Can You Name this Scam?
Recently, I was contacted via e-mail by a person claiming to be His Royal Highness, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, of Saudi Arabia. Apparently, this alleged Prince found my profile on Welcommat.com (a video real estate site) and was looking for homes in Denver to house his mistresses.
Scam Alert #1
Oh yes, this was the reason he needed complete secrecy and confidentiality – he did not want his ex-wife to know he was purchasing properties for his mistresses. Of course, I was the “one” who could be trusted with such confidential matters -
Scam Alert #2
I’m pretty sure Saudi Billionaires don’t randomly select Denver real estate agents from the internet.
That said – curiosity got the best of me so I decided to play. I corresponded with this guy late night so it would not interfere with my non-imaginary business. Interestingly, this “Prince” got seriously ticked-off if my responses to him were less than what he perceived as timely.
He gave me the search criteria for the four Denver homes he wanted – HA, no price cap… I sent him 10 homes meeting his criteria. He said his children and mistresses picked out the four he wanted to purchase. Admittedly, I calculated my commission and suffice to say my eldest would no longer have to attend an in-state school!
Scam Alert #3
I Googled like crazy to find a similar real estate scams with the outlined conditions or the name of the Prince in question to no avail. It seemed evident that this was some type of Nigerian scam and it was only a matter of time before I would be required to deposit money in an off-shore account. I get a zillion bogus “inheritance” or “you have won the lottery” scams in my junk mail. This one was different or this guy was just better…
Scam Alert #4
So, in order to purchase these four homes, I would need to go through his trusted solicitor. And, no, neither he nor his solicitor wanted to come to Denver. Rather they wanted me to travel to Saudi or Italy to complete the transactions. By this time, “Gordon” the Solicitor, and I were having regular phone conversions. I traced his number to Italy but was unable to identify the business he allegedly worked for in any Italian business directory.
Scam Alert #5
Gordon the Solicitor could give no concrete reasons as to why I must travel to meet him and His Royal Highness, other than they were “very busy men.” Ok, so I suggested the Prince send his private jet or at the minimum round up some first class tickets to send my way. No, no, I would be fully reimbursed once I meet them overseas.
This is where I thought the con might be different than my initial hunch. Could it be worse? Did they pick me out to smuggle, run drugs, or was it indeed a sophisticated Nigerian con???
I called the FBI Denver Field Office and they had no idea as to what these con-men where after. I called the Saudi Embassy and they confirmed it smacked of a swindle but were not sure of what variety. Lastly, I called the real His Royal Highnesses holding company who positively said it was a scam – again no idea what kind.
If any readers have any brilliant ideas as to what these swindlers were up to, I would love to hear your theories.
Michelle A. Potter
