How to get my money back from a (wealthy) friend.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543363#Comment_118543363

In October 2020 op says "I was advised by my bank to open 3 separate saving accounts with €15K each and earn 1.35% interest per year. I happily agreed"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543479#Comment_118543479

Don't know any bank paying 1.35% on lump sums like that. Pretty sure that was a fib.

Covid is messing with a lot of people, the OP looking to have a conversation.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543490#Comment_118543490

What about the baby mouse thread?

StevenToast

Ya....the OP is a troll.....mr feg style.....the mods should be keeping tabs....

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543505#Comment_118543505

What about it?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543624#Comment_118543624

Only if reported.

I don't see Walter Mitty types the same as trolls. I have no time for trolls. Walter Mitty's get sympathy at least.

StevenToast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543627#Comment_118543627

Ok fair enough....but people need to take a good pinch of salt reading this thread....

Not sure what a the OPs savings has to do with any of this anyway?

he was robbed of €500, how much money he otherwise has is irrelevant.

goldenmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543628#Comment_118543628

Bit more than a pinch I'd say.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545872#Comment_118545872

He said to the ' friend' I said that Christmas at home in my home country exhausted my budget

He also said he is on €32.000pa.

45 K plus 32,000 pa and his budget is exhaused by spending 500.

Of course he should not have been robbed if he was but i don't see how 45k and a 32,000pa could leave him broke after 500. He should be able to afford a soilicitor

All i am saying now is his story doesn't add up. I may be wrong hopefully we get update

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546440#Comment_118546440

Okay but he said Christmas in his home country, so he at least had flights to pay for, perhaps a hotel, gifts and living expenses while away from home.

he’s on €32k a year, presumably after tax, not a week or month in fairness. like it seems all these transactions with the “friend” were all at one time more or less, so out of his €615 a week wages, €500 is gone.

His savings are irrelevant to me, those are savings and not a factor of a monthly or weekly budget.

I think to say that because the OP makes €32k a year and has a few bob in savings (again assuming he even has anything left that was redundancy pay) means his story is fabricated is nonsense.

road_high

Its more for me that from his previous posts and discussions the op comes across as being fairly financially astute. So to land himself in this idiotic position seems a bit implausible is all

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118547719#Comment_118547719

OK true but I cannot see 45 k vanish like that. it was only last night i realised he was the person who posted about the friend /flat taking a picture. Seems to get into unusual situations. seems suspect to me anyway

CrookedJack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118548132#Comment_118548132

I've looked back and nothing in previous threads contradicts what the poster says here, and I don't find your reasoning very compelling. I would go so far as to say the voice is consistent and the character that got up to the earlier escapades seems like one who would have the current problems.

Either way I'm not sure why it would matter - in every thread for all intents and purposes it could be a complete fabrication and the practical effect would be the same. Whether this is an elaborate fantasy or completely true there's no indication the the OP is trying to scam anyone, or somehow trying to sneer at us with his clever ruse. He's presenting a situation and allowing us to distract ourselves by reading and discussing it, it make no difference if its real, so why would it bother you? You don't know anyone involved, and will never meet any of them so invented or actual they'd be just as real to you.

Yesterday I posted a registered letter to the elderly father of a person who owes me a fair bit of money and who recently pressurised me to top it up with screenshot of debt seeking by landlord ( yeah, absolutely mea culpa culpa that I conceded!). I did this as very last resort as the explanation for recurrence of debt l, but it just didn’t add up in any way. The sort-of explanation was that the household bills/care necessities were beyond earnings. By my own calculations this simply did not ring true.

Response was some immediate repayment. More fundamentally it commenced a much-needed discussion within the household as to how such a debt might have arisen and how it could be solved. An issue that not only inflicted personal pain into myself, but obviously consequences onto others.

it seems the individual did not reckon on my taking such action, but if they knew me long enough, or taken heed of my character, they would have known that I would never have met such a thing lie unattended in the long run.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118548633#Comment_118548633

It makes a big difference to me if its real.i have tried to help him and do not have time to waste on made up situations. I don't know why you say it is about distraction.if it was hypothetical he could have said. And you don't know if i will ever meet them or not. Anyone can meet anyone .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118548633#Comment_118548633

As for real world impact. We had at least one poster admit they were feeling very angry emotions because of the OPs predicament. We had another poster affected to the point he was urging people to pay money to the OP and offered €50 himself.

So, it would not be an entirely victimless escapade. The OP themselves doesn't seem to have contradicted the view it might be made up.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118548973#Comment_118548973

Correct. Most people who responded gave their time and energy trying to help or make suggestions

If it is not true it might make people less likely to respond to a similar situation which may ne true denying the genuine poster assistance.

Claw Hammer

The story about a solicitor contacting him by pm and helping him write a letter is obviously rubbish as well. Solicitors are not allowed tout for business and if they gave him any help they would have to process him for anti-money laundering which is a couple of hours of paperwork. the fees a solicitor would want to take on a matter like this would be more than the debt. There is little doubt that the whole story is makey-up.

road_high

Yea even in the very unlikely event a real solicitor made contact here they still wouldn’t be doing for free and any representations made would be multiples of €500 debt. And still wouldn’t get any where as the “borrower” has a whole load of ways out

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118549704#Comment_118549704

Well I don’t think there’s anything against offering advice a solicitor in private? I know you absolutely cannot post anything on threads in the way of actual legal advice, but all he was offering to do as I understand is send a letter on headed paper for the most part?

I just can’t see the OP being bothered to make it up, it’s also generally fairly apparent when BS is BS. But could be wrong all the same.

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118549959#Comment_118549959

Solicitors are not allowed tout for business. If a solicitor uses his letterhead it has to be on behalf of a client even if it is for free, which is what contacting a poster on an internet site is. That means passport photos, utility bills etc have to be on file. It would take quite some time for a solicitor to take a proper attendance before a letter could be written. It is utterly ridiculous to think any solicitor would get involved in a situation like this and offer any kind of help for free, even if it was genuine. If the solicitor doesn't provide details of theirn name and office address with phone and email, how would anyone know the pm came from a solicitor at all and not another walter Mitty? What solicitor would want to undergo the hassle of getting involved in a piffling mess whyich could result in a complaint to the Law Society or the LSRA?

Saying something must be true because a person doesn't seem to have a reason to lie is nuts.

dublin49

dont know if this is a wind up but for me it doesnt ring through.The vagueness around the friendship and how he felt obliged to hand over the 400 just doesnt ring true.If his friend has that kinda power over him he got off lucky with 500,

jaffa20

Whether this is a wind up for not, it's best thread i've seen on boards in a long time 😁

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550244#Comment_118550244

So how does FLAC work? Their centres give free advice to members of the public, even on the phone, and without going through all the AML stuff.

What I took from the OP's post was that another boards poster was offering a bit of advice about writing a letter, it didn't sound like he was touting for business. But as others said, the whole thread could be a wind-up so who knows 😚

Grab All Association

The only time to ever hand over money to another person is if you’re purchasing something off them or they have a gun to your head. I always tell people I don’t carry cash, I have just paid a lot of bills etc.

if someone asks you to order stuff online, be sure to get the money in hand before purchasing or when the goods are received, do not hand them over until the monies are paid to you.

TRUST NO ONE, Especially family members. I’ve only ever lost €15 before on loan to a family member when I was 14. Lesson learned

I’ve had some more time to ponder the scenario described & my opinion is shifting.

I just think about the lamps for example, why did the OP need to order them for “Jamie”? Even if we were to assume Jamie can’t order stuff online I couldn’t imagine myself spending €100 for “a friend”. That’s one thing, but the €400 for builders makes no sense at all.

the builders would just invoice you.. there’s no way they’d stand in your house and wait for a friend to pop to an ATM for cash & I find it very hard to believe you would say; “oh I have no cash either, I’ll pop to the ATM!” even if the tradesmen were refusing to leave without being paid, why would you volunteer to go yourself? 😵‍💫

on the surface it seems feasible, but the deeper thought it’s given the more ridiculous it seems.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118526900#Comment_118526900

edit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550561#Comment_118550561

I suppose it depends on the type of builders and whether VAT is involved 😉 For those who don’t deal with Revenue instant payment might be demanded.

I am essentially a compassionate person, one who enjoys most of all being helpful, but I lose the rag altogether if I’m tried and tested once too often. As such can be seen as and initially respond as a soft target by individuals desperate for funding. Personally I cannot understand how some people get into serious debt, and I’m not talking about folks in genuinely impoverished circumstances & bad fortune. Some folk are extraordinarily bad at managing money, in that they spend before they see what they actually have got left to spend and with certain online shopping habits this can eat away at the bank account. Some have addictions to fuel, drugs payments, or gambling debts. The latter especially would take an awful lot of money and be behind the most major debts.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118550783#Comment_118550783

yeah I’m sure there’s the few who’d be uh.. particularly anxious to be paid urgently.

All the same I just couldn’t envision pulling €400 out of my own account to pay someone else’s builder ya know? It’s different if he had cash on him I guess but I guess that detail alone kind of has me thinking he’s being honest!

i don’t know.