & said ” I charge for you, you have a rest” as talking this ..his mouth is dam smelly as pushed me & grab my phone…( I won’t pass it, I just bought few days ago!..how can i do such a thing?) I felt blur & can’t do anything.. just stand there few second. Its really happened! I blinked my eyes & saw he took my phone..only I realised that I have pass my own phone to him already.. I chased him till the counter… & blinked my eyes again ..GONE!
Search everywhere…can’t find… Back to cafe..left the porch locked..inside is the same kind of stone with an envelope letter year 2003!!!…Probably this is done by two conman.. & the stone… probably is not a normal stone…Black magic… The hotel manager came & police too but its our own careless… they just told me to wash my face…. I felt sleepy since sitting near to him while presenting with eye-contact.. so beware of this everyone… especially designers.. freelancer.
almost got con the other day too. “Marcus” called and said he interested in my company’s product. Met up with him and all, and just as he was walking away with my phone (shitty one - Nokia 5210), I looked at him and said “Can I have my phone back?”. He stared at me, and gave my phone back. Good thing I was alert. He said he will be back in 5 minutes and walked off. Obviously, he never came back. Well Mr. Marcus… if you’re reading this, just remember, that what goes around, comes around.
Unfuckingbelievable. i guess these guys are just out to challenge themselves to see whether they are successful at conning or not. anyway i guess its time malaysian telco put a lock on stolen phones like here in australia. once you report the phone stolen, your IMEI number is fed to a database shared by all phone networks….resulting in the phone being blocked and useless across all networks….unless you bring to another country or you change the IMEI number which i think is not that easy and illegal. I guess that the best way. BTW…..all the effort to get a T68i….HAHAHA…..i guess you must be feeling a bit pissed but still can piss in pants laughing your head off….but it was a good phone in its time.
[…] same guy. If you’ve been following the v.Blog for several years, you would have known that I was hit too way back in 2004. He started his rounds again a few months back, and we set a trap for him after he had hit one of my […]
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