"Are you watching closely?"

I have a story to tell, Its a bit long, It spans about 10 months of my life.  So pull up  a chair, grab a coffee and listen. Watch closely though, because your about to see a magic trick.

The pledge

It started about 10 months ago. This gal Sandra Claude (sandrac4luv@yahoo.com) , she looked up my profile on MSN, found my blog and started to write me.  She seemed innocent and nice, a bit weird at firs, but as I got to know her all of that faded into a pretty painting.  We chatted on and off for a while, eventually our emails were daily, even 2-3 times a day. I was really starting to think that I liked this person.

The only problem was she was in Ireland, and I was in Canada.  Woman she was 27. Beautiful, we exchanged pictures and she liked how I looked.  She did not seem to notice the things I was insecure about and was mainly attracted to my personality and my poetic soul.  My confidence grew and we started to discuss our lives. She was intelligent, and educated, and was not afraid to talk about the meaning of life as it relates to quantum theory. She wasn’t hooked on kids, though wasn’t opposed to having them either.

She dropped hints that she was money, but never outright told me.  One time she sent me her photo and it was accidentally tagged with a site name of www.millionairmatch.com to meet the rich and famous for dating/ relationships.  When I discovered this, and explored her profile, she acted embarrassed and told me that she didn't have money and that was a frivolous dream of hers to meet a millionaire.  I took her at face value; we have all had that dream.

There were times when I started to think that she was every checkmark on the list of things that I wanted in a woman.  And even when she gave me her address in Dublin, I googled it to see that it was a huge mansion She didn't flinch. She told me that she was not part of that club anymore and that there was no money there from her family.

I was not interested in her money so I didn't care.  She even mentioned to me of her attraction for me and ended our friendship.  I took it like the man I am (After all I know a fair number of local contenders that would want me and I didn't stop keeping my options open) I let her go without question because I despise trailer park drama.

Less than a month later she emails me back out of the blue and states that she is sorry she did what she did. She can’t stop thinking about me and want to fly out to meet me immediately. I welcomed our conversations back and we discussed it for a while.

This is about the 6 month mark. And a month or two of negotiations go by and we agree to meet, and make flight arrangements. I am eager to meet her. . I told her straight up that I as not in love with her, and not to expect magic, but I am attracted to her in a big way and she can come to see me, I will keep her at my home and we can even put her in the spare room if need be (I am a gentleman first, a horny corndog later :)) 

She and I negotiated over the next little bit about when to come out that would work for me. She said she was going to stay 2.5 weeks to be sure to know me better and to know if I am the one for her. She has given up on men other than me.  I agreed it was reasonable, and I would give it the same chance.  Took the month off from work (for other reasons as well as this) and prepared for her arrival in 1.5 weeks. I did communicate this in an email, and she seemed excited that we could spend all of our time together as opposed to only part of it while I was at work.

One week we discussed what we would do.  We even discussed our passions and desire to spend time knowing each other. We even discussed the vehicle I was going to pick her up in, as I was contemplating switching vehicles and wanted her to know what to look for. She even dropped a hint that she might help me with that. I raised an eyebrow at this as this was the first real hint there may be money there. Besides the almost three thousand dollars she would have to spend on plane fare alone just to meet me and not even know if it would work.

The last 5 days before the meeting there were suddenly no emails.   I suspected she was planning to show up early when I had told her earlier that I was off the whole month now, so our time could be maximized.  So as we had talked on webcam and exchanged numbers previously, I awaited her phone call to state " I’m at the airport, come to get me” or even a email with her having cold feet stating that she could not make it with some excuse I would totally understand” . I mean, I was nervous and excited at the same time. Wouldn’t you be?

The Turn

The phone call and email never came, but I had her original flight itinerary and she was to arrive Thursday at midnight. There was some confusion though because I didn't realize her times she gave me were in Edmonton time, not Ireland time, which meant would have been horribly late!).   But the shock happened..   Thursday at noon I got an email from a 'barrister wolf' (legalviewchamber02@hotmail.co.uk ) who stated to me that Sandra Rasheed Claud (sandrac4luv@yahoo.com ) has died and that I am being notified.  Because he is busy he will get back to me later next week and fill me in the details as she had me listed as some kind of beneficiary or next of kin.

I knew she was alone, and had no one, so this did not overly surprise me that she signed my name on the insurance for tickets or such..  but the shock of her death and the disappointment of not getting to know this person , to know if she would be the one for me ,  was grieving.

the week went by, as I was alone at home with no work to distract me  I moped about. And shirked my blogging buddy's as I didn't want to talk about or make things more than what they were, a long distance internet friend or pen pal who passed. I googled her name, Trying to validate her reality. and found an obituary into he Ireland times!.. Maybe this was real.  I tried to trace her emails to validate  them ,  things to just  help me realize her and let her go, I realized that the amount of money was likely not much, and had plans to donate it to her funeral, or a charity on her behalf to avoid the inform tax bandits here in Canada.

And then I get the email from the lawyer I had inherited 5 million euros from her!  And they had prepared it for me at the bank of Essex.  There was other moneys dispersed but all I had to do was verify my identity with them by sending a scan of my passport and I would be able to claim it. the only catch is I would have to fly to the bank to withdraw the money.  Apparently banks don't let you withdraw large amounts without meeting the manager...  this is true even in Canada.

as unbelievable as this sounds I checked things out..  1. There is such a bank..  2. she had an obituary 3. that the email address (though at hotmail.co.uk) is used in the euros by real lawyers..  4. I even looked up the barrister online on the lawyer database.. But could not contact him by phone.  5. and finally I traced all the emails that were ever sent to me by them  to this point.. and 6. hers all came form Dublin,  his all came form London.  

I also had begun checking things out with the local police, asking lawyers and such to validate this and received no negative feedback, or at least a deaf ear that wished me luck and seemed genuinely jealous of this happening to me, and not them stating that “ its probably not real , and a scam “ and then I told them “no one has asked me for money or anything that she already didn't know “. Then they didn't have an answer, all wishing me to come back and “ $ remember they helped me $“

As the reality of this sinks in and receiving no negative feedback of any concrete value, I start to get excited. I'm thinking I may have just fulfilled all my dreams, except the one with the woman I wanted so deeply to meet is no longer of this world. Not the end of it though , as I was not in love with her, I was in love with someone else that I could not have.

Its 1 week between emails with this lawyer and he tells me she died in a car crash. The tickets had my info attached and she was closing details that day with her lawyer to go and meet me.  She added me to her will for the trip, her lawyer was sure she was not coming back by the way she talked about me.. I was thinking suicide, he told me it was a car crash and she spent a few days in hospital before she died of a short illness from her spine infection or something. I was just happy to hear some kind of details. And that It was not a suicide.

I informed him I don't have a passport yet, and there is a long wait to get it. so I sent my drivers licence to verify me.  ( numbers erased)  after all who trusts the Internet.  and this is so fantastical fantasy to me now , that I am in shock. I told my sisters  they immediately thought some kind of scam, but no one asked for money and they didn't care much about the identity I sent  not having the numbers.

if its a scam its either identity fraud, or asking for money..   in this case they want to give me 5 million euros.. and no one has asked for money yet.

INTERLUDE

During all of this I mentioned that I had not loved Sandra, but there was potential, and that I had another love that wasn’t working out. (The short version is I loved her but got smashed into the friend zone and wedged firmly there by youthful inexperience in emotions (aforementioned as blue eyes in the poem)) I am no fool, I know that you can fall for more than one person, but it takes more than just an emotion to make a relationship work, and more than just physical attraction or a friendship.

Well this person, whose name I won’t mention, was a dear friend to me and partly due to this stuff going on making me suspicious of all of my friend’s sincerity, and her actions I ended the friendship. There were things that happened that made an already suspicious mind wander off the deep end, and to save myself I had to let her go. Or so the view was at the time. Now, granted she was doing a few things that were really annoying me, and under normal circumstances I could deal with them and maintain the friendship, even with her being with another man. But when valentines came and I was given a choice between my family and my friendship and love for her, combined with my suspicions and anger she was generating I chose my family. And foolishly out of spite stated I wont call her again. At the time that was the right choice, and I dint exactly come by it lightly, I hurt myself more than you could really know by making that choice.

“Love is like a knife, it can stab the heart or it can carve wonderful images into the soul that will last a lifetime”

The event was simply that the man she chose would not be with her at all valentines (this angered me greatly as I wanted her to be with a caring and sincere man who was not already playing her).[note: personal details aside this seemed to be undoubtedly the case and blatantly obvious for someone with my experiences]. Their first valentines and a few months together, and she wanted to spend it with me because he was completely unavailable ( as if! He was off by 6pm!) . This I found out about the day of, but I had already decided to spend valentines or most of it with my 4 year old niece (she’s the best) and wouldn’t be able to get together with her until 5 or so when I was going to be in that part of town with my niece in tow for another hour. As we were going as friends there was no need for privacy and my niece was not really cumbersome or whiney or anything.

My feelings at this point with the meeting failed with Sandra, and the potential of huge income (blue eyes already was told. We had no secrets) I was beginning to be suspicious of everyone , and was worried that everyone was using me , or setting me up for a piece of the pie. Blue eyes made the list when she acted strangely by being worried that my niece was around because we couldn’t talk openly or dirtily or anything. I stated it sonly for an hour max, and then I have the whole evening for her and I to do whatever we wanted. To which the reply was that she suddenly was unavailable to leave her house unless I didn't have my niece with me. That seemed to me to be a lie, and I don’t like that when I'm already frustrated and upset. And possibly jealous of her boyfriend who cant be bothered to be with her more than once in a while, or on a special day . So I ended it.

The point of this interlude..

I was feeling greedy, and I was jealous and angry, and was given a choice between blue eyes and my family that even if I wanted to ditch, I could not for another hour or two. AND I regret losing the friendship enough that my heart still aches even though I have moved on since then .. (It’s been a few months. And even my ex wife never had me feeling this way after 10 years, for my ex I was ready after a few weeks. )

[p.s. blue eyes : if your reading this, the friendship never had to end permanently and since I have had time now to separate myself, maybe we could try again if your up to it honestly. ]

I began to accept that I will be alone with my money, and never truly know someone to love me for me, and not what I can give them, emotionally or financially.
And our story continues.

The turn part 2

So my sisters and I  tried to verify any information that we were given,  the lawyer (legalviewchamber02@hotmail.co.uk Tel +447024015244) checked out, the emails checked out, the obituary checked out, and the only problem was that we haven’t heard a live person contact besides that really choppy webcam connection I had with Sandra prior to us agreeing to meet. And the London and Dublin police had no warrants or information on these people in a negative way, and since they weren’t asking for money they believed that this could be legit. And would not open an investigation. And yes a hotmail address can and is used by lawyers in the UK. And that law firm has no website so it makes more sense.

Seriously though the biggest factor in my not following my instincts in this was that I talked to her for 8 months. No one said they loved each other, but our attraction was there, and we talked about intimate details of our lives as the trust grew. It seemed to be the most honest relationship I have had with anyone, knowing me you would know this counts HUGE in the closeness that you can get to me. W talked about things that close friends or lovers talk about, issues in our lives, she was a friend, and she was beautiful, and she seemed to be more than a guy could want for a wife. And I was going to give her that chance to sweep me off my feet, or me off hers by meeting her. The plan was she was to stay for 2.5 weeks. That’s lots of time to know if it would be worth a longer stay, or to create a long distance romance. I don’t like distance romances, but we lasted 8 months without even contact, and my interests was piqued. The possibility of her being financially comfortable was nice too. But she was gone now. And apparently I was rich because of her.

Time went on and the lawyer did call me!. Like the day before I was to return to work.. no wait, it was the morning of returning to work.  I was mortified,  he was real,  he sounded like a lawyer,  he claimed to be one,  at this point the adrenaline kicked in and I believed that I was going to be rich, and saddened that I did not even get to meet the woman who was so nice to me to make my dreams come true.  So throughout the next while I started mentally spending the money and my sister was too.  

But out of sheer curiosity I kept tracing the emails, and then one came from Africa..  WTF AFRICA!   How could that be, the lawyer could be traveling but AFRICA? What could a lawyer who’s involved in the supreme courts be doing in Africa emailing me?  So I dug deeper, and it was an internet cafe in Africa, as there aren’t a lot of metro areas there that have home internet service.  So okay, I let it slide, bit my tongue and rode it out because the trace was a bit weird and it seemed that the IP block was owned by London previously. But my alarm bells started ringing quietly.

The next email came form Liberia... And the next Africa again.. And since then Africa, not London, or Dublin or Amsterdam even, but Africa...

So I talked to a lawyer again, because I was to receive documentation from the barrister about the death and my inheritance, and proof of his being a lawyer... There was no way I was going to handle 5 million euros myself, and let people screw me out of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. I have never handled this amount of cash, and wanted to be sure I don’t blow it all in a week and that I would have the option to live off the interest or at least do what I please before I gave it all away to friends and family.  I am not greedy, but that doesn’t mean anyone should rip me off.

The email came with the attachments of documents and they were broken ( actually just the shortcuts to files as opposed to the files themselves), I phoned the lawyer ( I now have his address and phone number as Section 12 Northumberland Avenue London WC2N 5BX Tell +447024015244 ) and he promised that they would be resent by his secretary within a few days, and he had just sent me an email with instructions on how to contact the bank directly .

The Prestige

This email included instructions on the bank manager’s name and an email address which would appear to be correct to the layman. And I was tempted to send him a full scan of my driver’s license at this point. After all I talked to him on the phone now several times, and even the lawyers I talked to locally says that everything that has happened was correct, except I haven’t received personal contact (or a registered letter or couriered documents). And that could be because she arranged this through an offshore bank to prevent taxes and other complications. (This seemed to be the case). I Still had those alarm bells ringing and I couldn’t ignore them. This email traced to Africa again. And Africa is the biggest place for scams apparently (http://www.internet-love-scams.org says so ) So I posted there and checked out the email customercare@essexbankpaymentcenter.com. Well the domain for the email address when typing the www.essexbankpaymentcenter.com did not show a web page at all, it showed that I could buy the domain for about 3$ !.. and it was owned, but there were no bank logos or anything. Where as www.bankofessex.com showed the proper stuff, but only American locations were presented. My sister took it a step further to call the bank. And they stated they have no banks in London and that the aforementioned email address has nothing to do with the bank of Essex and their security will look into this immediately.

On the phone I held my tongue, cause I wanted to make sure that the authorities were in the know, and I figured I could waste these guys time for a long time, since there still was the possibility of reality, she was real for 8 months. And told them I had a lawyer to handle this money for me and the lawyer can validate my identity .

At this point this was a full out scam to me with about a 5% chance of being real.. maybe less. And I wanted to have them in a lie.

I ignored the emails for a while. Thinking that they would go away if it was fake, If it was not real they would realize am on to them and leave me alone. I was wrong. They kept it up. And legally speaking the lawyer in charge of dispersing funds really has to prove he tried before giving up . I grabbed hold of the dream a little and forced myself to follow through.

At this time I was told because I mentioned a lawyer I am guessing in the previous phone call that the barrister wolf was no longer able to extend me his courtesies that he has taken too much of his important time with me and that he ahs handed it to a private detective or someone in Belgium.. I’m thinking Belgium, WTF for, why not Edmonton, oh yea this is a scam, isn’t it ? I was to contact this person by email or telephone and tell him that account number 00932497381838 

And that I was the one who inherited Sandra’s 5 million. It was a Mr. Joseph Benjamin (Email: josephben88@yahoo.ca  +32497381833 Brussels Belgium)

So I emailed, no response

So I phoned.. Whoa ! I got through and he knew my name straight away.

We had a short conversation, and I told him that I could not come there, as he requested to collect my money, he was still very convincing, and because of it he could come to me at my expense and I will show him whatever id he required. I would reimburse him for his expenses once the moneys were completed and signed by my lawyer.

He said and I quote “ I don’t think the authorities would like me there “

I was ready to piss myself laughing, does this guy think that I am that stupid to not know this ..

I played dumb. And told him that if I can get the paperwork the lawyer would take care of it. Then he sprung it on me.. that since I could not come there would be an 18,594.00 EUR charge for the fees to collect my money. And he will send me the details on Monday via email.

To date I have not received this email. Or any working attachments. (Imagine if I had)

I challenge you to think about this, I am a smart person , I am internet savvy , I am wary of internet scams and deal with this kind of thing every day at my job, and I was almost fooled.

If they would have traced emails back to the right places all the time, had some papers mailed to me (snail mail or email) and they appeared legit, I would have flown to London, and then bee scammed with the 18k$ fees, probably scrounged to get it, and given it to them .. Or at the least flown halfway around the world for nothing. )

Where would you be in that scam? Where would I be if I didn’t know how to trace emails.

Where would the money be?

--

Oh wait.. I forgot to mention it doesn’t end there.

On MSN Monday I saw someone on line who I thought was dead.

Yep Sandra messed up and her yahoo signed in to messenger.

I played stupid and said “hello my love”

The response I got was the perfect end.

“you call this love ? “

She immediately blocked and deleted me. And was offline..

I wonder what would happen if I emailed Mr. Benjamin about where is the paperwork. ?

So do you call this love?

I don’t, I never did and because of this I will have a very hard time to trust anyone over the internet again. Especially if they ask for money or fall in love with me in minutes or even 30 days..

I am no stranger to beautiful women, I am not afraid of them but hopefully I wont end up bitter about this.

Time will be the only test that prevails that.

And the lady I am talking to online now, I do hope she is really on the level.

 I have stuck to my morality and lived true to myself for so long now, if I give up , all of you gals should run and hide  my secret weapon may get unleashed ? LOL

p.s. hey didn't i promise you all a big beefy juicy bit, and something that could make you cry ?

i'm crying, because idont have 5 million euros  in the bank. and i still am searchign for the right lady to spend the remainder of my life with ..  could be you , but you got some big shoes to fill :)  and im going to take some time to mend this poet and maybe let a piece of myself go to someone ..