Abraham Schaefer
Complaint 132496 Details

He initiated contact with me on a dating site "How About We". He said he was looking for wife material. He was tired of being alone and bored. The initial contact started 3/27/12. He wanted to converse by email, texting and IM for a while instead of meeting right away. He had several reasons why he could not meet. Working on investments, etc. Has not accomplished goal and needed to do that before meeting. We shared pictures, emails, talked on the phone, etc. We had contact for a over two months this way. He gradually gained my trust. His motto is "trust is priceless". He said never to doubt him. Doubt can ruin a relationship. I decided to trust and not doubt him. He was very attentive. I never would have guessed he was scamming me. Presented himself as very sensitive person who had been betrayed by friend and girlfriend. Lost his business to them. Lost a wife with pregnancy in car accident. Presented himself as someone who had a lot of loss and tragedy. Was trying to regain his life. Had no friends because he didn't trust friends. He was very close to his mother, however. Presented himself as someone who had investments and was an major AT&T stockholder. His job was working on his investments. Professed his love for me, asked me to marry him. At the point we were to meet, he got notice that an abandoned investment in Turkey was worth millions of dollars. Turkish government said he had to go claim it, could not do it from US. Should he go? I said of course! Once he got to Turkey, things fell apart. He dropped cell phone in tub. Need another one because it held the chip for the documents he had to present. Would I send him another one. I spent $900 on the phone he needed and sent it to him. Thanked me profusely. Then he needed $5000 for US visa renewal. I questioned why he need the money? He claimed he needed cash because he had spent all that he had taken ($250,000 cash) on securing his $350,000,000. He needed visa renewal to return to US as he is a Hungarian citizen. I sent him the cash. I am truly trusting him and thinking we had a committed relationship even though I never met him in person. What was I thinking??? I truly think I was brainwashed and totally not thinking clearly. Then he needed more money for transferring his investment thru the Bank of New Zealand. Whatever I could send would help. He needed $250,000. I'm thinking this is a lot of money to pay the Bank of New Zealand for transferring funds to the US.He sent me copies of documents, one was a bank statement with NZ bank showing the deposit of $350,000,000 and one was an official document from Turkey showing the release of funds to him. I believe they are fake. I told him I didn't have any more money to send. That is when I started to think something wasn't right. He was almost abusive in asking me for the money...wasn't he worth it? wouldn't I do it for a friend?,did I want him to rot in a muslim country... I must have money in my 401K, investments, savings, etc. I am thinking, why would a man who has major investments, be destitute all of a sudden in a foreign country. This didn't add up to me. A friend of mine helped me wake up and told me about scammers on the internet who prey on people through dating sites. Did I send him any money she asks me? I'm too embarrassed to say "yes". I read the profile of scammers....he fits the profile. I then tell him I suspect he is scamming me. He tells me to look to myself. I'm insane and not a nice person. He tried to act shocked and insulted that I would think that. He said if I want to leave, just leave, and don't accuse him of nonsense. I stopped corresponding with him, of course, he never said he would pay me back for all the "help" I gave him. I'm not sure if he is one person or several. I do know I received several pictures of one person in several different settings, but they all looked very professional. At times, I thought he must have done some modeling or had a great photographer take the pictures. He was a man of wealth, so I didn't think too much about it. I know I probably won't get my money back, but I sure would like him to get caught and have to pay for the fraud he is committing.