by dannyboy
Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:54 pm
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to share my story about my family and their recent loss. In total, my parents have been scammed for over $1.5 million and have lost everything that they have, including retirement accounts etc.
I guess about 2 years ago, my parents began to be scammed from their money. My parents have no computer ability, they can't surf the internet, in fact they don't even own a computer. It all started when they trusted the brother of their church pastor, who approached them with this "investment idea." Essentially it was an advance fee. Knowing nothing about computers, and believing the pastor's younger brother, they started feeding money through western union. They would get the entire run around eventually of why the money wasn't being released, whether it would be that they need a certain type of "certification" from a government official or what not. The pastor's brother even claimed at one point that he had saw the box of money at the airport where it was being held. After time, he came out and said he hadn't seen the box. Eventually, they pastor's brother and my parents had run out of funds, they basically liquidated them completely and sucked them dry. They are afraid to report anything to the authorities. This is because they had to ask one of their friends, who is an owner of a small grocery store, send money through western union under different people's ID. Because as you know, after you send a certain amount under a name, they won't let you send anymore. And they are afraid that not only they will get in trouble, but also their friend that owns the grocery store and helped them send the money through Western Union. I am not quite sure what the law is on this, if anyone has any help please let me know.
The sad thing about all this is that I was in college at USC in Los Angeles while this all happened. I had no idea it was going on until about a year in. Even then, I had suspicions and tried to stop them, but seeing me as a child, they refused to listen and insisted that I butt out of the situation. The more and more I would try to stop them, the more they would accuse me of being disrespectful. Eventually there was nothing I could do about it, and here we are today. Without anything left, they understand now that it had been a scam. I just never believed anything legitimate was happening when they would send these western unions in thousands of dollars over to generic names like Thompson Gray, and, etc.
It has changed our lives so much, I went from going to USC without any financial aid to scraping to get by everyday. And it has left them without any retirement and they are nearly 60 years old. Not a day goes by where I dont think about the pain and heartache that this has caused my family. People just have to be careful and if something is just too good to be true, then it is. Thanks for reading and be careful everyone.
I just wanted to share my story about my family and their recent loss. In total, my parents have been scammed for over $1.5 million and have lost everything that they have, including retirement accounts etc.
I guess about 2 years ago, my parents began to be scammed from their money. My parents have no computer ability, they can't surf the internet, in fact they don't even own a computer. It all started when they trusted the brother of their church pastor, who approached them with this "investment idea." Essentially it was an advance fee. Knowing nothing about computers, and believing the pastor's younger brother, they started feeding money through western union. They would get the entire run around eventually of why the money wasn't being released, whether it would be that they need a certain type of "certification" from a government official or what not. The pastor's brother even claimed at one point that he had saw the box of money at the airport where it was being held. After time, he came out and said he hadn't seen the box. Eventually, they pastor's brother and my parents had run out of funds, they basically liquidated them completely and sucked them dry. They are afraid to report anything to the authorities. This is because they had to ask one of their friends, who is an owner of a small grocery store, send money through western union under different people's ID. Because as you know, after you send a certain amount under a name, they won't let you send anymore. And they are afraid that not only they will get in trouble, but also their friend that owns the grocery store and helped them send the money through Western Union. I am not quite sure what the law is on this, if anyone has any help please let me know.
The sad thing about all this is that I was in college at USC in Los Angeles while this all happened. I had no idea it was going on until about a year in. Even then, I had suspicions and tried to stop them, but seeing me as a child, they refused to listen and insisted that I butt out of the situation. The more and more I would try to stop them, the more they would accuse me of being disrespectful. Eventually there was nothing I could do about it, and here we are today. Without anything left, they understand now that it had been a scam. I just never believed anything legitimate was happening when they would send these western unions in thousands of dollars over to generic names like Thompson Gray, and, etc.
It has changed our lives so much, I went from going to USC without any financial aid to scraping to get by everyday. And it has left them without any retirement and they are nearly 60 years old. Not a day goes by where I dont think about the pain and heartache that this has caused my family. People just have to be careful and if something is just too good to be true, then it is. Thanks for reading and be careful everyone.
