Let me start with introducing myself, my name is Melissa, and I’m 41ys old, never been married, and never had children. As long as I can remember, I had the dream of becoming a wife and a mother. I attended church for the majority of my life, and pleasing God has always been a priority for me. When I turned 40, I had became restless because I was facing the rest of my life alone and childless. I couldn’t understand why God has not blessed me with my desires. So I decided to join the Christian Mingle dating website. I began my search for Mr. Right. Several people approached me, and I got overwhelmed. I decided to close my account, but before I did that, two men exchange emails with me, and little did I know this was the beginning of an elaborate scheme to gain my trust and use me for their gain. Both gentlemen represented themselves as military men who were about to retire. I began talking to both of them; of course, they were like I don’t share my woman. You need to pick. For all intense purposes, let’s call the first guy marshmallow, it was a weird endearing name that I gave him. So Marshmallow, immediately did a video call to see if he was talking to the accurate person. Looked legit at the moment, we talked for about two weeks, he introduced me to his daughter, and we actually skyped several times ( his daughter) she seemed sweet enough. Every time I question him on the military, he became very angry and was like, don’t you trust me, let’s keep it a secret because I’m on a secret mission and my daughter doesn’t even know. At the time, it made sense. He was verbally abusive, calling me a fine little girl and heartless. So about week five, he said he had an emergency, and it ended up being that someone died, and he needed for me to email someone about a trunk box process. He asked me for $10,550, and I was like I’m sorry, but I’m not giving you that, and he was furious, and I was like goodbye. I blocked him, and one of my friends suggested to email the other guy that I was talking to previously. So I was like why not, let’s call him Pookie. Pookie was completely different from Marshmallow. He was gentle; he was like I’m an officer. I’m here to help you. I will never take advantage of you. I asked him for his military credentials, and he spilled out some pretty impressive stuff. We talked about God and church. He talked about his military experience and his deceased family. We bonded pretty quickly. He even asked me for a care package like underwear and deodorant. He also asked for a phone, so I purchased a phone and a sim card. He said to email a person who was a diplomat, and he will deliver the care package to his camp at Kabul Afghanistan. So I emailed him and said I had a care package for Pookie. He was like, let me know when you send it, and I’ll give you an address. So I did that and sent it to Accra Ghana. In the meantime, Pookie asked me to fill out a form for him for his leave through the American Red Cross. The form seemed legitimate, and I sent a copy of my driver’s license. They responded back, saying that his leave was approved that all I needed to do was pay $1,500 to cover airfare since the COVID 19 had grounded the airline carrier. Again I was like I don’t have that money. Pookie was like no worry; I’ll figure it out. Finally, he convinced me to send 600 dollars to a PayPal account that handled their stuff. So against my gut, I did it. He was like I’ll make your bills settle. He then convinced me to share my credit card and bank account information. Even my social security number. He tried to pay my credit card off, but thankfully he used a closed banking account. And he was like I will figure it out. He showed me his flight details, and I even took off work to meet him. He also, during that time, convinced me to send another 600 dollars. Foolishness is what it was, but I honestly cared for him and wanted a future with him. I sent the money again, and he also said that he was wiring money into my checking account for my rent and for an orphanage project he wanted to build. The bank flagged the money as fraudulent and informed me, and I was devastated, but he was like I’m going to explain everything, your accounts are safe. But I pounced on him and was like tell me the truth, I gave you everything, and you gave me nothing. He finally confessed that he was a fraud and wanted a relationship with me still. I said go to hell and immediately blocked him, changed my phone number, deleted my email address, canceled my credit card, and have to start over. The worse part is that I lost the dream of a person he created. I realized that I was trying to fill this void in my life that only God would fill. Thankfully I have a wonderful support system and friends that I can move forward and build up healthy boundaries that I did not have earlier. I’m a child of God, and I’m enough.
Melissa
USA