DearBunmi,

About a year ago, my younger brother told me he’d just been diagnosed with  some kidney infection and would need a lot of expensive treatment if he were to  be cured. The alternative was for him to have a transplant which would be lots more  expensive. He asked for a loan of N200,000 and promised to pay me as soon as he got his car allowance which was being processed by his office.

Months after he was due to pay me, he kept on telling me one sob story after the other. In the end I had to appeal to his wife – I needed my money desperately. His wife was gobsmacked. According to her, that was the first she would hear about any kidney problem, and as for the car loan, he already got that before he even approached me for his bogus treatment.

When I confronted him, he said he needed the money to pay off an outstanding loan he got from his office, or he would lose his job. It seems he kept on hopping from one lie to the other but I never knew he would descend as low as inventing a serious disease. I don’t know if I ’11 ever get my money back and I feel letdown.

Augustus, by e-mail

Dear Augustus,

In spite of the adage you should “neither a lender nor a borrower be” many of us

keep falling for the trap of people intent on a good con. Simply put, you’d been had – by your own flesh and blood. Of course it hurts and you have a difficult decision to make – either you write off the money and never trust your brother again or try to get it back by whichever means you could. Being conned by a stranger is bad enough, but by your own flesh and blood is far worse. Whatever happens, you need to move forward with your life.