Non-Fiction

To Thank A Scam Artist

by Gustave Deresse

Photo by Barth Bailey on Unsplash

The Swindle

In September of 2020, I was scammed 3800$ over apartment fraud. It was nearly all I had. I was six months without proper sleep, so the way I see it, I wasn’t myself.

Still, it’s an embarrassing story.

I’m going to skip over most preceding details. Put simply, I needed a place where I could eat, work and sleep on my clock, and focus on what was important to me.

Tired and desperate for a way out, I was easy pickings.

Very easy pickings.

“No Viewings During Covid”

One day, in the early hours of the morning, I posted an apartment hunting ad on Kijiji. I had just enough money to pull off moving out, and responses were flying in within the hour.

The greatest liars will throw you off a scent with the introduction of more lies. The greater the lies, the more they’re meant to disarm.

One response especially had caught my eye.

I should have been suspicious from the start.

The place was affordable, and appeared unbelievable.

I almost shat myself. | Photo texted to me by scammer

It was a seven minute walk from my work; I would no longer have to bus. This alone drew me in.

I shouldn’t have been so detailed in the ad.

It made things too easy.

The living room had an electric fireplace, shelves built into the walls, and a reading nook.

There was in suite laundry.

It was on the second floor of a house, so I wouldn’t generally worry about being seen through the windows.

The bathroom was fancy.

It also didn’t even have windows.