The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I bought a plot from another guy last year. I paid all the monies and we agreed that since the plot was just allocated, we will wait for the certificate to be ready. I kept on calling him to ask him about the certificate and all the time he tells me he does not really have time to go and collect it but its ready. So this year I decided to follow up with him and see his intentions. The first week in January he told me he went to the Land Board and he wasn’t able to get it because the Land Board authorities are suspecting that some people have sold the empty plot, so I decided to go to to see the plot myself. And to my surprise, there is a building there almost finished.

So I asked the guy (the one i have been dealing with) and he told me its his mum who is building there but my gut feeling telling me that he managed to get the certificate and sold the plot to someone else who is now developing it.

In short I want to know from your point of view, what can I do to get my money back since its clear that I will never get the plot and is there a court or somewhere I can go to sue this guy coz the only thing I have from him is the letter of agreement that he signed after I paid him stating that he is giving me the plot, signed by two witnesses just at home. So I am afraid that I might loose my money for good coz I know that the Land Board does not allow someone to sell a plot without any developments, but in my case, I thought I trusted this guy coz I have known him for ages.

Please help!

1. Go to the cops and lay a charge against the crook who took your money.
2. Call the Land Board and ask them to investigate the situation.
3. Don’t forget to call the cops.
4. And the Land Board.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I request your resourceful office to check and confirm the accreditation of the AIU-Atlantic International University. Furthermore, I request that you confirm whether the qualification (Doctorate in Economics) from AIU is/will be considered/acceptable in Botswana.

Atlantic International University is NOT a genuinely accredited university. On their web site they concede that they are “not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education”. They also claim to be accredited by the “Accrediting Commission International (ACI)” but later confess that this body is also “not regulated or approved by the US Department of Education”.

Even their own web site is a source for suspicious material. The profiles of some of their senior staff appear to be false and others can’t be traced at all. Some of them seem to have awarded themselves their only qualifications from their own non-accredited university.

If you’re thinking of getting a degree from this site, think again. If you meet someone with one of these degrees, you know not to take it seriously.

More and more employers are checking the validity of degrees and are taking action when they find someone with a fake. Remember that it’s illegal to claim to have a degree when you don’t have a real one. It’s one of the quickest ways to become unemployed!

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I need your help because I am about to loose R217. Please check the forwarded email and let me know if you think is a scam. Do you think this is a scam?

[The reader forwarded an email that began:]

“We at The Elite Work From Home Group hope you had a great day at work! If you did, you're a very lucky person. Most people dread their entire workday…

Why you too should become a home-based business owner:
Retire 10, 20, and even 30 years early
Making six figure incomes
Capitalizing on the explosive growth of the internet
Able to be there for their families whenever, without needing permission
Able to work spare-time, part-time, full-time, wherever and whenever
Average people experiencing extraordinary results and income
Enjoying life and doing the things they love to do
Earning stable residual incomes that grow year after year

[The reader forwarded an email that began:]

This is a yet another get-rich-quick pyramid scheme. The web site they give is full of the usual promises of untold riches and promises of financial independence, holidays and new cars. It also includes testimonials from supposedly previous recruits saying how much they have earned from the scheme. Curiously, these testimonials are identical to those shown on other pyramid scheme sites and they all seem to be fake.

As with any get-rich-quick scheme you have to ask yourself why they are trying to recruit other members rather than just making money themselves. Why are they being so generous in spreading the word? Is it perhaps because they only make money by recruiting others? Isn’t that the definition of a pyramid scheme?