I was contacted on Facebook back in November of last year by a man claiming to be an American Doctor working in a mission in Africa. We chatted and got to know one another over the next few months. He learned that I am disabled, had a house fire, and that I am having a lot of financial difficulty. He said that they would help me with getting the funds I needed to repair my home and not to worry. I was very skeptical at first, but anytime I asked any sort of questions, he always had a logical explanation. He sent me credit cards that were in my name and asked that I get cash advances for them because they did not have access to their banking institutions where they were. He then asked me to send the majority of the cash to his associates (Adetokun Afeez and Oyegoke Gbenga) in Lagos, Nigeria. He allowed me to keep approximately ten percent to help me pay for things I needed for my home and my children. He also told me I could use the cards on more than one occasion to get materials and items I needed for my home and children.
This only went on for about two weeks. The first card he sent me had Dr William Sloane as the primary account holder. That was the name he had used to contact me on Facebook. He told me that the card would not work because their was some sort of error with the account. I had a police officer show up at my door asking me about receiving the credit card and I told him I was not stupid and that I threw it away. The real Dr Sloane had reported that his account information had been given to Chase and that is why the police had come. When I questioned the scammer about why the police came and asked me that, he told me he reported his account stolen because he thought I had used the card for my own things and not what he told me to do and that he would send me a new card. Later I received other credit cards, all in my name, and he had me get the cash advances.
No matter what he said, the last thing he had me do made me realize with no uncertainty that I had been pulled into a scam. Nothing he said could talk his way out of this... He had me get Ipads at Wal-Mart with one of the cards because he said they needed them to help them with their mission work. I was homeschooling my youngest children at the time and he told me to keep one for myself to help with their studies. He asked that I use my own money to send the Ipads to Nigeria. I did not have enough cash, so he asked me to pawn them and send him the cash. It didn't feel right, but I was afraid and also at the time we had no running vehicles and if I did not find a way to rent a car for a few days then my husband would lose his job, so I reluctantly went along with it. I then questioned him about why he would have me do that repeatedly and he finally admitted to me that he had been hacking Chase bank and stealing people's credit card information. He said he had people all over the US helping him with this. He said that we are all lazy, greedy Americans and that he knew I was not really poor or having financial problems. He also said that he would never get caught and he would never stop doing this. I was so upset that I blocked him on messenger and Facebook and prayed that my family would be ok.
A couple of days later a detective came to my home. He asked me to come in for questioning. When he first asked me about it, I lied. He showed me pictures of receiving the cash advances from the bank and shopping at Wal-Mart. He knew from what I had bought that I was trying to get the materials to repair my home and help my family. I have since been charged with 2 felonies and 3 misdemeanors. They may have more charges against me before this is all over. My lawyer said that I could get probation and I could get twenty years.
I contacted Western Union to ask them to send me any transactions they had where he or his partner were the receivers and they only sent me the ones where I was the sender. I also called Interpol, but they said that Kentucky State Police was their liaison and they would have to request their assistance. I told the detective this and the last I spoke with him (a couple of weeks ago), he still had not contacted Interpol.
I do not know how long he and his partners have been doing this to people or how long they will continue, but I do not want to see anyone else go through what my family has gone through. I have been arrested 3 times so far - all in front of my children. And they came in my house with a search warrant. I have cooperated fully with the police since the first encounter but I feel it is easier for them just to put all of this on me and not go after the real criminals. I feel that he used my desperation as a ploy to scam me as well as the people he had hacked and in my opinion, we are victims as well.
I hope this helps someone else from being drawn into this scam. If anyone has any ideas on how to help me or to help me to help others from getting involved in something like this, plz let me know. Thank you.
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