A very close family friend that I have known over 10 years has conned me out of 9,000 pounds. This was over a period of 4 mo the where he said there was a great investment opportunity to invest in a sale of a property of land. He claimed it was 100% guaranteed and made
Out he was putting in his own money aswell
After the due date for the money to come through kept getting delayed and he started making up pretences i told 2:3 people about the deal who said he had conned them out of money and he ha a gambling problem.
I’m still reeling from this betrayal of trust and I have all the screenshots and proof of bank transfers.
I visited him last months and said I just wanted my 9K back and I didn’t want to hear any lies about the . He agreed to pay me back my investment however a month later and he’s making more excuses and fake promises as to when he can pay this back.
Can the money be recovered back legally ?
Answers & Comments
Not likely... you can sue him in court but whether or not the judgement is enforceable.... is another question.
Can the money be recovered legally? Who else would you recover it from if not the person that scammed you? Government doesn't give your money back.
Sue the guy. Present all of your evidence at court. And expect to never see a penny. Courts are great at issuing orders of restitution. but are not so great at enforcing them. As the old saying goes, you can't get blood from a turnip/stone.
You can sue them and file a police report, not sure about the laws in the UK. In all likelihood, the money is gone.
He claimed it was 100% guaranteed
That SHOULD have been a dead giveaway.
With proof, you can sue and obtain a judgement against him. COLLECTING is a far different issue. You CAN'T collect what he doesn't have, and most people like him don't HAVE anything to take.
I am not even sure if you have a case or not since this was an investment you would really have to dig and gather evidence that he pocketed said money instead of investing and losing the monies invested.
Then say you won a case against him where in the hell do you think he will get the money to pay you? He have a job then you MIGHT garnish wages or attach his bank accounts but I doubt he keeps his money long enough to even deposit monies. He sounds slick enough to beat you at the game in the long run.
Good luck but you are not a spring chicken and should have been far more careful with you money.
You can sue him (small calims court) and probably get a judgement but if he has already spent the money and has few assets, then how are you still going to make him pay. You can't get blood from a stone and debtors prison no longer exists.
Maybe not a bad idea to take him to court anyhow, just to get on his record that he does this sort of thing, but mostly this is a tough lesson for you, that you can't trust lots of people, even close family friends.
I'd also make sure to tell everyone you know about this con man so they don't get taken in some day, like you did.
By the way, going to the police may be a waste of time. You can't prove he committed fraud, he would simply tell the police that he thought he had a foolproof way to make money but it didn't work out. You can't prove that he's lying and a judge might tell you that you should've known better and that this is a life lesson for you. I mean try it if you want, can't hurt and maybe it'll get him punished, but not sure if it will actually go anywhere.
Yes you can take him to the Small Claims Court in the UK, it can be done online.
This is fraud, so you could contact the police.
Just tell him to pay you back now or you will go to the police. He has committed fraud.