By
Attorney Sergio Castillo
“There is no such thing as a perfect liar in
the world who could tell the perfect lie” Arthur
Graf.
Peter and Maggie Thompson lived the 70´s very
intensely, they enjoyed life, this epoch help them
form solid family ties, and successful careers
based upon effort and long working hours, often
without rest.
Once Peter and Maggie retired, and had their solid
capital guarantying them a comfortable life style,
they decided to come to Central America to enjoy a
well-deserved vacation in a tropical paradise.
While in Costa Rica, they met Martin J, a Hispanic
claiming to be a businessperson. It was obvious
Martin was not a Costa Rican, but the Thompsons
were not able to identify his nationality. Martin
was such a nice person they never ask him for any
personal information, no need, he might have
misinterpreted the questioning; anyway, Martin
became their friend, and started going with the
Thompsons to every event at their hotel, they met
at seminars reinvesting in real estate. Again,
Martin´s companionship was simply fascinating!
They trusted him blindly.
One day Martin invited the Thompsons to a seminar
about a series of real estate projects he hoped to
develop in the next months; he was one of the
speakers. His presentation was spectacular, he was
very eloquent, and the images he presented in the
seminar convinced the Thompsons of investing part
of their savings in buying one or two
summerhouses.
Martin showed the Thompsons plenty of details on
building the houses and recreation and business
areas, besides investment plan contracts for the
houses seem to be finished in a two years period.
According to the contract, the Thompsons had to
send Martin a certain amount of money bimonthly.
The contract was signed and the couple went back
to the US.
During the first year, Peter and Maggie Thompson
religiously deposited the investment payments to
Martin´s accounts, and immediately after decided
to come to Costa Rica to check on their project.
As soon as they arrived in Costa Rica, they went
to Martin´s offices, and, surprise! Martin was not
there anymore! Now the offices used by an
Accounting Firm that had no relation with Martin
J. or his companies!
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Scared
because Martin J. didn´t answer their phone calls
or emails, they went to the place where the
project had been developed, and surprise again!
Nothing has been built there, there was only an
empty lot with the sign “No littering”.
Everything collapsed! Martin J tricked them! He
stole close to three hundred thousand dollars from
them. Martin´s companies existed, but only on
paper! There was never any kind of government
permits issued to these companies to develop any
projects! Everything was a lie!
Not just a few people often fall for deception
with these scammers who take advantage of their
victims´ kindness and lack of knowledge of the
country´s language, cross-cultural education,
rules and regulations.
Although this is a country that provides a high
degree of legal security, the truth is, victims´
lack of knowledge is often the best ally of
criminals such as Martin J.
Editor's note: For more information on this case,
Attorney Sergio Castillo can be reached at local
phone number: 8919-4545 or Problem Solving Center
email: problemsolvingcentercr@outlook.com
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