Was It A Con?

Recently I recieved an email from a guy in UK seeking my assistance to help be the middleman. He wanted a drug, purportedly used as a vaccine against mad cow disease and to enhance growth. He gave me the name of the supplier, a lady residing in Seremban. I was to purchase the drug from this lady at a price of RM220,000 and to hand it to the purchaser who will reimburse me the money and a tidy profit of RM240,000 which is to be shared between me and the UK guy. Greed got the better of me. I will do it, I assured him, depite not having a cent to my name.

I met the Seremban lady, who introduced herself and passed me her business card. There was a telephone number, but the address was that of a MLM company. She wanted 50% deposit and the balance paid to her on the products being delivered, all payments to be in cash. I would borrow the 50% and the balance can be collected when I deliver the goods to the purchaser. At that time I agreed, but on reflection decided that giving her a cheque would be a wiser choice. Besides it would give me time to collect the funds and bank into my account. When I conveyed my decision to her, she refused and insisted on cash or its no deal. Being not too bright, I asked her for her bank account number and that I would bank in the amount into her account. She smsed me an RHB bank account number under a different name. I was not going to fall for it; suddenly my brains seemed to have picked up some steam.

I called a colleage and told him about my problem, and he came up with RM240K. I called the lady in Serembn and told her that I was driving to Seremban with the full payment required and asked her to get the products ready. That was the last conversation I had with her the next 24 hours. She just refused to pick up the phone.

Meanwhile the purported purchaser had arrived and was staying in a 5 star joint in PJ. He wanted the stuff that day, as he did not want to hold on to so much cash, especially as Malaysia was a place of violent crime. A couple of white lies and I managed to convince him that I would have the products delivered the next day. Once again after umpteen calls, the lady picked up the call and accused me of changing plans and inconveniencing her. All I wanted to know was, would she deliver the products if I paid her the full sum in cash. On her agreement, I called up my financier and drove to Seremban, RM240K tucked in a plastic bag under the seat. On reaching Seremban I called the lady again. It took three more calls before she answered. Where do we meet?

She would call me back in 10 minutes. On this assurance, I drove to the old bus station in Seremban and waited for her call. After giving her half an hour, I tried her number again. The phone was dead; switched off. I said a quiet prayer and waited that the impossible would happen. After a wait of two and half hours, I decided that my sleep deserved priority.

I called the purchaser to inform him that I couldn't deliver the products and asked him to go back.

A couple of nasty smses to the lady in question, I had a miserable night, thinking of what could have gone wrong. Was the lady really a supplier of the product? How come all the vertinary pharmaceuticals I called did not stock the product? How come some of the vertinaririans I called have not heard of the product? Boy, I must be damned lucky not to have been swindled of RM240,000.