i received this anecdote from a friend: an egyptian village announced, on social media, it needed someone to donate to build a mosque there, and he would be rewarded. a man approached them and introduced himself as so-and-so, saying that he was a businessman and worked in the gulf.
he asked them about the cost of building the mosque, and they said 250 thousand pounds, so he asked them: how much did they collect? what is the remaining amount? they replied: “no penny, and we are poor, and our situation makes you no need to ask us, and the land of the mosque was donated by a philanthropist like you seven years ago!”
the man paid them 250 thousand pounds, in addition to another 50 thousand pounds to furnish the mosque. they thanked him and wished him to attend the foundation stone ceremony. he apologized to them under the pretext that his sponsor in the gulf asked him to quickly contract with 200 construction technicians and send them to implement a huge project, and he did not have time.
“they all jumped in, saying that he would earn a large wage from them, as they have skilled blacksmiths, excellent carpenters, and professional builders, so he asked them to prepare a list of the names and specializations of each of them, along with a copy of the passport of each individual with a specialty written on it, and most important of all to bring a health certificate showing that he is free of infectious diseases; in addition to opening an account in the bank, to transfer the salary to them monthly.
he said that he would return after a few days to receive all the statements, along with an amount of 5,000 pounds for the visa and travel ticket expenses.
he returned a week later and received the amounts and statements from them, then disappeared, and it was later revealed that he was a known fraudster.
what is sad about the matter is not that a person succeeded in fooling an entire village and making 700,000 pounds from an elaborate scam, but rather in the fact that these people took a million pounds out of their pockets in a week. they are the ones who previously announced their inability to collect a single penny in seven years to build their mosque.
and they want god to reward them.
the story of the imposter reminded me of a story, less villainous and more intelligent, that i had previously written about years ago, and brother “cancun” narrated it in a video and attributed it to himself after he changed its facts. it is summed up in an individual’s specialty in mediating to obtain a driving license for any resident in exchange for 150 dinars.
he added he has someone in the relevant department to help him with the matter, and if the person does not succeed in passing the test, for any reason, even if it is due to illness or absence, the amount will be returned to him in full. the man always stuck to his pledge, and gained people’s trust!
suddenly, after almost four years, his matter was revealed, after the person who failed the test and he was surprised by the result, even though he had paid the amount of 150 dinars to so-and-so, so the latter was dragged for investigation, from which it became clear that he did not know anyone in the concerned department except for the cleaning worker who was only telling him the result of the driving test.
he was waiting for the one who failed the test to come back to return to him the money he had paid, and he relied on the fact that whoever passed would most likely not get it back, and the amount of 150 dinars would be his share, without any compensation!
it was said at the time that he had earned more than 100 thousand dinars for himself, and no one, of course, came forward to claim that he had received a bribe from him, for fear of being framed as an accomplice in the crime!