Man poses as foreigner, swindles Mahaica family, others

Jul 17, 2014 News

A con artist swindled a Mahaica family and others after claiming to know their relatives in Canada while persuading them to give him money in exchange for his foreign currency, and to return later with his daughter. He never returned.
A report was made to the Mahaica Police Station and the victims are sending a warning to members of the public to watch out for such deceitful characters who prey on people’s kindness and trust.

The swindler (Shafeek) who was caught on camera the same day he swindled the Mahaica family.

According to the victim, Shaheed Rahaman of Unity village, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, he met the man on Saturday last while walking in his village. The man had claimed to know his relatives whom he rarely contacted in Canada.
“He said his name was “Shafeek” and he called several names of relatives in Canada and I brought him home where he met the family since he said, they had sent a package for us…
“He said he returned to Guyana Friday last and he didn’t know where the place was, and because of how the country is now, he didn’t wear his jewels since people getting shoot for their cell phones.” Rahaman explained.
The father of four further explained, that “the man (Shafeek) said my family sent him to help us out because I am sickly. He told me he lives opposite Melsha Furniture store, but opposite has a building which houses the same store and we didn’t even realize or study what he was telling us.”
Rahaman noted, that while at his home the fraudster claimed to have some Canadian currency that he wanted to exchange for local cash.
“He collected $10,000 from my wife and $10,000 from my daughter then he called all of us outside and said the money was just to test us to see if we are honest people and if we would give our last dollar out and trust him so he can help us…
“I thought we were going to get back our money. He was checking his watch all the time. Suddenly, he said he will come back in an hour with his daughter since he has to change off his clothing,” Rahaman lamented.
The fraudster even had the gall to ask the family, “What builds the relationship between people? He said, trust and honesty.” Instantly, Rahaman said his daughter realized that after Shafeek left he would have never returned. “I thought she was being negative but now we realized what happened.”
“We have a relative doing taxi work and he (Shafeek) refused to travel with him clearly because he didn’t want anyone to know where he was going. “I was still having hopes that the man would come back because of the relatives’ names he called. But when we called our relatives in Canada they claimed to not knowing anything about the man.”
Last Monday, another victim was swindled at Vreed-en-hoop, West Coast Demerara. She too, had a similar story about someone knowing relatives from overseas. However, on that occasion the young lady became suspicious about the story she was being told.
“He actually left with his accomplice in a white car with black stripes. The driver looked like he is in his 50s, with grey beard and hair, and fat. The con man smokes, and he got injury marks on his face and has gold teeth.”
And in another instance a report was made to the Mahaica Police Station and various other stations after it was disclosed that two persons who were well dressed and pretended to be pastors were arrested at Albion, Corentyne. They too were trying to swindle persons out of money. They were arrested.