I Think My Neighbour Has Been "Cuckooed" And I'm Unsure What To Do r/Relationships

[00:00:01] Hey Waffle Gang, I do hope you are well. My name is Mark and today we're checking out some more Reddit Stories. And if you do love a Reddit Story, why not consider hitting a like, subscribe, maybe that notification bell too. And let's crack on with today's first story. Much love guys.

[00:00:18] Now today's first story comes from Ashamed Evidence 852. And the title is, I Think My Neighbour Has Been Cuckooed. Now straight up, I didn't know what cuckooing is so I had to do a quick Google first. But apparently according to Wikipedia, cuckooing is a form of action termed by police in which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal in order to use it to deal, store or take drugs, facilitate sex work as a place for them to live or to live.

[00:00:48] To financially abuse the tenant. The practice is associated with county lines drug trafficking. Every day's a learning day. Anyway, the story starts off. Hi, we'll try to keep this short. This is in England by the way. I live in a semi-detached house that's been split into two flats. I live in the upstairs one, my neighbour, an elderly woman in her mid-80s in the downstairs one. We're sort of loose friends, acquaintances. I take her to bridge nights every so often.

[00:01:17] Do her shopping and she lets me use her garden when the weather's nicer or lets me get some food shopping on her card. That kind of stuff. Every so often I do a bit of baking and like to take her a bit. A slice of cake for example. And at the end of September, when I went downstairs, an older man came to the door.

[00:01:35] Never seen this bloke before and he was probably 60s? Not middle-aged, but not her age if you get what I mean. And dressed a bit weird in a blazer and a tie. Was very aggressive and asked what I wanted. Said I was here to see my neighbour. And he said in this weird faux posh accent.

[00:01:53] Mrs. XYZ is not taking visitors right now, but took the cake and slammed the door in my face. Really weird, but assumed it was her son or something. I know she has kids, but they're not in the picture. Ever since then, things have gotten weird. I've only seen my neighbour twice. Once when she was in the garden with him and once being bundled off into a car very late at night before coming back in the early hours of the morning.

[00:02:20] Both times she looked very uncomfortable. Over the last couple of weeks, I've noticed the curtains are always shut and her garden is getting overgrown and untidy. Some nights they're shouting. I can hear a male and female voice, but it's not hers. And a few times I've seen a Filipino woman coming to and from the property. Whenever I've encountered the man, when leaving the house more or less, or seen him leaving the property, he's either blanked me or gotten very aggressive when I try to speak to him.

[00:02:48] I once asked if my neighbour was okay, and he threatened to contact the neighbourhood watch. I did contact the police on 101 and they're trying to fob me off, and sort of implying because it's an older bloke and not obviously related to county lines, which I don't think it is too. They're not really interested. More or less got told it's probably just her boyfriend and I should stop being nosy. I'm really concerned for my neighbour. So is there any way I can get the police interested or maybe contact someone at the council? Thank you.

[00:03:19] Edit. First, thank you all the people who've responded and all the spectacular advice you've given me. And I'm sorry I can't respond to you all, but please know, I've upvoted you all and really appreciate this. I'm going to contact MASH, the council's safeguarding team, and my MP and counsellor tomorrow to inform them of the situation. I try to keep you all updated when slash if I get an outcome. I'm going to be logging off as I have work tomorrow, but again, thank you all so much.

[00:03:49] Now firstly, well done you for looking out for an elderly neighbour. And absolutely that sounds concerning in my opinion. It sounds like her behaviour has completely changed the way she goes about her normal day-to-day life and this aggressive guy is coming to and from her house and not communicating with you. And getting aggressive when you're asking questions. It sounds like a very scary situation currently. The local echo says you could try adult social services at your local council.

[00:04:18] Even if there isn't enough evidence of a crime for the police to investigate at this stage, the way she's being isolated from you is a warning sign for elder abuse. Opie says yeah, something feels very off about all this. I give them a call. Plus that MASH team the other posters mentioned. Thanks mate. Another commenter says don't know if this breaks the rules for not answering a question, but I wanted to say thanks.

[00:04:42] I'm mostly a stay out of other people's business kind of guy, but this seems righteous and I'm glad you're looking out for your community. Big love. Opie says thanks pal. Such a kind soul and the moment I saw this weirdo at her door, all sorts of alarm bells were going off. Not something I can just let slip by, seeing as I don't even hear her voice anymore. It's weird as all hell. Neen says, especially if she's not ever mentioned a family member coming to stay or visit.

[00:05:11] Opie says yeah, they all live down south and I've never seen them visit. The last time was more them driving up to get her and take her down there, but that was three years ago. So Opie did update their post and says hi there. You might remember this post I made the other week about my neighbor being cuckooed. The short answer is she was, though probably not for the reasons any of us expected. Okay, so what happened after the post?

[00:05:37] Next day I contacted the council's MASH team as advised and they were extremely helpful. They were immediately concerned and said they'd be sending someone to check on her. They also asked if I could keep a diary of any events as they'd like to speak to me when they do arrive and I said I'll make a log of whatever happens. So the week goes by and more weird stuff happens.

[00:05:59] It was all quiet and then on Halloween a group of older gentlemen come to the property and then some women, who I assumed were strippers, show up before leaving a few minutes later screaming at the man who's in the flat. They kept threatening to report them to the NW and was waving around this insect spray. Anytime any trick or treaters came, they'd get the same response. It was really fucking weird.

[00:06:23] On the Friday night, see my neighbor get bundled into a minicab and then she returned early hours of Sunday in a different minicab with the old bloke screaming at the driver before he rushes her inside. Again, all really weird. Anyway, yesterday two social workers arrive and talk to me. I show them everything I've written and they agree this looks very much like cuckooing but they aren't sure why this old bloke is doing it or what he's doing with the property.

[00:06:49] Now, I wasn't there for the initial confrontation but I know they went down to speak to him and he immediately went on the usual spiel. I'm going to report you to the NW, get off my property, etc. NW's neighborhood watch. When they weren't going, he sprayed them in the eyes with something and slammed the door shut. Police and ambulance were rang and I helped them wash their eyes out. From what I could hear, when the police arrives, he tries the same shit with them.

[00:07:16] The spraying, not the neighborhood watch, but sounded like they tackled him and he got hauled away in cuffs. Police found my neighbor in the property, padlocked in the box room before she got taken to the hospital. We did get into the property later and for the most part, it was how it had been left but every door, and I mean every door, had a padlock on it. I did speak to my neighbor in the hospital. Her kids are coming down and she explained to me that she met the man at a bridge club.

[00:07:44] He claimed he was in the parachute regiment but was now down on his luck and asked if he could stay with her for a night or two. Unfortunately, she agreed. Apparently, the first evening was fine but the next day, the moment she goes into the toilet, he attaches a padlock to it and locks her in. That's when the abuse started. During the time he was living there, he apparently tried to take control of the flat and her bank accounts with the goal of chucking her out and would get angry and scream at her when she didn't give in.

[00:08:14] But she refused to respond to him. She didn't really want to say much but said he told people she was his cleaner and the cars in the middle of the night were taxis taken at her hotels all across the region to try and get rid of her. I had to leave after that. But she said one day he had one of his little parties and the flat was fine apart from the fact someone had smeared their shit on the wall.

[00:08:36] As for the bloke, no idea what happened and we've had all the locks changed though we have a suspicion he'll attempt to return and one night I heard someone try the handle on the front door. My neighbor's going to stay with my sister when she's discharged and some of my bigger mates from Warhammer have offered to stay downstairs just in case but we'll see. Thank you all for your assistance. You were all amazing. I showed her all the comments and she was so blown away by the support. A huge thank you from us both.

[00:09:06] Holy crap that guy is unhinged. Spraying those council people in the eyes when they weren't leaving. Like that wasn't going to escalate the situation. Just well done for looking out for that person. Who knows what would have happened if she was left in that state padlocked in rooms. What the fuck? I hope that guy gets put away for a while because he is one dangerous individual. If that was him trying your door he's already out which is concerning in itself.

[00:09:34] I remember a guy who used to live in the area that I lived when I was younger and he was pretty much a known thug. Into jail several times etc. He was living in the area and he lived in his dad's place. This is all information that came out like slowly over the years. You know it didn't all happen at once. And there was rumors going around about he had taken over his dad's place as well. But sending his dad out to work still. I think his dad was in his like 60s or 70s and still working.

[00:10:03] And he was isolated from people and it was reported to certain authorities and they would check up on him. And I don't know the information on that and what was done etc. But the house backed onto the river the Thames. And apparently one day the dad just fell in the river. And there was a lot of suspicion around that. Nothing was ever proven of course. But terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. But what do you guys make of this situation?

[00:10:31] I hope that OP and the neighbor do stay as safe as possible. Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below. And let's move on to another story. Now our next story comes from Credites4All and says I 37 male found out my wife 36 female had been renting out our condo to pornographers. This weekend I had a very awkward conversation with my brother over text.

[00:11:00] Who told me he thought he'd recognize my home in a porn video. He sent me a link to the video in question and it is undoubtedly our living room. What gave it away was a unique mural my sister who's an artist had painted on one of the walls. The rest of the room had been transformed into one of those sterile stock furniture porn sets. None of our stuff was in it but obviously it hadn't been possible to remove the mural. We live in a high rise condo in Miami with a great view.

[00:11:29] The view of the city and ocean out the window in this video is the same as ours. How the fuck did this happen? I confronted my wife because it clearly wasn't while I was there. I have a career that requires me to travel somewhat regularly. At least a few days a month so it must have happened while I was away. She first insisted I had to be mistaken. I showed her the video and even positioned her in the room from the same vantage point as the camera so she could see for herself how everything matched up exactly.

[00:12:00] Then she admitted the truth. She's allowed the use of our condo to multiple porn directors who'd posted ads online looking for shoot locations. Side question, is this even a thing that happens? Don't these guys have their own rentals specifically for doing porn? Anyway, they've been coming during periods I'm away and having free reign of the place. She kept stressing no one ever went into our bedroom or used any of our furniture. But how do I know I can trust that?

[00:12:26] She said she usually wasn't at home when this happened so how would she herself even know what they all did? And for the time she was here during it, why? She opened a bank account that she's kept hidden from me. But all the money from this goes. She's made tens of thousands of dollars from this gig. Never mentioned a word of it to me. I'm dumbfounded. I can't decide which is worse. The financial dishonesty? What is she stashing all this for?

[00:12:54] Well, that out of all the possible ways to make money in this world. This was the idea she chose to go with. I did some more digging around. There's over a dozen videos said in our home on the porn site my brother linked me to. They've been uploaded by several different accounts. It all involves some pretty specific fetishes. So it wasn't too hard to find them using keywords. In one of them, there's a black leather couch that might be ours. Can't tell for sure. That's just on this one site. Who knows what else is out there on others?

[00:13:23] There are different people in most of the scenes. For months, there's essentially been a revolving door of strangers coming in and out of the place without my knowledge or agreement. Having sex on camera in my home for the internet. The whole thing is extremely weird and gross to me. It feels like something personal to me has been violated. They could have stolen things. They could have set up hidden cameras. We have no way of knowing anything. My wife just blindly trusted these people.

[00:13:50] But let's just say for the sake of argument that she's right and they really never did anything bad. That doesn't change the fact that now our condo is in porn videos that anyone who knows us could come across. After all, my fucking brother was the one who found it. How do I get her to understand this? She doesn't see the big deal. The only thing she's apologized for is not telling me about it. She doesn't see the problems with actually doing it in the first place. There's a lot of things wrong with this.

[00:14:17] But the main thing that's standing out for me is the lying to you and hiding that money away from you. Like you said, what is she doing it for? Why is she hiding it? And it sounds like from what you said, she was there for some of this what was going on. Which got me thinking, is she like, is that part of her kink as well or something? But Andre says that's fucked up. I mean, if the money was good and you both accepted the deal, I wouldn't see a problem. But the fact that she hid that from you is a red flag.

[00:14:44] You should make sure she really did meet these people through online ads. Or if there's more to this story, then it meets the eye. OP says that's what I can't help wondering about. I did ask to see the ads, but she said they were deleted after they took her offer. BJ quoted OP saying, and for the time she was here during it, why? What is she stashing all this for? Quoting again, I did some more digging around and there's over a dozen videos of the Sedna home on the porn site. My brother linked me to. They've been uploading by several different accounts.

[00:15:15] They all involve some pretty specific fetishes, so it wasn't too hard to find them using keywords. And says OP, I think you might be missing the wood for the trees here. So she doesn't need the money and hasn't used it. The pornos all have similar fringe fetishes. It sounds to me like it might be her fetish and she moves in those circles. And slash or is using them to indulge them. And I wouldn't be surprised if her involvement runs deeper. Given the amount of money you mentioned.

[00:15:42] Not saying she's a performer, but could she be an investor or a director? OP says, I truly seriously don't think it's her fetish. As for involvement, well, she's not in any of the videos at least. But I did wonder if she did have some kind of filming related role. I mean, why else would she have stuck around while it was happening? She said it was just to keep an eye on them. But then she also insists she'd leave the house most times. I have no idea. Diet says, no more porn productions, period.

[00:16:13] It's a huge security problem and who knows? Someone may recognize it other than your brother and wonder if you are swingers or something. Or tell her decisions such as these must be agreed upon by you. You are the breadwinner. Then you are the one paying for it. And it's your money going down the drain if something happens. Theft, fire, etc. OP says, all very good points. I'll make sure to repeat them to her. Looney Girl says, don't know what to say, man. Maybe a marriage counselor will help. I totally understand your point of view.

[00:16:42] I wouldn't want to stay in that home even for one minute. I mean, just imagining others who have had sex there grosses me out. I think it raises a red flag that she sees there's nothing wrong with it. Oh, and another note. Was she used to upscale living or high quality spending before marriage? You definitely need to question her motives on what she wants to do with that money. You should sit down and have a talk with her about why this is gross. OP says, before marriage, she lived comfortably within her means. We both did.

[00:17:11] A few years after marriage, we were able to afford the condo between having saved up and me getting a high earning position. At that point, she decided to stop working. I thought she might regret this choice, but she insisted it was what she wanted. It was affordable. So who was I to stop her? She says the money is so she doesn't have to rely on me. I get it, but that's exactly what I said when warning her she might regret quitting work. What if she comes to feel like she lost her independence? Well, it happened and this was apparently her solution.

[00:17:42] Another commenter says, no one's an asshole here. Take advantage of the money, but I don't think you're the bad guy for not wanting strangers in your space. Side question. I live one country north. What company is it? I could use tens of thousands of dollars. I hope he says, I don't know if it's an actual company. The accounts posting the videos didn't seem like actual production studios. The way my wife talked about it, I got the feeling it's more likely to be some random guys with money who want to make more money by shooting porn.

[00:18:10] But I don't know what the porn world is like. As always, I'm not sure if it's just like Reddit brain with this one on me that is there more to this or is she just enjoying the money? But she's not spending the money. She's kept it hidden away. It's all very, very sus to me. Many, many moons ago, I used to work for a company that like made greetings cards. I just worked in the warehouse and doing warehousey kind of shit, you know.

[00:18:37] But on the industrial estate that we worked, there was a rented out building that actually filmed porn within it. And like they was always making new sets and stuff like that. They didn't go to apartments. They just made the sets up in this thing. And let me tell you, all the warehouses had these roller shutter doors. So it wasn't particularly soundproof. It sounded like you listen to an exorcism sometimes. Cheeky old me just over here sweeping the warehouse. And that's all going on. You bloody keep it down, will you? To be fair, I only heard it a couple of times.

[00:19:06] But yeah, definitely something sus going on in that story. What about you guys? What do you think's happening? You think she's involved in some way or not? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments. below. Now at the end of the video, as always, there'll be a couple of playlists there that you can click on. And it will automatically scroll through the videos for you. Thank you so much for letting me know over on Twitter what you're up to whilst listening. It's one of my favorite things about this channel.

[00:19:35] I love seeing all the various hobbies and stuff or just walking and the views you see whilst you're listening. It really does make my day. So thank you so, so much. And if you want to send your own over at Mark Narrations over on Twitter, would love to see them if you have a moment to do so. And just a huge thank you for being here today. And hopefully I will see you in the next one. Take care and much love.