Trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair.
Scamming is a popular illegal type of earning in Nigeria especially among the youths. It is mendacity thought to be cunning means to earn money among youths. The most common type of scamming is the internet fraud because of its flexibility and it disguises identity of the scammer. I am going to talk about how I was scammed by my friend. Before then I will give few reasons why scam has been rampant in the country. They are;
- The perception of growing and achieving by starting small has been stripped. A lot of people want to reach the top of the mountain but are not willing to go through the struggle of climbing.
- Trying several time or engaging in different business activities and still not meeting expectation has killed a lot of people determination and zeal. They fail to realize that success consists of going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
- Oppression felt reading or watching the lifestyle of scammers can tempt you to also scam. There is popular saying that your life is a product of your thought and what you spend your time on.
- Been a victim of scam in the past can create a notion that the best payback is to target another individual.
- Deception that there is no job opportunity and hard work doesn’t pay. Yes ability to creatively use the mind and brain is good but there exist deceitful belief that scamming is a smart way of using the brain.
About 5 years ago, I used to have a friend who lost his job. He was not making any effort to get back to gainful income. He spent most of his time looking for the next girl to bed. I kept advising him to try not to be too confortable extorting money from his mom who is a widow.
A faithful day he asked me to borrow him money but I refused knowing his lifestyle and him not providing a substantial reason for needing such huge money. He kept on begging for weeks but I kept declining.
A week later, another of my friend came asking around the same amount my other friend asked for saying he would refund the money within a week. I rejected to help because of my past history with him even knowing he has a stable income to finance the debt obligation.
My friend who I initially refused kept pestering me to burrow the other friend working and I should even include interest. But I was not interested due to the fact that there has been break of trust between us.
After several pleading from the friend working, I felt the money was urgently need, I decide to entreat the request based on the trust of my friend who was not working. He assured me the working guy need the money to sort personal issue and the refund will be made in the weekend once is salary was paid.
You know, once beating twice shy, I was not going to release the money without a level of leverage. The working guy dropped his expensive sneaker worth twice the loan.
On the day the money was to have been paid, the working guy went AWOL. His phone was switched off. I kept asking for the money for weeks and nothing was done. My friend who was not working kept trying to calm me down.
After two months, 50% of the money was paid after several persuasions. We kept dragging the balance for almost a year until a day I came to decision he was not planning to complete payment.
On a weekend, I had the huge to play football but my boot was bad. While I was thinking of alternative, I decided to use the working guy’s sneakers since I felt he has giving up completing payment. He saw me at the field using is sneakers to play ball. I saw the feeling of unhappiness in his eye but he couldn’t say anything.
When I came back from the field, he was waiting for me with the balance of the loan. I cleaned his sneakers but he refused demanding I get him a new one. I refused and it got into a fight which the community intervened.
It was while we were settling the issue that it was revealed that the person that needed the money was my trusted friend who was not working. He said since I refused to burrow him money, he add to use someone working to get money from me. I was not happy with the trick but I felt sorry for the working guy.
The moral from this writing is no matter how close you are to someone, before choosing to be a guarantor to another person make sure the individual seeking the guarantee is worthy of fulfilling the obligation.
I really loved the comments and picture at the start of this blog.
It was extremely wise that you took security for the loan in the form of a pair of sneakers.
The borrower failed to pay you. You were right to keep his shoes.
A simple message for all is “Never be a guarantor. Never co-sign a loan agreement”. You will be held accountable even if it is not your fault that the loan is never paid.
Thanks for the acknowledgement and your comment. I also learnt from the incedence and guess the guarantor also learnt from it.