Maieutikos

PRESUMED GUILTY

A real life episode
This story has appeared in the Brazilian media:

An African-Brazilian man rents a flat in Sao Paulo. The day to pay the rental comes. He goes to the real estate agency and tries to pay with a bank check. The real estate agent says he needs to verify whether the check has sufficient funds and asks if the lessee has another way to pay the rental. The lessee gives him his credit card.

Few minutes later the estate agent says: We cannot accept your check because your bank account is not old. The lessee argues that it could not be a reason for someone to refuse a bank check. The real estate agent insists that that is the company policy. Then use my credit card the lessee says, to which the real estate agent replies this credit card is not yours, it has been 'cloned' from someone else's card. The lessee is in chock to hear that, and asks: what makes you suppose that? The real estate agent offers no explanation or evidence for his allegations.

The lessee feels greatly offended and takes the matter to the Police Station, pressing charges against the real estate agent. He can prove that the credit card is his and that he has sufficient funds in his bank account. Nevertheless, the Police officers begin to suspect that it is the lessee who has tried to deceive the real estate agency. The African-Brazilian man appeals to another public force: TV stations and newspapers.

This story speaks for itself.

posted by Tony Marmo @ 4:23:00 AM