Saturday, January 26, 2013

It was November 18, 2012. I finally decided to give online dating a try. I've never had a problem meeting people to date in everyday life, but I was looking for specific traits and just wasn't finding them. After getting my profile up on match.com, I received many responses. But one stood out from the  rest. Here he is...FRED HARRINGTON...is what he says is his name.
I have since learned that these scammers get photos from the internet. So this may or may not be the man that so unmercifully scammed me. Not having any idea about how these scams work, he scammed me to no end before I finally figured out I had been used.

The first thing he did after we connected online was take down his match.com profile. He said it was because of me. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I'm still in shock that I was so naive. He asked if we could chat on instant messenger. I had never used IM, so after he told me how we began chatting. He said all of the right things.  He sounded like everything I had prayed for...I'm a born again christian and pray about everything. We also began talking on the phone.  He said he lives in Virginia. He also said he works in real estate, buying, renovating and selling.

In a very short time I was head over heels for this evil man. He pretended he was head over heels for me as well. After about two weeks of talking we were very close, or so I thought. He would call me early in the morning before walking his dog Bingo. He would call me during the days and before bed at night. Next thing I know, we're exchanging I love you's in every conversation.

One day he  told me that his agent called and said some land was available for purchase in Lugansk, Ukraine that he wanted to develop for tourism or something like that. He said he would have an estate built on it. In a matter of two or three days, he was rushing off to the Ukraine. He said that having me in his life had brought this blessing, because he had been waiting at least three years for the ideal opportunity/land purchase. After arriving in the Ukraine he called me to let me know he arrived safely. He said he wanted to hear my voice and said that he loves me. This man is such a liar. If all that he told me, I don't know if any of it is true. Here is another photo that he sent me of himself. Again, I have never met him in person, so I can only assume this is really him. I don't know.
He called me everyday. He told me it was so cold and snowy there. He said that in his mad dash to the airport he forgot some things including his Timberland boots. He asked, "Honey, would you pick up the things I forgot and send them to me? When I cash my second traveler's check on Monday I will put $8,000. into your account" (Yes, I was silly enough to give him my account number. I believed anything he said. He had groomed me so efficiently that I thought God had sent this man to me.) I did as he asked. Thankfully, I have kept all proof/documentation of everything that has occurred between us-just because that's something I automatically do.

                                       Below is another photo that he emailed me of himself.                    


Another day he excitedly told me that while the men he hired were digging his new land, they hit some big rocks. He said that someone there told him they looked like GOLD. He said he took them down the road to a gold shop to have them tested/appraised and was told they are 98% pure. Again, I believed what he said. I really felt no excitement about that though. He said, "Baby we are rich!" He asked me to send him $1500. to secure a barrister (Lawyer) to handle all legal documentation pertaining to the gold. I told him I didn't have it. That he know I was waiting for him to return so I could recoupe monies I had already sent him. The he asked if I could send $600. I foolishly did so. He said that he put the Forty kilograms of gold bars in a Security Company there for safe keeping. He sent me a document that he is supposed to confirm that all he says about this gold is true.

Meanwhile, he is begging me to get up plane fare for him to return to the states so that he can get to his Bank of America account. He said that then he could take care of all of my financial needs, get the gold shipped here to the U.S. and pay his workers, the barrister and the security company balances owed. This man had told me about his adult children, Barbra and Caleb. Probably made up names. He told me that he told them about me and they were so happy he found someone. He said his wife died in a car accident four years ago and that he had not found anyone with which he wanted to spend his life. Before even leaving for the Ukraine, he told me he would return on December 15, 2012. He said his birthday is December 24th and that he wanted my daughter and me to come to Virginia to celebrate with him and his two adult children at his home. But the traveler's check denial story kept him from coming.

Another time he asked me to send him a Majik Jack and a few more relatively inexpensive electronic items so I did. What I left out earlier is that the weekend prior to the Monday he was to get his traveler's check cashed I told him I had bills due now and could he find a way to take care of them. He asked if it could wait til Monday. I said no. He sounded very angry when he said he a some money left on his credit card and would go ahead and pay them. He logged into my accounts one by one and paid three bills. A fourth one he tried to pay, but the card was declined. He pretended he didn't understand why. A few weeks later I start getting emails saying those payments were in dispute. When they were initially paid I got confirmation emails that I saved in folders, but didn't read first. Well when I got the first email I went into a folder the I had named "Bills paid by Fred Harrington" I read the confirmation and discovered that the card he used was not even in his name. It was in a asian person's name. I angrily called him and confronted him about this. His explanation was, that person is his agent who gave him permission to use that card. He said the agent owed him money and that is why his agent allowed him to use it. I ended up believing him again. I really don't know why. He was being  so smooth, easy going, calm and convincing.  I ended up paying all of those bills myself. By this time I was seriously feeling all of the money loss caused by helping this man that I thought was honest and just found himself in an unfortunate and unexpected situation.

A time came when he told me he was homeless, because he couldn't pay for his hotel room any longer. At that point I worked extra hard to get up his plane fare. I loved him and could not stand the thought of him being homeless and in the cold. Eventually, I got up his plane fare and sent it to him.  (He always had me send  things to one of his "employees".  Their names are Frank Morgan and Gewison Walter. The address he had me send packages to is: LNAU, Hostel7, Room 412, Lugansk, Ukraine 91008. So one thing I do know for sure is that someone in Lugansk, Ukraine picked up those packages. He said I had to send things to those people instead of him because they are citizens there and have I.D. to receive them. That made sense to me so I didn't question it) He later that day called me and told me he was at the travel agency  waiting his turn to book a flight. After a long while he emailed me his flight information. According to what he sent me, they had booked him to fly to Georgia in Europe. I told him of the error. He said he was heading back to the travel agency to correct it. Then he texted me that it was the lady's fault at the agency. He sent me his new itinerary. I was to meet him at Hartsfield International Airport the next afternoon.

Well wouldn't you just know it. About an hour and a half before I would leave to head out to the airport I got a call from his "employee" Frank Morgan saying he had been in a car accident on the way to the airport. I was suspicious and fearful at the same time. I asked Frank not to lie to me. That if Fred had just decided not to come to just tell me that. He stuck with his lie that Fred was in emergency at a hospital in Kiev, Ukraine. I asked him the name of the hospital and he began stumbling over his words. Finally he gave me a name, only to slightly change it in the same conversation. I continued to press him for information and he became angry with me. I asked for the phone number of the hospital be he never provided it.  Below is another photo of Fred Harrington in gray blazer and black pants: