Читать книгу The Geese That Lay The Golden Eggs - Nicola Maria Vitola - Страница 23

This is Serena’s story, freely adapted from the blog on World Romance Scams⁹. The site gathers countless testimonials from anyone who wants to share their own experience to help other women, before they fall for a romance scam, or after they’ve been left heartbroken to show them the way back towards regaining their self-esteem:

«My name is Serena and I’m 31 years old; one day I met a very handsome and dashing man on Facebook who sent me a friend request. I’d never heard of the existence of fake profiles, so I trusted him. He was polite, romantic, attentive; he often told me he thanked God for having made us meet. I couldn’t see anything wrong, so I carried on. He told me what he did; he was at sea on an oil tanker. He was a widower and had a daughter. Slowly I became infatuated with him and I asked to meet. He said he couldn’t come ashore but would do so as soon as possible.

One day he wrote to me saying that the ship had a leak and they had to dock. He told me they had problems with the insurance which didn’t cover the damage and all their jobs were at risk. He asked me to help him by sending him five thousand euros. I believed him and did it. Then he asked me for more money for further work on the ship. He explained they were making a collection and he needed another five thousand euros. I sent them to him. I was starting to spend too much money and by chance I saw an advert on Facebook for the “World Romance Scam” association. I clutched at it. I wrote to them. Dr Ansaldi replied asking me to call her on the phone. Since then she has been helping me. She helped me understand what trouble I’d got myself into, and she sent me photos of the fraudster proving to me that this person had already targeted other women.

I followed her suggestions blindly to get through the tunnel leading back to reality. I blocked all contact with him. I no longer answered his calls; I cried, I couldn’t sleep, I felt awful, but I knew I had to succeed and Dr Ansaldi was always there for me. In the end he disappeared and for me that was the end of a nightmare that could have caused a lot more damage if I hadn’t found “Worldromancescam.org". Now I know what fake profiles really are, and I’m vaccinated against them. I just wanted everyone to know that you can heal from these addictions and I’m living proof of that».