So I work as a site engineer on a Melbourne construction site where we are currently in the middle of demolishion works. Yesterday morning i was running through my routine site induction which involves a 25min safety video, during which i exit the room. For the first time ever when i walked back into the induction room there was an a different video playing, it was a very old (VHS) video of a woman putting on stockings which i found VERY strange, and at first i thought some one put a smut video on as a joke. Next to the TV was a big bloke of new zeland decent who put the video on. I question him about the video and he started some jibber jabber about finding a safe with stuff in it, which included this VHS. I completely ignored what he was talking about since he came across as very jumpy and under the influence. As i continued the induction, this same guy pulled out his wallet and picked out a handfull of old Australian $100 notes (the dark grey ones) and started showing them to his mates. I completely ignored him again and finished the induction. A few hours later, one of the blokes I work with started re-laying the story to me about some guy on site who found a safe and it had $2000 worth of old notes. The guy appeared to be telling the truth but I still didnt think nothing of it. Several hours later still, I was walking out of the office to buy lunch and I saw the same guy sitting on the side of a curb and he interupted me and said ' hey mate you didnt lit me finsh my storey earlier.' Since we both made afew joke i let him tell me the story. Apparently he was working on demo. job afew months back and they were told to throw out everything in the apartment which was owned by a deceased chinese man. On the job, there was a safe which was about to hit the dumpster but out of curiousity he decided to keep it and take it home. The safe was in his garage until very recently when he finally decided to open it. He went onto say, the safe contained 1no. VHS video, $2000 in the old Aus. notes, some very fancy and expensive stockings (apparently his missus was happy to take) and ........................a HANDFULL OF GOLD! He cupped his hand to gesture what he ment by a handfull and, this guy, with larger then average hands really meant A HAND FULL OG GOLD! I asked him if the coins had any destinct markigns. He couldnt remember much except that some were canadian, some had 3/4 ounce written on them and they all had 999 written on them. To him this meant nothing and he clearly had NO IDEA of the value. He said he wanted to get them valued, and my big mouth (still steaming the way i played this) told him what just one ounce of gold is worth! He was clearly shocked and couldnt stop thanking me about what I'd just told him. I told him it would be wise for him not to sell any of them and continue to keep them in the safe for the next few years, although this advise fell on deaf ears! I will ask him tomorrow to take some photos for me and I will try upload them onto here to see what you guys make of the coins. Maybe there will be something in there people find exciting. Anywyay, thats my story for the day.
lol. Sounds like some rich guy had a stocking fetish. I wasn't even aware there were 3/4oz .999 coins, seems an odd size.
Whoa.............. Story is stuff of urban legends!!!!! I live in an old house & often wonder what could be in the walls. Land under the house is OLD with remains of middens in the soil. Maybe I should have a gander & dig around the four VERY OLD pine trees that mark the boundries. Thanks for the story & am aware of the OHS induction that you go through.
Excellent. I've hid things in the walls as a surprise for the next owner when i've renovated my places in the past... but definately nothing of that value. I bet you made his day
Just be careful. Good cons start along these lines. Nigerians etc are expert at this sort of thing. Next thing you know some of it is for sale cheap....... Caution.
One of my best friends got pulled into one of these Nigerian scams in Sydney outside the casino. Two handsome and well dressed Nigerians somehow got him up to their room and showed him some "smuggled diplomatic money" which was pitch black. They proceeded to wash the money at a sink and lo and behold a $100 USD note magically appears. They show him a bundle and say that they have a briefcase full for sale at a discount. He is uncertain and says he doesnt have enough money etc but he knows someone who does. Cue to next weekend when he has me and another friend at Double Bay having coffee telling us this story, and after a phone call these guys arrive and say they have $10,000 USD worth for just $2500 AUD ready for exchange. I could tell it was a con right away, but this was 2002 before people knew much about these Nigerian scams. My BS detector was going off bigtime but these guys were slick and polished. Very few obvious holes except the obvious.... They became very annoyed when the spell was broken when I asked the obvious question - why not wash and spend the money themselves? Lol. I guess sometimes people overlook the obvious.
exactly! why not just wash it and take it to a money changer. I know someone that was tempted into buying mobile phones from Nigeria. I had one look at the email and said... delete it!! It's a scam. Told them to google it. Then they saw a whole list of similar scams.
Guy once sold me some gold coins, Swiss Vreneli and some others, he was demolishing an old house and they just started falling out when he teared down a wall... nice catch.
Lets hope he is very careful how he goes about this matter as Police have been known to charge people with "theft by finding" in similar circumstances. I would suggest reporting the find to the Police in an attempt to locate the rightful owners, either the deceased persons relatives whomever has legal title to the items. If no claimant comes forth, he may become the legal owner of the property. Just my 2 cents. YMMV.
Im pretty sure i have a deceased Chinese Great Uncle. + I like some asian foods and women in stockings.... If you do diddly-bop on down to the cop shop, can you send me the details and ill make sure they find a loving home. or xie xie (thanks).
What was that line from 'The Grifters'? "You can't cheat an honest man' Confidence tricks rely on people wanting something for nothing and believing they'll gain an unwarranted advantage. A three card trick or a ponzi scheme appeals to the same aspect of human nature. Questioning any 'deal' from an honest perspective will expiose almost any scam.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-XeFuBGvqs[/youtube] They lack the punch and delivery, but make up for it with irony.
