THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2023 - PERSONAL SCAM

 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2023 - PERSONAL SCAM

I’ve been alone for five years. I know people who have always been alone. Even though I am active and get out - there are times of loneliness.  

From The Beatles Eleanor Rigby:

All the lonely people

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people

Where do they all belong?

Several of my friends suggested trying online dating sites.  

(And, excuse me here. I just can’t see myself with a man, so I looked at the websites for women dating women).  

I picked a site that looked good - free for essential interaction, but if you wanted advanced features, there was a cost.

I put a picture of myself and a short biography. BOOM - within an hour, I had ten likes. Within three days, I had fifty likes.  

I had asked for women in my vicinity. I had one lady from Austin that I saw, but she didn’t get back to me.  

I had women from around the world interested. All with exciting bios. And almost all are less than 60 years old. First cut. No ladies under 45. My daughter is 45. And while I love my daughter, I didn’t want to date anybody that young. Some were more assertive and texted back (within the app). What do you like? What is your idea of a first date? What is love? 

I narrowed it down to five. One in Maine, a second in Massachusetts, a third in Miami, Florida, a fourth in Jacksonville, Florida, and a fifth in Tennessee. The Tennessee woman didn’t write back - so down to four.  

I had let three local friends know what I was doing. All said, “Be careful, Karen.”

The lady from Maine didn’t seem too interested after about five texts between us. So, down to three.  

The Jacksonville lady was in her mid-60s - so she would be more age-compatible to me. Then, her writing made some mistakes. There were some misspellings - Labor Day became “Labour Day” (the British spelling). Her language was gushing- almost flowery. I guessed “she” might easily be somebody from the old British Empire using Shakespearean English. Too bad - down to two women.

The Massachusetts woman seemed the most likely. After a few weeks, she called me “My wife.” (Wow - I must have made a good impression on her). She was in high-end medical equipment sales. She went to Sioux City, Iowa, for a potential contract for a non-profit company. I’d been to Sioux City many times, and I asked her about the area. Did she get to South Sioux City, Nebraska, or North Sioux City, South Dakota? Where was she staying? Did she visit any of the historical sites in the Sioux City area?  

I got nothing from her about the area - even my direct questions. She did ask about dating questions - what would you do on a first date? (My answer is to find a quiet table in the back of a restaurant and get to know each other). Her potential contract was vague, and she was competing against four others - and all five were in Sioux City putting their proposals before the organization. But that went on for two weeks. That didn’t make sense to me. She said that once she was done in Sioux City, she would come to Texas to meet me. I arranged for her to stay with friends (I didn’t trust myself with her in my one-bedroom apartment. 

But, she got the contract - and the organization was sending her to Japan to buy equipment for the organization’s refugee camp in Sri Lanka. (That sounded strange). She was in Japan for two weeks - supposedly buying equipment (why so long? Why did she need to go to Japan physically? Couldn’t she buy equipment online?)

Then she said two things that broke the relationship. One was that it was expensive to be in Japan, and I could help her financially. The other was that she signed one of her texts, “Susan” - (but her name was Maria). Why would anybody sign the wrong name? She had given me a link to the organization, but the information was not consistent with other information. I checked the organization against a website that evaluated organizations on how much percentage of donations went to genuine service - and this organization wasn’t there. I was smitten - and she was a fraud. I confronted her, and she suggested I was only interested in her for sex. (not so).  

*****

The second one was from Miami, Florida. In her story, she inherited an ocean-going ship from her father (seemingly, upon his death, he gave his children one or more ships). 

One of her investors had backed out of supporting her, and she needed me to help her get the ship sailing.  

The suggestion from my three accountability friends was, “If they ask for money, they are frauds.” She seemed more legitimate - she had a Facebook page (with zero friends), and we even used Facetime to talk to each other twice - so I did get to see her. She likewise had a webpage - but it was also incomplete. There was a picture of employees with about sixty or seventy employees - so why was she asking me for money? She wanted me to wire the money or use a Cash Transfer application.  

Another fraud.  

*****

Another “friend” on Twitter promised me money if I invested in Bitcoin. Fraud

If somebody friends you on social media - it could be a fraud situation. On this dating site, the three “finalists” were all frauds. Did they all see a “hot 76-year-old woman” as a prime person to fleece?  

It might be an investment that is “too good to be true.” With the shipping lady, once the goods reached the port, the investor would get 30% of their investment back, and the investment would roll over to the next shipment. And for years, I could have gotten 30% over and over. The Bitcoin person sounded so knowledgeable - and was a fraud.

I was naive. I sure wouldn’t try to do something like this. Love one another. If somebody asks you to go a mile, go a second mile. If somebody asks me for support, I’d like to help if I could. That’s who I am - I want to help. Alas - it wasn’t help they wanted. They wanted money with no strings attached.

I have helped friends with some finances - but I’ve known them. Some of my best friends are low-income/poverty level.  

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:33-34

May God give me wisdom for dealing with financial issues.

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, NOVEMBER 2, 2023