Exposing the Crime

The cover letter for the billing statement allegedly from the Locations Hawai’i property management corporate office is exhibited below. The letterhead looks phoney. The e-mail address has been defunct for years. The letter has a threatening tone and requires the tenant to submit the alleged delinquent payment within five days. Most of the feeble senior citizen tenants would panic and immediately hobble to Randi’s office with a blank check as implicitly instructed in the letter. What is even more suspicious is that the letter itself is from Randi, not the Locations accounting department. Red flag!

Exhibit A

The billing statement is another piece of work. The grid is somewhat warped. In addition, the information at the bottom is repeated verbatim every month. Note the $43.80 payment, even though no check for $43.80 has ever been disbursed. Note the odd $832.20 delinquent balance. Every month! Red flag!

Exhibit B

The whole amateurish nature of the crime suggests that the culprits are Randi and Sy acting alone. So, how do Randi and Sy get the money? The gullible senior citizens bring the check to Randi’s office. Randi “assists” them by telling them to leave the payee line blank. She has a rubber stamp to fill in that line, she’ll say. Or, if the payee line is already filled in, Randi and Sy later bleach the check. In this particular case, the check was mailed in. That is why Randi and Sy are working overtime to continue the ruse. They are hoping that another blank check will come strolling in to Randi’s office. The longer they can be strung along, the more likely they will fuck up.

So, won’t the senile victims discover the ruse? Probably not. Banks no longer return processed checks. How many decrepit senior citizens are going to review those checks on-line? How many even bother to review their statements?

How much money could Sy and Randi extort from the senior citizen tenants? If they duped half of the tenants of both buildings at the “old folks home” in Waikiki for $900 just one time, they would bring in over $90,000 in cash.

Who then is the weakest link? Sy? Randi? As much of a dolt as Randi is, she is the mastermind. Randi also desires lots of money (see addendum in last Notes) Thus, she must be kept out of the loop insofar as the e-mail dissemination is concerned. Sy will pass the information but with fewer details. Thus, Sy will have to be weakened psychologically and covertly such that he is forced to turn himself in to the police, confess, and sacrifice Randi to save his own ass.

In the meantime, the race is on. There will be considerable effort taken in the next week or so to locate the proper agency to file a report and submit the “e-mail trail” in order that an investigation would be opened. Sy and Randi are criminals. They will be punished.

Addendum: There are people who try to match wits with an old codger who they believe is a “sucker.” But, not all senior citizens are alike. At least one in the ‘hood is an engineer with an MBA. Don’t fuck with him, or try to steal his money!