The story of T and the missing 72.000$.

This is my story. The way I see this case, and the way i remember things. Names in this story are changed to protect all and to avoid further trouble. English is not my first language – so sorry for typos and gramma mistakes The most important is to get my story out’’

 

 

March 6, 2017. Text from T – ‘Good morning baby. Sorry, I’m very sick so I fell asleep. I just called the guy. Give me your account number, IBAN, Swift code and account holder in the bank please. Tomorrow he will make the request and the money will be with you within 48 hours. <3 <3.’’

 

 

HOW IT ALL STARTED

 

This story starts in April 2016. I got one of my life biggest opportunities, took it and dragged my suitcases to the middle east to start a new life with the job I could only dream of. The whole job change was very spontaneous, but when I got the offer, I never had to think twice. I’ve always been very adventurous and really a guy who took his work very serious. I was nervous of leaving my family and friends back home, but my family supported me, and my friends guaranteed that they’ll support me and still be a big part of my life in my new adventure.

 

I was full of excitement and started this new lifestyle and job on a high. Easy to say – I never really missed an opportunity to party, date and meet new people. I swiped left, right and center, and really enjoyed meeting new people. That being on an app, in the club or in a social setting didn’t really matter to me, but it was very rare I wasn’t to be found on the dancefloor of the clubs mingling with strangers. I also very fast got a ´reputation´. A reputation of being this guy everyone knew for some reason, and people would start asking me about the next party in town. It all escalated when I started ´dating´ one of the party organizers and slowly started helping him and his group with advertising and even controlling the door at some of the events. I loved it. I am a social butterfly, and I really enjoy being with people. Some people would say that I don’t know how to be alone, but I really do – I just really feel in my right element, surrounding myself with others. My club kid date never managed to stick to one guy only, and when I found out about his many other boys, I boycotted him and became closer friends with his business partner. A friendship that still stands today, and a friendship I appreciate a lot.

 

Together with the job, came a lifestyle I could only dream of. The company I worked for, treated us very well, paid us a good taxfree paycheck every month, and gave me the chance to explore the world, while living a lavish lifestyle in the city I lived. The biggest concern would be what beachclub I should attend the next day, what fancy restaurant I should visit in the weekend and what party would be good. Some people would say it could be a ‘dream life’, and I really felt like it was.

I wanted a car. I wanted a big car. Cars are super expensive in Denmark. Probably the most expensive in the world, so I quickly decided I would take the opportunity of getting a large car. Looking back that was kinda stupid, due to smaller cars costing peanuts compared to back home – but the lavish lifestyle kinda went to me, and a big car I needed. I teamed up with an old colleague from my previous airline in Denmark and her, at that time, husband. He knew a lot about cars, and together we went to different showrooms to try out cars. I know absolutely NOTHING about cars. Can it start? GREAT! Can it play my favorite Spotify playlist? SOLD.

I ended up buying a beautiful Jeep Grand Cherokee. We are talking V8 engine, 4×4 and other stuff I would need google to understand. I paid around 18.000$ for the car. Obviously on a car loan, just like everyone else in this city I lived. The car market is crazy, and you can buy and sell cars in a second. I borrowed the money from the bank, and everything was perfect. We are talking a car, with the same kilometres will cost around 72.000$, so boy I felt like on top of the world. I was the only one of my crew friends with a car, and boy I loved picking and driving my friends around. We would always have carpool karaoke wherever we would go, and the freedom the car gave me, changed my everyday life to the better. The freedom really made me feel on top of the world. Again, would a smaller more normal car do it as well? YES, absolutely. But I was happy, didn’t borrow more money than I was able to pay back, and I was right on the road with my ’little’ white car.

 

MEET TOMMY

 

Living in this crazy city, flying all over the world and meeting new people, quickly showed me that having a closer circle of friends near you, really was important. I created my own little bubble, and in this was Ahmed, David and Mario. From now on referred to as A, D and M.

A became a really close friend of mine, and we actually met on the dancefloor and just clicked immediately. This will later turn on to be one of my dearest friends this day today. D and I flew together a couple times, and I kept bringing him to parties with A, and we became a little close group doing most things together. M and I knew each other a little from Denmark, so we clicked fast and got great along alone, and with both A and D. It was a nice little group of friends, going out together, doing movie nights and other stuff that friends would do.

 

Life went by so fast while having the most fun I’ve ever had, and the swiping on different apps never stopped. One day I saw Tommy (from now on T) on Tinder, and he wasn’t even my type at all. He is middle eastern, not very tall and not a type I would normally swipe yes to. But I remember he had a catching profile bio, so I gave him a swipe yes, and it was a match. What the hell am I going to do with this little, short man? It would not be a date – that’s for sure. We talked a lot, and the conversation went on for a long time. Days and weeks. At some point, i think T realized that I was not interested in a romantic relationship with him, so he invited me for a lunch to meet for the first time. I was not even nervous or anything, because we had the best chemistry on text and calls, so what could go wrong?

 

December 28, 2016.  Text from T – ‘’haha, you think I will take all your money and run away lol??? Bastard hahahaa’’

 

Let’s talk about T. He’s born in 1993, so a little younger than me. He is short. I would say maybe 168 ish, and is middle eastern. Sweet talker like crazy, charming and always available. Online 24/7 and a guy that anyone would like. He is working with cars, and apparently have 2 car showrooms in the well-known car dealer area in the city. He lived in a small villa apartment in an area I was well familiar with, but never visited. He was charming. Always said the right words, and always made you feel good.

 

My first meeting with T went very well, and we started to hang out whenever I was in town and off from work. I introduced him to A, D and M, and our little group would always go out together, have nice dinners together and always have a good time. T was never afraid of paying the bills for me when we had dinner or drinks. Not in that rich kid kinda way, but I was more in his culture that I was never allowed to pay myself. He never bought me anything fancy, but we are talking dinners, drinks and entry to waterpark and whatever activities we would do together. I really liked T, and he liked me. As friends. He even took me to his car show rooms, made me meet his colleagues and I saw – with my own eyes, his offices and cars he was dealing with. He was a busy man. Always on the phone, speaking in both English and his own language. Some days he was upset, and would always share with me the deails of car shipments he was expecting, when the customs didn’t go as he wanted, and kept me always informed about his life. He had a big business going on. That was very clear. Some days he made a lot of money, and other days he would have a hard time clearing customs with cars he bought from mostly Germany.

 

In the coming period I didn’t see T that much, because I found myself a boyfriend in the meantime. I didn’t give much attention to T in this period, because I was crazy in love. We would talk now and then, but we both made sure to keep the contact. There was never any jealousy from T towards me and my new boyfriend, even though I knew he still had a thing for me. That was very clear always, without being too much.

 

January 11, 2017  text from T  – ‘’Where are you? Yesterday I was super naughty with someone who texted me on Instagram. Unexpected. Don’t worry, we both know you are the number 1 sexiest guy in this country. Check the rankings, you will be number one’’

 

One day I decided to take my new boyfriend out for a little roadtrip. Hallo, I had this amazing huge car. Of course, I had to try impressing this new boy with a trip far away. We are hitting the highway and suddenly my bf is like ‘babe, do you think this smoke is normal?’. I was busy looking around the windows and was quick to reply ‘What smoke?’. It turned out to be from my car. Smoke came up from the engine, the AC and every other opening. I of course stopped on the side of the street, and the only person I thought to call was T. As always, he was there with a helping hand immediately. He sent one of his staff to pick the car on a truck, and as a help he also sent a car from the showroom for me to use for my date. I was overwhelmed with the help I got from him, but I was more worried about the bill from the mechanic. I paid most of my salary for my car loan to get it out of the way, so wasn’t really in my budget to have a car that broke down.

 

The date went on and a couple of days later I received my car back, fixed and ready to drive. T told me his mechanic fixed the small problem, and i shouldn’t worry about the bill. I was surprised, but on the other hand, I would have done the same for my friends. Because T and I was friends. We really were. At this point we have known each other for months, and weekly had both lunch, dinner and party together. Alone or with the boys. We had our little circle and even a group chat where we could discuss the drama in life.

 

My relationship didn’t work out as I wanted, and I was in a very bad mood. T went out of his way to try making me feel better. He sent me balloons to my house, and even booked us into a spa day in one of the city’s many five star hotels. I was never in any moment thinking, that he was in love with me. I felt that we already talked about this subject, and I literally just had a relationship with another guy that he supported, so I was not worried about anything related to him and love. He was genuinely a very nice guy. Again – T never ever bought things for any of us. This is a very important thing to have in mind. We never received anything from him, and he therefor had no motive to want anything back from us, if that makes sense.

 

YOU GET A CAR AND YOU GET A CAR

 

Time went by, and our little group got closer and closer. We literally spent all free time together. We would go to the movies, dinners, lunch and a lot of parties. T loved the parties. He always asked me where to find the next ‘LGBT’ friendly party in town. I knew it all. Literally sent out advertising for those parties for years, and I was used to getting asked daily about the new party of the week. And the one and only reason for not finding me on the dancefloor, was if I had a flight. Literally we had parties every single day of the week, and my huge FOMO made sure I could attend as many as possible. Looking back on that life, I simply can’t believe how we or mostly I, did it. The amount of money spent on those parties, the amount of shit I stuffed into my body – dangerous amount of alcohol and bad food I tell you. Thank God I am a little better now, but the parties will always be a thing I just can’t let go of.

 

T kept himself busy with the car showroom, and both M and D was interested in buying a car. Who else should we trust than our friend, who always showed us the best side of himself, and never gave us any reason not to believe him. M and D each found a couple of cars they wanted to try, and we – quiet often went to test drive different styles, models and brands, until they both decided on a car. M wanted a car for a budget of about 17.000$, where D was more into something fancy for about 24.000$.

M made the payment on a blank cheque without signature for a downpayment of 2500, so that he would be signing it when the car was with him and so that T could clear his credit score at the insurance company before the final payment. D was doing the same, but because the car was in the expensive range, he needed to pay the money to the car dealership directly, so that the car would be made ready for him. We are talking a beautiful Dodge Sport with personally engraved leather seats that all of us really loved. D got a receipt from the showroom; all was good and we only needed to wait for the cars to be ready.

M was a little sneaky and asked T if he could maybe borrow a small little car from his many smaller ones at the showroom, just until his new car would be ready. Without even thinking, he gave both D and M a little car they could use until their own was ready from the show room.

We are talking a showroom that we all have been to, cars that we all have been test driving and even seen D’s name engraved in the leather seats. Everything was amazing, and the boys got really excited.

 

Same night we all hit the club – including T, and I remember he wanted to celebrate the closed deals with us, and he made sure that he paid the entry fee, the drinks and the food after the club. That was actually normal for him to do, so we ended an amazing night and moved on from there. Or rather, some of us ended the night there. I don’t know why, but we all got super drunk, and after sending the other boys away, T and I was not ready to stop the party. It wasn’t rare that T had booked hotels in the city for the party nights, so that he wouldn’t have to drive home to the house in the early mornings. His hotel this weekend was literally next to my house, and one thing took another, and I spent the night in his room. Let’s make it up to the imagination what we did, but let’s also say that we didn’t just watch Netflix.

The next morning it was all a bit weird, but we took a quick talk, and agreed that this was an action from two drunk boys, and we wanted to keep our close friendship rather than fucking it up with trying dating or anything like that. And let’s be honest – he was not my type at all. As in not at all.

 

February 19, 2017. T text ‘’ I don’t have anyone else than you guys. You guys are everything for me. <3 #singleforever’’

 

 

A few more days went by, and I was living life as normal. Or what was normal for a life where I lived. Beach clubs, bars, restaurants and all that comes with that. I was working as well of course. I was flying all around the world, and this was my first year as an international flight attendant. I was thriving, enjoying every moment and barely slept. I really don’t know how I did it. I could land from a 16 hour flight at 8pm, rush home for a shower and hit the club by 11pm, close it at 3am following by an afterparty – few hours of sleep and off we go again. Sometimes I sit back and wonder how we did it. But I guess the time was different. We were younger, had way more energy and everything was so exciting for us.

 

On a normal Tuesday, my car decided to break down again. T fixed it last time, and I was actually gonna have lunch with him on that specific day, so I called him. He told me not to worry, to tell him the location of the car, and his people would come pick it up and bring it to the garage.

We had our lunch, and T insisted on borrowing me a car while he would fix mine. M and D already had their little small car while their new ones got ready, so I decided to say yes to his offer.

 

Little did I know, that this was the last time I saw my own car in a very very very long time.

 

Later the same afternoon T called me. He needed my location, so that his driver could drop me the car for me. I told him, and the driver called me an hour later. I walked towards him to get the keys, and I saw it was a Mercedes key. The driver was one of his workers from the show room, and he didn’t speak English. So he gave me the key and left me alone to find the car. I pressed and pressed, and suddenly I heard that BIIP. YOU ARE KIDDING ME!!!! T sent me a BRAND-NEW Mercedes G Wagon. We are talking the LA Hollywood Kim Kardashian car that in Denmark cost more than 100. 000$.I remember this car like it was yesterday. It was this 2017 limited edition, plastic still on the seats and it just smelled new and expensive. Light army green colour and boy I can tell you I was excited. M and D didn’t believe their own ears when I called them. They had that little, small normal car to drive around, and I got this fancy ass thing? It became very clear who the favourite was for sure.

 

Lets make one thing clear. Nobody drives a Mercedes G wagon where we lived, unless they had tons of money or was a part of the Royal Family. But here I was, pulling up to the beach or the airport for work. You should have seen the heads I’ve turned when I parked and out came this young white boy. What a life. I was loving it. The excuse from T was, that he had no other cars available right now, and I only deserved the best for the best. He heard no complaints from me.

 

And no complaints were given. I was loving it.

 

THINGS ARE GETTING DODGY

 

March 6, 2017. Text from me to T ‘’Are you okay babe? I don’t know what’s going on today. I hear so many different things and don’t know what to believe anymore. ‘’

 

T was fixing my car as promised, but apparently they needed some spare parts from Jeep, and that was to be sent from overseas due to my model not being the most standard one. I was not worried – I had the beautiful G Wagon to drive anyway.

 

On a normal Thursday I wanted to prepare some stuff before getting visitors from home, and I was planning to hit the mall. Suddenly the car didn’t want to start. Totally dead and no way of starting it. This was a brand-new car, and I was sure this wasn’t normal. T ensured me that all will be fixed and sent me his driver to pick up the car on the truck – together with a new car for me to use. Remember, my own car was still at his garage to be fixed.

 

I received a brand-new Range Roger Sport limited edition model to drive. I called T immediately and was wondering why he kept sending be these fancy and amazing cars, when all I wanted was a normal car to take me from a to b. Again, his reply was only ‘the best for the best’. At this point I would say I’ve known T for almost a year, and we meet multiple times a week. Either alone or with the other guys, and he is still finalising the paperwork for the cars for M and D.

 

One day I receive a call from T, saying that my car needs to fix multiple things, and he would suggest me to fix these things and get rid of the car. It was too much trouble getting the spare parts and it would keep causing me trouble for a long time. I felt the same, and agreed on the idea of selling the car to get my money back and get a more reliable one. At one point T even suggested me driving the car into a building, into the ocean or something like that – simply to claim the insurance money. I am a very honest person, and of course I told him that I would never do that.

 

My car was bought on a car loan. That is very normal where we lived, and in order to sell the car again, I would need to clear that loan and get a clearance letter. I did not have these money on hand, so I would do a quick little personal load, pay off the car, sell it, and pay the personal loan out. Makes sense? Quick and easy process. In these days I was flying like crazy, and I barely had time to sit for a minute. My car loan was with a specific bank, and funny enough the same bank as T was using for his company and loans for his customers. T explained the whole process and I crosschecked with the bank, and all sounded good.

 

I write a cheque of 17.700$. This is where my life changed completely. You’ll understand soon.

Cheques are quiet normal thing to do in the country we lived in, and I trusted and believed my bank.

But here comes the tricky part. I was banking with a different bank than where the loan was, and therefor needed to cash the cheque to get it transferred to the car loan. T promised to help me in the whole process, and I trusted and believed every word he said. He was doing these things on the daily, and never doubted a second what was about to happen.

I double checked with my bank, if T would be allowed to help me through his company. This way it would be done officially and without the hassle of me running forward and backward.

 

I hand my cheque to T. With clear instructions from my bank and the receiving bank, with the promise that all will be done in a matter of hours.

 

I received calls from both T and the bank, and I get the bank on the phone. I was just landed from a 16 hours flight, so I was jet lagged, tired and a bit confused. The call from the bank goes something like this:

‘’Dear Mister Mikkel. I have a mister T here at the bank, trying to cash out your cheque with the intentions of transferring it to XXX BANK to settle the car loan. Can you please confirm that I will allow him to do so.’’

 

I of course confirm without thinking more about it – the money was never to be taken out in cash. Only transferred the other bank via cheque. So all sounded perfect.

 

Couple hours later I receive an official statement from a third bank. A bank I’ve never heard of, but after a trip on google found it to be a normal real bank. That document stated ALL personal information from T, personal information of me, my different account numbers, amount, transfer, stamps, signatures – ALL! I thought it was a bit weird, because I wasn’t really banking with this specific bank. I call T. He said there was some problems with the cheque, so he took the money out and transferred them from his own account to mine instead, so that we cleared out the loan that way. The paper slip I got was to confirm that he transferred the money over to me, and was an OFFICIAL paper from the bank. I even emailed the bank to confirm the slip and asked if it was legit. All was good.

 

Days go by and I still never received the clearance letter from the bank regarding the car loan. My car is still at the garage according to T, and the same morning he sent me a picture of it saying ‘’Your little baby is missing you and can’t wait for you to pick her up again’’.

 

Later that afternoon I receive a text message from the authorities saying I got a speed ticket in my vehicle. How? My car was broken and waiting at the garage.

T confirms that he used to car, but it was only to move it from one garage to another. Sounded weird to me, but he guaranteed to pay the fine of course, and I didn’t think much more about this.

Next morning the range rover didn’t start. AGAIN? Another car with the same problem??? Again, the car gets picked up and I receive a brand new Mercedes. Only to have the same problem again a week later. That also didn’t want to turn on when starting. Exchanged with a Lexus 4×4.

 

 

THINGS ARE GETTING REAL

 

At this point M and D are losing patience with T and all his excuses to, why their car was never ready to be picked up yet. Mostly M. He really wants his car or his money bank, and keep pushing T for updates. M is very direct and takes no shit, so he kept pushing T for more and more information and a proper timeline – only to annoy T even more. The same goes with D. He literally test drove his brand new car just few weeks ago, saw the engraving in the leather and was head over heels to get the car delivered. All just pushed away with multiple excuses from T.

 

March 8, 2017. The day I will never forget.

M and D was supposed to meet T at the car registration center to pick up their brand-new cars. We couldn’t wait. I was still waiting for the money to settle the car loan, but with the paper signed and stamped from the bank, I knew it would happen in a matter of few days. In this country nothing goes smooth, so I knew it would be fine.

 

T never shows up.

M calls him. The excuse was that he was at the wrong test center. He was at another. We went there.

T wasn’t there.

Minutes later our calls don’t go thru. We can’t send messages to him, can’t call him and we suddenly can’t find him on social media.

 

The bitch ran away. With all our money. There never was any car. There never was any friendship. There was never anything. It was a yearlong plan from his side, to make us trust him enough to make his plan work. We are talking 4 of his friends. (I left one person out of the story, because I don’t know much about his side). Totally an amount of 72.000$.. Gone. Disappeared.

 

Words cannot describe how I felt in the moment when I realized we have been scammed. Scammed of a friend we loved so much. A friend that has been with us daily for a year. I was in a state of mind that I cannot even explain. The same was D and the other guy. M was angry. Upset. Wanted to drive and kill this bitch. Screaming and shouting. And he was the one loosing the least money.

 

March 10. T suddenly appears again. Excuses about some family emergency. Now he had 4 angry boys on his neck. We all want our money. He sends me following text; ‘’If you want your money, call this guy, He got the money. I am out of the country for an emergency.’’

 

I called the guy immediately, just to find out that he didn’t have my money. He laughed and asked if I knew where T was, because he cheated him for a lot of money and needs to find him. This second, I realized for real, that I would never see my money again.  I have never been so broken before. I felt like I lost everything in this second. I know that this was just money, but he didn’t only have my money – but also my car. I didn’t even have my car. I was as close to teared apart as anyone could be. Devastated.

 

BITCHES I AM BACK

 

Countless calls, texts and any possible way to get in contact with T, he suddenly appeared a few days later with the following text ‘’Hi babe. How are you? How’s everything?’’

 

I was fuming. Angry. Upset. Sad. Everything.

 

He totally denied running away with any money. According to him, I owed him the 17.000$.  and he just took them as a payment. He then told me that all those cars I have been driving wasn’t cheap, and I of course should pay for them. So, the 17.000$.  was his. And he would send me location for my own car, so I could pick it up. That location never came. He also said that I never gave him any money to pay out any loan, and what in the hell was wrong with me. We never talked about that he said. Also, according to him, he never ran away. He had nothing to hide he said. I owed him money and that’s the money he took. But I never owe him anything in my entire life. He was making things up, like I was talking completely nonsense. I felt like screaming into a pillow. Screaming and screaming, but nobody could hear me. What was he talking about? We had all that conversation the last year and now he’s saying we never had? Was I out of my mind? Did I make things up that never happened? ? ?

 

I was at this point, so upset that I couldn’t breathe properly, barely slept at night, and constantly had anxiety on a level I wouldn’t even wish for my worst enemy. How could he be this calm? How could he say that I owed him money, when I obviously had every single evidence of not doing so. My heart was completely broken. I felt betrayed deep in my soul. It was so hectic.

 

I write a long text to T, telling that I would like to solve this case as friends, and not to involve the police. But if he left me no choice, I would go to the police to open a case against him.

 

Few minutes later he replies, ice cold. ‘’I am a businessman. I know how to deal with this. Feel free to open a case. I owe you nothing and have all the evidence I need for the case. I know the rules and laws here. I am sure you can get some advice from the police if you want.  They will help you. But remember that you have advertised for gay stuff and we have many conversations about gay stuff – and that is not legal. Remember that! ;)’’

 

I froze. Was he serious? Was he really going there? I just couldn’t take it anymore.

 

THE AFTERMATH AND WHERE IS MY CAR

 

A couple days later I had finally read thru all of our conversations on social medias, collected screenshots, printed the documents from the bank he sent me, and I felt ready. Ready to try my case. I was dating Khalid at this time. Khalid was a super sweet Arabic guy, who lived a quiet life playing violin and reading books – a very different guy from myself. But Khalid also worked at the police. I told him my case, and he said it would be hard. Police wasn’t the best to deal with ‘small’ cases like this, but he promised to try and help me.

Together we collected all the evidence and drove to the main police station. I was shaking. I have never been so nervous in my entire life – and I really don’t get nervous easily. Khalid took the lead. Not everyone at the police station would speak English, so it was better he spoke. We met the officer and Khalid started talking. I had no idea what they talked about. No idea what went on, but I was hoping and praying for the best. Suddenly the police officer turns to me and say ‘’Why are you this stupid?’’ followed by a laugh. That second, I knew that I wouldn’t get any help.

Khalid told me that they would try the case at court at the following day, but the officer said that they would maybe charge him to pay back my money, but there would be done no effort to find him or anything. So basically, it was useless. I was let down by the police. By the ones supposed to help me. If I wasn’t broken already, I broke right there. I really needed those money back. I had now a personal loan, a car loan and no car. All just for this scam. I was desperate.

 

The Lexus 4×4 car I was driving from him; I was planning to keep until I get the money. That plan didn’t last long. Next morning, I couldn’t start the car. It was geo blocked.  It was parked at my new house. Nobody knew I was living there, because I literally just moved in the middle of all this drama. The next morning the car was gone. Gone with the wind. Nowhere to be found. HOW? He didn’t know where I lived. Overnight someone came to take the car.

It turned out to be rental cars he gave me. Cars he paid to rent to keep me quiet and not asking about my own. When he didn’t pay the bills to the rental companies, they geo block the cars to not start and track them and pick them up. I never knew until later.

 

Where was my car then? I had no idea. I remembered he sent me a picture of the car saying it missed me, and in the background, I could see a name of a shop. I zoomed in and had no other choice than trying google. That shop had two locations. I picked one, took M under my arm and went there. We are talking deep countryside. Nothing out there. Chickens running around the streets together with workers biking. Here it was. My little baby. Broken. Destroyed. All four wheels flat. A huge bump on the side. It was destroyed.

 

I found the workshop the car was parked in front, and tried to explain the owner that the car was mine. He refused. T dropped off the car – it was his car. I explained again that the car was mine, I had my ID’s inside and I could prove it from the registration. He refused. His English was very bad, but I understand that he was also looking for T. He owed him money. And also, he didn’t even have the key for the car. T had that.

Couple of hours went by, the garage guys was trying to film M and me and take pictures, and it all was a little dodgy. Suddenly a car comes towards us. Remember we are in a very dodge area in the middle of nowhere. The car breaks fast. Opens the window a tiny bit. Throws out a key, and set off with high speed. I am telling you. Like a very bad American movie. One step closer to my car.

 

The guy still refused to give it to me. He wanted to consult the police, because he was missing money too and T had instructed him to not give the car to anyone. I took the old garage man into our rental car, and together with M we went to the police office nearby. He wanted their word for it, so he could give me the car. The refused to help, and asked us to meet at court next day. My experience with Kahlid and the police was still nagging me, so I refused to show up in court. The garage guy knew another police guy privately, and after a few calls he directs us to a car dealer. Inside the store, in the back of it all, down some stairs we find an office. Here sits this heavily obese guy with the biggest smile and greets us with perfect English. The garage guy explains the case, and the police suddenly laughs ‘Haha, give the boys his car. This is his car. No problem’. The old garage guy was not convinced, and took about 100 pictures of me, M and all my documents. He was scared. Scared of T. It was obvious. The garage guy wants money. Money for having my car at his garage for about 3 months, and for taking care of the car. At this point I barely have money for food. I simply have no money to give, and here I am with a destroyed car and thousands of dollars gone. I make a deal with him. He’ll fix my car for a good price, and we call it even. I could find another garage to fix it, but it would cost me a lot to move the car, so I thought I was a good deal for us both. He agreed.  And he did fix my car. The feeling driving out of that garage with at least my car back, was unbelievable. Words can’t describe the feeling I had at that moment. At least I had my car with me.

 

The car kept having problems, and when I realized I really needed some fast cash to get rid of some of the bank loans, I decided to sell the car. I got a stupidly low offer but I had no choice. I sold it for way less than I had left on the loan. Before I could sell it, I had to clear it out from the systems. Just to find out that T had made speed and parking fines for about 1000$. Money I had to pay before I could sell it. He had obviously used my car as his personal car, and all the damage was made by him.

 

The story kind of ends here. We couldn’t do more. There was nothing to do. We had to give up. Admit and accept that the money was gone and never to be seen again. We all lost our money. Except for M. He got his money back. Remember he wrote his cheque without a signature? T made a false signature and the bank accepted it. They should never, because the signature was nothing like the normal one M gives. One day he just received a text saying the money was taken from his account. The bank panicked and refunded him his money.

 

WHERE IS T NOW?

 

The answer is – we don’t know. The months after he escaped, he was very active on social media, traveling the world as a ‘travel blogger’. Lived life in France with his, at that time, boyfriend that later became his enemy too. We did everything in our way to try canceling his plans of getting married in Europe for a visa – and without knowing it 100%, I am pretty sure we succeeded. We told our story to every person we could get in contact to there, and if we got the right information – his visa was never accepted. T never got charged with anything and lived a free life after stealing all the 72.000$.. Fair? No. What could we have done differently? I really don’t know. 26.000$.  was lost from me in total. Including the money T stole, the money I lost on repairing the car, the fines and other expenses referring to T. One thing is clear. He cannot put his feet in the country we lived in. He is banned and wanted by the police, f0r many other reasons than just my story.

 

4 years later, just before covid, I did my last and final payment of my loans. I cried and celebrated like I’ve never done before. I even tear up just writing this. I am an honest person. I trusted a person and I had to man up and pay my dues. I am not asking for any petty or something like this, but god ….. it was rough. Years of turning every coin, not making any savings and struggling paying the bills. All just because I trusted someone that you really loved having in your life. But I did it. I paid it all off. For that I am very proud of myself. And I feel okay with saying it out loud.

 

And just like that … The story of how i trusted and lost a lot of money. And what do I want from telling this story?

I want people to be careful. To think twice. Trust people. But trust with caution. Sadly, this is the reality now. Because there are thousands of people out there doing the same. Just waiting for their next victim. I learned a lot from this and have grown as a person. And could I have an impact of just ONE less person ending in the same shit as me – mission accomplished.

 

 

Thank you for reading all the words of my story. This is my story of how I lost 26.000$.  by trusting someone I had very close to my heart. The story of how people use trust as a weapon to get things they want. There is way more to the story than what I’ve written here, but this is the version I put out there.

 

Love, Mikkel