Seeking support
Ryan
February 8, 2024
GAFA Anti-Fraud Alliance volunteers help recover
In October 2022, I lost £54,000 to a pig-killing scam. About a month earlier, I started talking to "Jessica," a 30-something Chinese woman in New York, who messaged me on Instagram. I had recently separated from my wife and my father had been diagnosed with cancer.
After a few weeks of chatting, Jessica mentioned cryptocurrencies. I agreed to make small transfers to a platform recommended by her "friend" before moving on to larger transfers. I wasn''''t trying to be greedy... I just wanted to make a little extra money for a deposit.
When Jessica suggested investing more money, I became suspicious. A Google reverse image search confirmed that she was not who she said she was: her photos were stolen from a Japanese model. I confronted the scammer and he blocked me on WhatsApp.
More than a year later, I''''m still having trouble coming to terms with what happened. I haven''''t gotten my money back yet, and I don''''t know if I ever will. I didn’t tell my family about the scam and I haven’t seen my close friends for a year. I was really stupid.
“People will say, ‘What a fool, how could you be fooled?’ But I think this person is sincere, and I was in a bad mood, so I was fooled. I allowed this person to use me and manipulate me.”
By chance, I met James, a volunteer of the GAFA anti-fraud organization. With his popularization, I realized that there are still many shocking scams happening in the world, and behind the scams, this industry is even more sinister.
Maybe God blessed me. Through James’ introduction and help, I recovered part of the defrauded funds of $32,000 through this organization.
After a few weeks of chatting, Jessica mentioned cryptocurrencies. I agreed to make small transfers to a platform recommended by her "friend" before moving on to larger transfers. I wasn''''t trying to be greedy... I just wanted to make a little extra money for a deposit.
When Jessica suggested investing more money, I became suspicious. A Google reverse image search confirmed that she was not who she said she was: her photos were stolen from a Japanese model. I confronted the scammer and he blocked me on WhatsApp.
More than a year later, I''''m still having trouble coming to terms with what happened. I haven''''t gotten my money back yet, and I don''''t know if I ever will. I didn’t tell my family about the scam and I haven’t seen my close friends for a year. I was really stupid.
“People will say, ‘What a fool, how could you be fooled?’ But I think this person is sincere, and I was in a bad mood, so I was fooled. I allowed this person to use me and manipulate me.”
By chance, I met James, a volunteer of the GAFA anti-fraud organization. With his popularization, I realized that there are still many shocking scams happening in the world, and behind the scams, this industry is even more sinister.
Maybe God blessed me. Through James’ introduction and help, I recovered part of the defrauded funds of $32,000 through this organization.
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