Scams- a personal story.

byFranMan

710 followers

7 years ago

Dear All, today I'm going to write about a personal topic, very close to my heart, and one that cost me a lot of time (& money). Scamming/ Phishing.

Many of us have come into WA having been duped or conned from online "entrepreneurs". The most infamous of these people are the Nigerian 419ers. Yes, I have been down that road, as well as Indians. For one moment, please don't think that I detest these two nations , merely some of their opportunistic players. I have to be cautious when dealing with online people, hence why it took me a long time to decide about WA.

I got roped into sending money via Western Union and MoneyGram. So Top Tip Number 1- please don't use Western Union/ MoneyGram for transferring funds to people who you don't know, can't trust or who persist that they are genuine.

I was at a low ebb in my life. I had lost my job (again), been tricked by online "girlfriends", struggling with depression. Yip, I was pretty low.

Then one day I was asked to apply for funds that were unclaimed in a death case in Nigeria, Togo or somewhere in continental Africa. Top Tip Number 2- if it appears to be too good to be true, it generally is.

So, with whatever funds I had, and asked family members to give to me, I sent the whole damn lot over, in dribs and drabs. I chased the unrealistic goal of "millions" of dollars. No sane or sensible person would agree to this. I didn't do due diligence and do background checks- unlike when I looked in WA at the beginning.

I didn't have much internet access. I was stupid. And money transfer followed money transfer, always chasing the next "certificate". It was never ever going to happen. I got much more into debt, started chasing my losses via gambling. I wasn't eating. In fact I lost about 50 pounds of weight. Family members thought I had cancer.

It all came to a head after about a year. I was stumbling and bumbling around. Looking back it was painful.

I guess my point today is Due Diligence. Do the research into what is out there. There is very little that is completely genuine. That's why I had to look at WA closely before committing to it. I looked at scam review sites, and came to the conclusion, after the free enrolment into WA, that this was a place where one can do business.

If you know of anyone struggling with scammers, please have some empathy for them. Maybe those people are at a low ebb too, struggling to make ends meet, or they just need professional help. Have them contact me, or someone who has been through a similar ordeal.

Reach out your hand, help them a little, but never spoon feed them, as that too is bad.

Thankfully, WA is not that kind of system, nor is it MLM either. I can't praise the community of WA enough.

If in doubt- Move On!

Francis.