Karl Ludwig
Complaint 138848 Details

I met this man name Karl Ludwig (supposed date of birth 5/15/56)or Keith Chavez on Chemistry.com, he quickly wante dot switch to yahoo IM. WE began corresponding on May 20th, from a couple of emails to hours of texting. He claimed to be from the US, had family in Lawrenceville, NJ and he was just living in Greenville, FL which is not too far from where I am located. He claimed to be working in the IT field in Akpakpa, Cotonou, Benin, in Africa. This was a temporary "dream job" for him installing computer networks and when he was finished to come to my town and set up a business. He picked me because I was from that town he wanted to move to. He claimed to have a 9 year old daughter named Taylor and even showed me pictures of her, she was over there with him because he claimed his ex-wife was a bad mother and into drugs. He professed love after just one week, and I have to admit I fell for the way he wrote and he seemed so kind and caring. On May 29th he said really an IPOD to save them information on his computer, so stupidly I bought one and send it to him at the cost of $259.70 plus the cost to ship it of $40.35 by usps.com. A couple of days later on June 7th he was upset because the remaining parts and equipment that he needed to complete the job had come into port from China. They would not let him get it until he paid customs somewhere around $2500.00, stupidly I sent him $1000.00 plus fees of $65.00 to help him out. He also claimed to have sold the IPOD and his laptop to help him get the money he needed. Again on June 10th I sent him another $1050.00 plus $93.00 due to his claim that the government was holding up his job and would not let him on the premises since he did not have some type of permit. He pulled on my heart strings so bad, I truly felt bad for him. Again June 15, 2012 I sent him $200.00 plus fees of $15.00, by taking scarp gold to a pawn shop. The last time I sent him money was June 22, 2012 for $400.00 plus $28.00 in fees. On June 23rd I emailed to find out if he got the money and was able to make his reservations to travel back to the US because he kept telling me how bad he wanted to come home. I di not know if even was even finished with "his job" or not. He later informed me that he was in hospital because he robbed and stabbed on his way back from the Western Union with his "friend" Keith Chavez. He claimed that he was stabbed and had to stay in the hospital. Well.. at this point I knew I had been scammed because he was a text book scammer from all of the articles I read. I sent him a really nasty email and was threw with him. A week or so later he contacted me and said that he was making his reservations to come home and that he was going to send me some money orders that his employers sent him to cash at one of the quick cashing places and then send him the funds via Western Union. At this point I knew it was a scam and I went along with it. He had someone named James Walker from 180 Howard Street, San Francisco, Ca. send me 3 supposed US postal money orders which I received on July 6th via Fed Ex. I could tell they were fake just by looking at them and the numbers were sequential. The person who must have purchased them names was auren Gutman. I received 3 money orderse in the amount of $933 each for a total of $2,799.00. He kept calling me to ask if I had cashed them yet and I kept putting him off until I coulf get to the post office the next morning. When I took them to the NW Post Office In Gainesville, Fl. they immediately took the checks from me when I asked them to verify because I thought they were fake. The Post Office has filed a complaint and is investigating. I contacted the US Postal Inspector and have submitted all of this information to them also. I have several pictures that he sent to me that I would be willing to send to you. I know they are probably stolen photographs. I spoke with him several times on the phone and I could never understand his accent which was very thick. For someone that supposed grew up outside of Munich in a French speaking town and then went to Anglia Ruskin UniversityCambridge, Cambridgeshire, England and after graduation moved to Lawrenceville, NJ where his mother lived. I would think after living in the US for 30 something years he would have had a nicer accent. HIs voice and his picture do not look like they correspond. He kept texting me that morning asking about the money, I even made him send me again the names and where to send the money. Finally I had had enough of his texting and calling that I told him where I took the money orders and that the US Postal Service had them and will investigate. I have over 500 texts on my phone that I have saved and all of the conversations and emails we corresponded with for a month and half. This jerk claimed they were real money orders and that I just wanted the money, that I was a liar and acting. I told him he could contact the Post Office if he wanted them back. I have sent him several emails goading him admitting what he had done but I have had no response since July 7th. This scammer has made me very aware now and I have contacted all of the website that we used and even a couple of other on line dating sites to let them be aware of this man using those photos. I feel very violated and even threatened by this man because he knows my phone number, my email addresses, etc. Not only did he cheat me out of money he left me feeling ashamed and humiliated that I let someone take advantage of me. ALl I can say is never again. He did have a supposed Facebook page, that I printed out, and he had 3 friends on it who I sent emails asking them to verify if this man was real but none of the 3 responded back. This was around June 13th, when I questioned him about it, it was gone the next day, by spokeo.com did have it on record that it was there. If there is an email address I can send the pictures to I will gladly send. I know there is another person out there that is being violated also by having his identity taken. His other email address was [email protected], he had a phone number of 2-296-753-2018, and his address was 210 Plot cb, Akpakpa, Cotonou, Benin 00229. Thank you for letting me get this off my chest.