Victim Location 13074
Total money lost $4,000
Type of a scam Romance
Met on dating site and talked for a few days on the site, then asked if we could talk using the WhatsApp app. I agreed and within a few minutes, he asked for a picture. He asked if I was single, had any children and I said no, but lots of nieces and nephews. I was told his deployment would be ending soon and he would be returning to the States. He wanted to keep "our relationship a secret and surprise everybody when he got home". Told me he wanted me to remove my profile from the dating app because he doesn’t like to share. He proceeded to tell me he was a single dad, lost his parents in a plane crash last year and inherited his father’s food company. Tells me his heart told him that Heaven made me for him, and has a master’s degree in poetry. So I chalk up the cheesy lines and flowery words to that. Claims they are trying to get children back from a group called the Bokoharam which they have found 76 out of 82. Asked for $200 because he is stationed in Sierra Leone and has problems with his banking that he can’t take care of until he returns and its his birthday and wants to have something to celebrate with his unit and his internet connection is going to expire. This is 4 days after we started talking. Asks if I can borrow it from a family member when I said I wouldn’t have it until the end of the week. Promises to pay back money when he return from deployment. Apologizes for asking to borrow money and says it upsets him to have to ask.
As it is a holiday weekend the bank isn’t open and I said I couldn’t do anything until the bank opened the following Tuesday. First thing Tuesday morning he sends a message asking if I have gone to the bank and if I am sending the money like I promised. I never promised, just said I’ll see. I told him that it bothered me that he kept asking and if I could I would see about sending money. I told him I could send $100 to help him out as it was a 1 time thing. He had me send to Loretta Kane in Michigan as she is the agent used to get money to the military dept. A few days after I get a message saying that the military dept has told him he needs to pay $500 for his leave form but that he will be home 3 days later. I told him I didn’t have the money and it didn’t sound right and he asked what I was going to do to get him home. I asked about his deployment ending and was told that even if he waits until his deployment ends, he’d still have to pay for his leave papers. I told him I didn’t understand the whole situation and it made me uncomfortable, but I would try. It would take approximately 3 weeks to get it together and kept pushing for a date so he "could pack his stuff". We talked a lot in the time I was working and saving money. I sent the $500 the 3rd of February. The following day he sends me a message telling me that he needs a physical before coming home to make sure he is free of any desert diseases and its going to cost $1000. When I told him I couldn’t do it he threatened to commit suicide, so I saved the money and sent it in 2 parts, on February 26th and March 16th . In the meantime, I also sent 3 $50 iTunes gift cards so he could sell them to buy meals, as well as another $100 to keep his phone on, $150 to purchase more food and necessities, and another $50 for food. The agent changed when I sent the $100 payment, to Ayeni Opeyemi, located in Nigeria and remained the same until April 21. When I questioned it, it was the closest available agent. Not knowing the moneygram locations, I believed him. I continued to send money up until this past week when I went to send $1000 and moneygram held it and told me they believed it was a scam. When I told this to him, he told me they were trying to confuse me and not to let them get in my head. I told him I wanted time to think and I received a message from his "commander" telling me not to be confused and to use Western Union. Before I knew why there was a hold on the money, Johnnie sent me a message saying there was a hold and to split the payment among 2 agents. The 1st was Daramola Oluwasola of Nigeria, to whom I sent payments from April 21st on. The 2nd was Tajudeen Akeem, also of Nigeria. When I told him I wasn’t sending the remaining $1500 he asked for to fly home, he told me again he was going to commit suicide and then started sending me pictures of my nieces and nephews that I had never sent him that he got from my Facebook account. When I asked why he had them, he said "don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough." When I said it sounded like he was threatening my family, he told me no.