Well, I am 59 years old. I don’t work anymore since I get migraines almost every day now, and I spend a lot of time on the computer. I don’t have many friends, or go out a lot either. So, this guy came to me on Facebook and told me all the right things that I so wanted to hear. I met him online-only in March 2018 and carried on this screwed up relationship until September 2018 when I couldn’t take it anymore. The stress was killing me. I live on Social Security and VA disability and don’t have a great deal of money. But somehow, I managed to give this scammer over $8,500 over this period of time. Depositing it into stranger’s accounts with the names of women I did not know. I even wired money to Ghana to a woman with an obvious Nigerian name. And that didn’t even stop me. I know I was just too lonely and wanted some kind of relationship. I thought this guy was the one for me. He was supposed to come back from Afghanistan in October, but at the last minute, he said, NO, he had to go to Syria for another year. This is when I did come to my senses and stopped everything in its tracks. This person told me he was in Afghanistan working with the UN as a Systems Engineer and that he was making this ungodly amount of money (3.8 million dollars) per year to do his job. And that still did not get to me – not a bit – I believed him. GOD now, how could I have fallen for this scam? I am still trying now to deal with the fact that I voluntarily gave away all this money. I don’t even have a savings account, but gave away that much money. Now, I am reading DL Garren’s book “Who is the REAL MAN behind the screen?” and I realize that I am not alone here by no means. This is just too common these days, and there are people out there that have given even more money than I did, lost a valuable amount of time, and are struggled emotionally. I was even hospitalized for a suicide attempt because of this.
So, thank you, Diana, for writing this book – I cannot say enough about it – I finally can stop beating myself up and look forward to the rest of my life whether I have a man in it or not. I will still be ok. I know that now.
I am finally sleeping the whole night now, and I was not sleeping at all before in the prior months, maybe 4 hours per night, and having extreme migraine pain every day. I wonder why? The stress of this whole situation really took its toll.
And I told nobody at all about this, NOBODY! My only sister, who lives in the next town over, had no idea that I was involved in something like this. I could not even tell her very much of what really happened, and she still does not know how much money I have lost. But, she still loves me and is glad that I am ok now. THANK YOU DIANA, FOR LETTING ME TELL MY STORY!
Lisa
Cortland, NY
USA