My faith in Humanity is restored today!
On 21st August last week I bought a car off QL. Met the buyer at Lulu carpark and agreed upon the price. 2 days later he turned up at my workplace and collected a deposit for some repairs that were needed after the vehicle inspection and then he informed me he needed to settle the bank i.o.t transfer ownership to me. He requested QR20000 to execute this. I gave him the QR20k in cash and he insisted I keep his passport as a safegaurd. He committed to deliver the vehicle on Sunday past after all repairs was done, papers had and vehicle cleaned.
On Sunday he did not deliver. On Monday he deferred delivery. I called him on Monday to establish why no delivery yet 5 days later. He informed me that he would deliver late Monday afternoon. Monday night I called again as no sign of him! No answer! After 5 attempts from different phones, no answer. The voices in my head told me to check his passport, only to discover it was expired. I broke out in a cold sweat. Shucks I thought. I was scammed. I checked QL for the guys old posts. All posts were inaccessible, even the one of the car posted on the 21st August.
I attempted to sleep, tossing and turning, erstwhile praying to The Creator, to ease this worldy obstacle of mine. I chanted the basic tenets of Islamic faith "La ilaa ha iellallah Muhammadu Rasulullah" (There is none worthy of worship except the One God and that Muhammad PBUH is His Messenger) till I fell asleep.
When I woke after a restless night sleep, I turned to my wife and told her I think I've been scammed. I made peace with this matter and decided to move on with my life after being in Qatar for only 10 weeks. I tried calling the Seller again when I reached work. Some stranger answered the phone and informed me that he was a security gaurd and the owner of the mobile forgot it at the Security gate yesterday and if I could make contact with him to inform him where he left his mobile. 2 hours later the seller called me and apologised for not making contact with me and explaining his unavailability.
I accompanied him to the Muroor in the day. Later I thanked him, prayed for him, paid the balance, returned his expired passport and tonight I am in possession of my new ride with Iestiemaarah bearing my name boldly. My faith in Humanity was restored afer this incident. Tonight I will sleep like a baby. Glad to be in Qatar!
Its illegal to keep anyone's passport. Do not accept it as guarantee, rather you should have involved the bank directly and/or through some agent and secure your payment. sometimes compromising small amount is safe and wise...
That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.
Just because you are in Qatar, does not mean you let your guard down for a second....
You were lucky on this occassion, but for future warning.... be as cautious here as you would be back home.... trust me when I tell you.... Nigerian scams are nothing compared to some people here!!!
imagine how it would've felt if it was a scam!!
Thanx god for the happy ending, and TFS so that we can learn from ur lesson
My advice to anybody who pays out advance/down payment to a private person (who cannot give you a printed receipt) is....
get a copy of his ID card (which is not expired), and let him write on the same page that he has received XYZ QR, for so- and- so purpose, and let him sign it..make sure the signature is same as that on his ID card..this makes sure u are on the safe side..
the reason for the down payment should be mentioned, as else he will claim it was a loan,and he paid it back in cash..
and of course this does not help you if he leave sthe country..
LP actually duped sumone for sumone
Segmund is correct..
But, still there is a lot of incidents reading in QL and people again and again falling into traps...
Don't trust anyone here.. All relations here starts and ends with a passport and air ticket. It's my policy.
No, nad. As I don't trust them, how can they dupe me?
Good for you.Its a lesson for everyone,never pay in Cash.
LP Y not trust ESPECIALLY women..have you been duped by one of our elites.
Yes, don't trust anyone, especially not women!
AlHamdulillah..truly Allah is Merciful and answers our dua, but I gotta agree with my brothers Irf and Segmund. Our wealth is a test upon us and one cannot afford to be careless with it,specially when you have a family and/or others depending on you. Please take heed in the future and don't mindlessly trust anyone. Barakhallahu feek!
Period. You needed to have never given 20000 in cash to a stranger. First and foremost, you should have not accepted an expired passport. Second, you should have taken a copy of his Qatar ID and a receipt that he received some money from you with the purpose of selling his car to you through this and this bank, the receipt bearing the transaction details. You should ideally have made someone accompany you, as a witness, just in case.
I would have liked if you had lost your money, you would have learnt a good lesson (I learnt it this hard way though). It is not faith in humanity, it is stupidity. Cash is cash, you can not trust the air with it.
and lesson is never to give advance,
you may experience such an adventure that may strengthen your belief in humanity and in ALLAH as he responds to your prayer but also God gave us the blessing of using our minds for not to be taken as fools coz there are bad souls out there chasing honest ones !
God bless
Still nice people exists in this world.Do keep ur prayers!