My Story, where do I begin?
I met my scammer on Match.com. It was right after I found out that my husband of 26 years was having an affair and leaving me for this other woman. I was devastated, to say the least, that my world as I knew it was coming to an end. I was full of emotions and desperately wanted to feel loved, something that I hadn’t felt in some time. I met this man on Match.com, and I immediately felt a connection. Our eyes were the same color. He was kind, and he told me that I was beautiful and had a contagious smile.
Throughout the course of our year of communication, he actually encouraged me during my divorce. He never spoke ill of my husband and always told me to look at the good things that we shared together. No one had ever talked to me this way. Two weeks after we had been texting (which is pretty much all that we did throughout the course of a year) he told me that he was traveling to Greece to work on a project. I thought that was really cool; he was able to travel to Greece and work. He told me how he hated to pack for trips and I could relate as I travel for my job as well and knew how much I hated to pack for trips (another way that we connected). He told me once he arrived in Greece that he had a dream on the plane that I was sitting next to him and my head was resting on his shoulder as we traveled over. He literally took over my heart as he was telling me this. He sent me a picture of him with two of his workers about to start his day on this new job. He sent me a picture of him out that night when the “boys” took him out for a drink. He was luring me into his web of lies. I believed him and thought that it was really cool that he was able to experience such a beautiful place as Greece.
It wasn’t long after this that it all started. He told me that he couldn’t get access to his money as he didn’t alert his bank that he was traveling internationally, and he didn’t have the money to start the job. I sent him $5,000 to get him started. He was only supposed to be there for two weeks, and he would pay me back once he returned. He texted me every day. “Hi beautiful, how is your day? I want you to have a smile on your face and I want you having a beautiful day”. Who talks this way? I was so taken back by how nice this guy was to me. I guess after years of verbal abuse from my husband, I would take anything that would make me feel loved, even just a little.
The problems just kept coming, and he needed money to pay his workers, then he needed money to pay the guy from whom he was renting the apartment. Then he finally completed the job, and I sent him money for his airfare. He was supposed to be on his way home the next day. One his way to the airport, he was robbed, his passport was stolen along with the money that I sent him for his flight. At that point, I should have woken up to what was going on. I had read someone’s story that you get so far into the scam that you keep aiding them in the hopes that you will bring them home, and you get your money back. I felt this way, that if I don’t bring this guy home, I will never see my money again. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring him home, and I WILL never see my money again. This is the cold hard truth.
The scam kept going, he was injured by the robbery and ended up with a double fracture on his ankle and had to have surgery. How could I not help him, he was in so much pain, and I felt bad for him. So I did, I sent him $6,500 for the surgery. Once he was finally better and released from the hospital, he finally made it to Immigration to try and obtain a passport since his was stolen. This is where the plot thickens, and everything gets worse. They detained him for overstaying his work Visa. Then they were going to charge him with Tax Evasion as he was working in the Country and trying to leave with paying taxes. He needed $16,000 to pay a fine. I sent him this as well. He told me that he would be free to leave after he paid the fine, yet another lie. Once this was supposedly paid, he said that he had to go in front of a judge, and they were now going to charge him for the tax that he should have paid on the money he made while he was working there. I did my research online and found that there was some truth to what he was telling me, this was almost a year into our “fake relationship” so I was very connected to him at this point. This is where it really gets ugly. He told me that he was going to have his broker here in the US sell his stocks and bonds (or liquidate them). He was going to have his broker pay my credit cards off so I could pull money from them to help him pay the taxes that he owed to the government. I believed him and thought that if he could pay off my credit cards; this would help me tremendously, as I had already gotten myself into such a bind. Well, unfortunately, I now know that this is called a disappearing money scam. He made the payment to my credit cards, and then once I pull more money off of them, they basically retrieve the payment like it was never made. I am now stuck being way over my limits on some of my credit cards. Once I found all of this out, I finally knew that I had been involved in a scam. That is when I started doing research and read other stories of very similar situations. I am left in a financial mess and never want anyone else to go through the horror that I have been through. I went through a dark time, where I thought that I might end my life. If it weren’t for my daughter and our bond, I think that I might have taken that route. I have discovered that we live in a very evil world. It is not the safe place that we all think it is sometimes. I no longer am in contact with my scammer. I don’t know how I am going to heel, but I have to find the strength to do so. Please be vigilant. No one will look after you better than you. This is my story……………
Sharon
USA