Architecture and Morality – Sandra 64

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[Old back story is here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and other Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

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“Thought it might be better to do this face to face,” said Rob. “Or as near as.”

They were sitting at a circular tables outside a rather modern (perhaps too modern for Sandra) coffee shop. Sandra wasn’t actually at the same table, but through some strategic manoeuvring they were close enough to hear each other without being overheard. 

“How did you get into all this?” asked Sandra. And ‘all this’ was fairly accurate. Rob had started by making out that his nefarious fund raising activities amounted to one ongoing indiscretion. It transpired that this wasn’t the case. While putting forward the veneer of a straight professional worker, scratch the surface and you’d find a network of scams, deals, half-baked ideas and more. Rob’s situation was complex and it was hardly surprising he wanted to deflect any analysis or close viewing of what was going on.

“I started doing this in the best possible faith,” he began. “I did some work for a mate of mine and he wanted to pay me back in a more… ongoing way than just through an invoice payment.”

Scratch the surface, thought Sandra and this was another crocked customer who can’t actually pay an invoice. Why weren’t alarm bells already ringing? Indeed, why, instead of alarm bells, was Rob actually welcoming such an alternative to actual money?

“It wasn’t dodgy,” said Rob, reading her face, “At least not that I could make out. It was a cyber-currency investment. At that point it was anyway. Make an investment in GlitchCoin and sit back and watch yourself get richer.”

“GlitchCoin?” said Sandra blankly. “You seriously thought that was a straight investment?”

“Yes,” said Rob. “And it was. For a bit. At least.”

And there was the rub. Having started down the GlitchCoin route Rob was now a prime sucker for anything else his ‘investor’ had going. And he had many things going, most of which built on each other and would make the last investment he made all the more valuable in the long run.

To begin with, of course, the GlitchCoin investment wasn’t a short term arrangement. Rob had to understand that the only way he’d really achieve the return he deserved was if he left his money n there for some time, say a couple of years at least. This was OK by Rob, especially since he could see, in his online account, the value of his GlitchCoin going skywards over a few weeks. He decided he’d cash in on his good fortune earlier than the two years and told his mate he wanted to take some dividends out as soon as possible. Which of course was precisely what his mate said he couldn’t do.

Instead, said his mate, find other people who would invest in his investment. Build on the capital. You could do this however you like, but here were a few clever little email messages that he’d found particularly effective and made all the more so if you combined it with a random emailer that shot spam, phish and smish in all directions at once. Rob, convinced he wasn’t a sucker, was suckered.

Having tried to cram all the various ongoing schemes in her head as far as Sandra could see Rob had two options. One would be to drop everything and walk away. Sure at some point or other his mate might try to come after him, but he’d have the satisfaction of being the good guy and it would be easier to defend him and keep him safe if at least some proportion of the law was on his side.

The alternative was to just keep piling on the scams. Sure Tamsin could create a cover for him, protect his online activities, ensure no one actually traced him to who he really was. At a pinch Sandra might even manage to track down Flint to do a bit of heavy lifting here and there if required. But it depended on whether Rob wanted a quiet life or something a bit more noisey.

“Honestly, Rob,” said Sandra, “It’s not like we don’t all have other challenges to meet at the moment. And this could be a chance for you to turn over a new leaf. Get yourself onto a good footing, something where you’re not worrying all the time that someone might be about to break down your door. Or a wall you don’t actually want to have knocked through.”

“True,” said Rob. “But where would the fun be in that? This will pay off in the long run.”

“It won’t,” said Sandra clearly. “Are you learning nothing from this? You’re not playing a long game, you’re playing a mug’s game.”

“Ah,” said Rob. “But what if my long game is actually to stitch up the cretin who got me into this situation in the first place? What if we go after him?”

Of all the meetings over all the coffees in all her life, this meeting was perhaps the one Sandra had liked the least.