Michael Rooney & his girlfriend Angela found me on the internet and called me asking me for information on Homes for sale in the Fords area. After meeting them, they seemed like a nice couple and they told me that they where looking for a house to buy for their family. We began to look at homes and Michael Rooney said that he worked for Budweiser in Newark, NJ. A few weeks into looking at homes he sent me a text message that he said was sent by accident to me and it should have gone to his friend. The text read "your investment of $2,600.00 dollars will give you a return of $12,000.00." I Responded to the text with "lol I'll invest" He then called me and told me about this investment that revolved around mortgages. He was very persuasive and convincing since he is a "con-artist" he must have done this before because he had every detail and every questions that I had covered. I agreed to invest "Stupid Mistake" I knew it was risky but it was almost like you needed it to be true. As time went on he would text me everyday telling me that we where friends and business partners and we even continued looking at houses. At the same time they picked a house that they like put the offer in and backed out before the contract even got to the attorneys. At this point Michael had me convinced that he was a good guy and that he had been making these investments for that last 5 years. One day he told me that his other friend who was also investing backed out which opened a spot for both of us to make more money if we invested the remaining balance of the guy that backed out. He told me that if we split the difference it would only be another $1,300.00 from me and $1,300.00 from him and that would give us a full return between the both of us. I again agreed "Stupid" and couldn't wait to get a big paycheck that would make my year, "Yeah Right." As time got closer to the return date, he had all of the details planned out, he even told me the names of people that he was investing with and talked about another investment in 2 months that we could get in on again for more money. He had me satisfied and made me feel like everything was going great. Finally the closing day for the investment came and he said he was meeting with the mortgage person in Bayonne and that later that day he was due to begin paying off other investors that also invested in this plan, including his Father so he said. The minutes seemed like hours and his response was always its coming today, but that day went and nothing, the next day he said he was still waiting and it would be today. He then said that the person giving the check did not get all of his money and need $900.00 dollars more to release the check. I argued with Michael on how stupid that sounded and told him that I had enough of giving out money and that he should pay it, he then told me that he spent all of his money on this investment already and that he didn't have anymore. He told me that this was the last step then we would all have our money. After talking to me over and over again I finally agreed and at this point i knew I was in trouble, I could either not giving him the money and have him say the deal died because of it and my money was gone, or give him the money with the chance that it may be real. Once again I made a bad decision but at this point my money was pretty much bein! G held hostage. After that it was always a story on why he couldn't meet me, excuses from that he was working, or just driving to me now and would be here soon, or even that his Father had a stroke and that he couldn't leave him. Day after day it was always a different story, in the meantime they put an offer on a house and we negotiated it until we finally got it to the attorneys. He had a shady attorney & a shady home inspector who told me not to worry about passing his name to my other clients? I thought that was strange since Home Inspectors usually like getting new customers. Now I have Michael telling me that the next time we see each-other he would give me my money but once again day after day he always had excuses. I thought that at least he was buying a house from me and that would at least make up for the money I gave him, at this point I was assuming that the investment deal was just a scam, but he was still so involved with buying the house I was so confused. Then my nightmares became more of a reality when Michael cancelled the sale do to Home Inspection issues. Now I still have him telling me that he is going to get my money back and that he wants to see more houses. I believe that Michael Rooney is a con-artist and I also believe that he has done this before and may be doing it currently. I hope that anyone who reads this will find it before they make the same mistake that I made. I plan on telling the authorities and hopefully they can give me some advise on what I can do to stop this "Scumbag!!"
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