RedSea4u

ok here it is....my friend (british female) has been friends with an egyptian guy for a few years (platonic or so she believed ) hes helped her during a difficult breakup etc etc.....

now...she wanted to buy a new condo and he organised the sale, was out looking with her every night speaking to people etc etc he found her a really nice place...

catch: he supposedly told the seller it was for him as he was egyptian he would get a better price (which we know is the case but...)


so off she went with him to the lawyer, lawyer ADVISED her to get the sale in his name alarm bells ringing yet....and that hw would simply sell it to her on paper straight after mmmmmmm

now 3months later: all papers were wrote in arabic, my friend has no copy, she went to contact the lawyer...lawyer no longer available no where to be found....he kept telling her dont worry dont worry she tried to get him to sign a letter to say she paid for the flat but it was just in his name he refused on the grounds that it shows she doesnt trust him!!hes no longer the good friend he was !!

just yesterday she went to go into the condo...he has the keys changed she has no key to get into her own house..

i know it sounds absolutely ridiculous and thats all well and good for me and everyone else to be critising and telling her how stupid it was for her to do what she did but it wont help...

what do you feel is her best option..ive told her go to the police and she said with what??she has no papers place is in his name she has nothing it will be her word against his and the place is in his name

any suggestions??

Oh Dee...what can she actually do now??? I would advise going to the police and maybe a consulate but as she did all this without using her own lawyer and having papers drawn up in English, shes in a bind and one which has limited resolutions for her

I don't know what chance she has of getting anything back, I fear not a lot! There must be some sort of financial paper trail for the money, (assuming she didn't carry a large wad of notes with her) & even then she would have proof of withdrawal & conversion.

I would go with Fabby on this Your friend has been well and truly shafted by this guy and most of us reading this post will once again be amazed as to how utterly gullible some people can be. We may even be so cruel as to think that if she is so stupid, then she deserves everything she gets, but in an attempt to help her I would say, if she can still afford a good lawyer who speaks English, then she should use the financial paper trail to prove the source of the money that purchased the property. Then providing that an Egyptian court of law accepts that the original lawer was involved in a scam whilst knowing she did not understand the papers she was signing then maybe, just maybe, something will be done about it. Otherwise she is just another statistic in the long line of stupid women who have more money than sense and happily part with it to someone who beguiles them with a smile and a bit of flattery.

I had a friend that invested in a business, there was no paperwork to say that it was shared between them....she saw no money from the profits each month, when she went to the police to complain (with a paper trail of money spent), she got the feeling she was wasting her time from the moment she went into the police station because all these policemen kept coming into the room asking what the problem was, speaking in Arabic of course, shake their heads and have a little chuckle. They went through the motions of taking statements etc but at the end of the day it was just thrown out of court because nothing was in her name she didn't even get a chance to go to the hearing. She contacted the British Embassy about it but they said they couldn't get involved and couldn't interfere in the laws of a foreign country, they just advised her to get a lawyer which she'd already done....more money thrown away on that....

Sorry your friend doesn't stand a chance of getting her flat.

Dee
Sharm is right, little or no hope at all of getting the flat back, this happens more than you think, there are still egyptian men who will take full advantage of women, its sad but very true, they are some of them quite expert in this.
I dont know how wealthy your friend is but, persuing this could prove to be so very costly for her.
Also very lengthy, adding to her frustration and cost.
And even with a paper trail, he will say that it was a gift.
It occurs to me that with his skill at playing the long game, and with his very dubious connections, this is probaby not the first time he has done something like this honey.
So he will have his answers in place and will have covered his tracks reasonably well.
But i wish her luck, and sense in the future.

Thanks for all the fast replies!of course it was what i was expecting.....she cant do much!

i just cannot understand how stupid she has been, as we have always talked about this sort of thing and about how no matter how much u love them /think you know them when it comes to finances ALWAYS keep EVERYTHING in your name...we (or so i thought!) were of the same mind if the woman is stupid enough to put it in somebody elses name then its there own fault but i just feel so bad for her!!!

Ya she has the withdrawal paperwork from the bank etc. shes trying to stay nice with him shes afraid if she threatens police he'll go straight and that will be that but I just feel shes wasting her time...

of course it puts her in a huge financial mess despite what he obviously thinks she is by no means rich...she has advertised her car to be sold now....

i think only thing she can do is wait.............i just CANNOT understand HOW after all the discussions we had she considered doing this

Dee
Im sorry i was u der the impression that this was a platonic relationship.
Surley to god she must have known at least that.
Either it was platonic or it wasnt! ( you mention love in your last post)
If im wrong then im sorry but my money is on a marrage of some kind having taken place and now he has had what he really wanted all along.
MONEY, no matter what form it takes, flats cars boats its all money love.
Just a bit confused thats all.
But then im easily confused.

im sorry if i confused u i meant we had talked about it before and how stupid OTHER women are no matter how much they love them/know them

it was purely platonic no marriage.... no kisses....no friend with perks he was simply a friend she knew from working together for a number of years there had never been a question of anything else ever!!!

Ok
Confusion cleared up told you it wasnt hard didnt I.
Well like i said i wish your friend luck.
Sounds to me like she is going to need it.

It’s a very unfortunate situation, I don’t get how some people are so trusting/naïve/gullible.

I wish your friend a lot of luck, hope she learns from this and wises up.

If you don’t mind me asking, how old is she?

I just find it so very, very sad; that there are so many vulnerable, dare I say lonely, people in this world.

Would that they all could find happiness; like those of us who are more lucky, and yes, I think that is a big part of it.

Best to all,
Scott

ya scott i agree with u! ......... life isnt always fair though ...

new gal shes old enough to know better!! much better....im 24 and shes 12years older than me!! i just cannot get my head around it after all the times we have talked about this type of situation...

she sees her situation as different because hers was not a marriage,a loan of money never to be given back, etc .........but at the end of the day they are all the same situation vulnerable trusting lady made a fool of and ripped of!!:(

it makes me so sad and angry...im always saying how theyre not all bad (which they arent) but sadly there is a huge number out to do bad....like everywhere i suppose...

had another friend a colleague working with me. she was english married to an egyptian for 40years yes FORTY years happily may i add when he died suddenly 2months ago...his family have taken her to court and she lost EVERYTHING house bank account frozen etc after FORTY years of marriage because she is catholic and cannot inherit from him. She had never had issues with his family they even lived in the apartment above them and 1week after he died they told her to get out............

can somebody please tell me some nice happy love stories as its really depressing me these days I love my husband to bits but after all these stories it makes me worry.....and i know i shouldnt hes my husband and never for one second has he given me anything to worry bout its just......like i said all the stories..........

My wife and I met at a dating service in USA. 3 weeks later we were married. That was 25 happy years ago. We have visited 33 countries, lived in Russia 5 years, Estonia 3 years and now we are happily settled in Egypt. We have our ups and downs - who doesn't but overall we are best friends and companions. We are now retired, enjoying life with our baby girl, Dina, the Karelian Bear Dog!

Hope that helps!!!

Best,
Scott

Aww Scott! Now that was a cheering tale!

Sorry about your friends predicament Dee, it's a sorry story that's heard all too often.

She really doesn't have a leg to stand on, which is a terrible shame. Even with a paper trail - it makes no difference when the flat is recorded as being his. I just hope she can get over this and move on.

scott

thats so sweet like i said to you on a different thread its nice to see love doesnt have to just come from old fashioned way



you cheered me up so much thank you

It only took me 64 years to figure out what mattered - and what didn't!

DEE24 wrote:can somebody please tell me some nice happy love stories as its really depressing me these days I love my husband to bits but after all these stories it makes me worry.....

Been married 4 years and we both lived in the UK, so no Visa hunter problem there

Then moved here to Egypt and I truly have met my soulmate.
I believe it's a lot to do with the family. You need to watch very carefully how they all treat each other. How they treat outsiders, strangers in the street.

If they are religious, you have to watch that it's not all about ritual and praying etc. It's about applying the moral code in every facet of the life.
Watch how others react to your man.

Like for instance last night. We had a watermelon and couldn't eat all the fruit so I cut it up into sections and laid it on poly trays and put in bags then in the freezer for about 20 mins. The heat was about 38 yesterday, so we both went along our street handing our the trays of watermelon to the security guards. It's something we do regularly. I make soup in Winter and hand it out because these boys are probably from poor families and short on cash, and if we have leftovers we hand it out. I've often baked 2 cakes. One for us and one for the security boys.
We went shopping at Carrefour last night and as we drove into our street each boy got up from his seat and waved at my hubby, nodded etc.
One of our neighbours said that the boys love my hubby because he always talks to them like they are 'real people' and not servants like a lot of the residents. Watching how other view your man is important.


He doesn't drink or smoke and is not a man for sitting in cafes with the lads. He's a really homely guy who loves his family. His mother has done a tremendous job in raising these children to be such lovely people. They never talk about anyone. They are very private. Very respectable people. He's great fun, a real laugh, loves nature, loves the simple things in life, I really cannot think of one thing I would want to change about him, and that says a lot I think.

All the signs are out there. You just have to know what to look for in a man.

Your Catholic friend must have known about the inheritance laws and surely she should have discussed it with him in life. He could have easily left her what he wanted to, rather than leave it up to the Islamic Law of inheritance.

The family may not have been vindictive. They could be just following the faith and it's laws which is their right.

This issue should really have been discussed and sorted in the beginning. That way she could have had what she wanted before he died. It's quite unforgivable of him not to have taken care of her needs and therefore he really couldn't have been a good man in the first place, because he would have known the outcome after his death.



As I say the signs are all there. You just have to be looking for them and understand the culture before coming here.

My husband puts everything in my name only, so nobody can touch anything........when I die it automatically goes to him as my next of kin, but if anything happened to him, I am safe with everything in my name.

ya i think youre right Ebikatsu about how important it is how he treats others and how others view him...my husband is really good anytime we go to the shop he will always buy the bowabs children/family sweets, cakes etc always!!! he brings the kids up to our apartment to play...like you everybody loves him here all the neighbours welcome him everyday always mr.....never by just his name he always stops to give the poor people on the street money. he is always thinking of and trying to help others he really has a good heart and i love that so much about him....