The grand scam

I am stupid. I am stupid. Did I mention that I am stupid?

I wanted to rent a room in Hong Kong to stay here for a month. From a Facebook flatmates group I found this guy advertising the flat from where he had recently moved out. So I emailed his previous landlord, who according to our messaging appeared as a busy and precise business man. We agreed that I would send him a deposit and a month's rent via Western Union and he would send me apartment keys via DHL.

I waited for the keys delivery at my hostel but it did not arrive in time. The landlord never gave me its tracking code, without which DHL could not locate it. Finally he emailed me telling that the package had been returned due to insufficient address, and I never heard from him again despite requesting to get my money back.

It soon began clear to me that I had been fueled badly. With unbelievable naiveness I had sent a stranger over 1000€ without getting anything in return. After relieving my anger by wrecking my finger skin at a bouldering gym and drinking a few glasses of expensive wine, I went to the police station nearest my hostel. The alert constable listened to my case and advised me to visit the apartment to interview its residents.

I hopped on to the convenient MTR train, and then zip zagged on lively local streets asking directions from by-passers until I found the right building. In its lobby I met the housekeeper. The keen old man pointed out that the address I had missed an exact apartment number. He also told I was not the first person coming to investigate the case.

The target location

 I walked through a street, whose bars began to fill with suit-wearing expats, until I reached the local police station. It was less organized than the previous one; several young officers wondered about cases and answered phones in quite a random manner. After two hours I had managed to make them understand my case and ordered a written report about it.

After a few days I went back to the police station to pick up the report. Unfortunately writing it had proven to be too difficult of a task for them, so they had transferred it to another department, where they advised me to call. I did not bother, but filed my insurance claim just with a scanned picture of the small case cards I had received from the police.

So what was I saying? Oh, I am stupid.