Girlfriend got her life savings stolen
Donation protected
Hello everybody, my wonderful girlfriend, Danon, recently became a victim of identity fraud and lost her entire life savings. I started this page to give us some hope. If you have the means, please consider donating (anything will help) and even if you can't, share this page with friends/family. Below are her own words about her experience
Friends, family, and everyone else,
I am reaching out to share about an incredibly difficult and devastating experience I had last Wednesday, September 9th. I fell prey to a very convincing, well-organized, and well-executed scam, resulting in losing all my life savings – just under $10,000. The devastation, terror, anger, and loss that I now feel has been extremely difficult for me to manage, while also having to try to focus as best I can on school (I started an accelerated Nursing program just 3 weeks ago).
What I experienced is hard to share, especially because I can imagine how it looks from the outside. Prior to Wednesday, I knew that scams like this were happening and I thought that I had enough knowledge and sense to be able to recognize what is real and what is not. What should have been a normal Wednesday for me, going to work and coming home to finish a few assignments for school, turned into a 6-hour phone call where my life, savings, employment, education, and well-being were all threatened. These people had information about me – they knew my birthday; they knew my address; they knew the last 4 digits of my social security number – and they made me believe that there was a federal case involving my name and social and a warrant out for my arrest. I spoke with 3 people in total (two “federal employees” and 1 “Columbus police officer”), all who gave me their credentials, government ID numbers, etc. I was given the case and warrant numbers for the “felonies” associated with my name. I absolutely had red flags going up when I was communicating with these people, but they were very practiced at being able to use information about me to intimidate me into cooperating. I thought I asked all the right questions. I myself became frustrated and scared and voiced that I was uncomfortable with what they were asking of me because I couldn’t know that what they were saying was true. Then I received a call from a legit Columbus police number and spoke with an officer, who I later found out was impersonated, who verified the information and told me to cooperate. And so, I did.
Sharing my story with people still makes me shake and cry. I feel stupid for falling for something like this, but the only thing that I can say to try to explain it is to say that I was absolutely terrified. I remember looking down at my Fitbit and seeing it above 130 bpm for the entire day. I was legitimately scared of hyperventilating or having a heart attack, as I have mild heart problems. I knew I wasn’t involved in what they said was associated with my name, but they had explanations and answers for everything and in the moment of complete terror and isolation, it worked. I lost nearly all the money to my name – money I had worked hard for and saved and loan money that was left over from paying tuition this semester. I remember telling my sister just days before about how I had never had this much money in my account, and now it’s all gone.
Since this happened, I have done everything I can – I have made police reports, reports with social security administration. I’ve spoken with my bank and with lawyers. But due to the nature of the scam, authorities have given me very little hope of any of the money being recovered.
If you are able to help in anyway, it would mean so much to me. So many people have already done what they can, and it really has brought some light back into my life. I still feel scared, I still feel used, I still have trust issues, I’m still angry with myself and these evil people who make a living off of stealing everything from innocent people. I’m still grieving. Love and kind words, donations, support in anyway – these all help and are so appreciated.
Be safe and smart and trust your gut no matter what.
With love and thanks, Danon Clark
Friends, family, and everyone else,
I am reaching out to share about an incredibly difficult and devastating experience I had last Wednesday, September 9th. I fell prey to a very convincing, well-organized, and well-executed scam, resulting in losing all my life savings – just under $10,000. The devastation, terror, anger, and loss that I now feel has been extremely difficult for me to manage, while also having to try to focus as best I can on school (I started an accelerated Nursing program just 3 weeks ago).
What I experienced is hard to share, especially because I can imagine how it looks from the outside. Prior to Wednesday, I knew that scams like this were happening and I thought that I had enough knowledge and sense to be able to recognize what is real and what is not. What should have been a normal Wednesday for me, going to work and coming home to finish a few assignments for school, turned into a 6-hour phone call where my life, savings, employment, education, and well-being were all threatened. These people had information about me – they knew my birthday; they knew my address; they knew the last 4 digits of my social security number – and they made me believe that there was a federal case involving my name and social and a warrant out for my arrest. I spoke with 3 people in total (two “federal employees” and 1 “Columbus police officer”), all who gave me their credentials, government ID numbers, etc. I was given the case and warrant numbers for the “felonies” associated with my name. I absolutely had red flags going up when I was communicating with these people, but they were very practiced at being able to use information about me to intimidate me into cooperating. I thought I asked all the right questions. I myself became frustrated and scared and voiced that I was uncomfortable with what they were asking of me because I couldn’t know that what they were saying was true. Then I received a call from a legit Columbus police number and spoke with an officer, who I later found out was impersonated, who verified the information and told me to cooperate. And so, I did.
Sharing my story with people still makes me shake and cry. I feel stupid for falling for something like this, but the only thing that I can say to try to explain it is to say that I was absolutely terrified. I remember looking down at my Fitbit and seeing it above 130 bpm for the entire day. I was legitimately scared of hyperventilating or having a heart attack, as I have mild heart problems. I knew I wasn’t involved in what they said was associated with my name, but they had explanations and answers for everything and in the moment of complete terror and isolation, it worked. I lost nearly all the money to my name – money I had worked hard for and saved and loan money that was left over from paying tuition this semester. I remember telling my sister just days before about how I had never had this much money in my account, and now it’s all gone.
Since this happened, I have done everything I can – I have made police reports, reports with social security administration. I’ve spoken with my bank and with lawyers. But due to the nature of the scam, authorities have given me very little hope of any of the money being recovered.
If you are able to help in anyway, it would mean so much to me. So many people have already done what they can, and it really has brought some light back into my life. I still feel scared, I still feel used, I still have trust issues, I’m still angry with myself and these evil people who make a living off of stealing everything from innocent people. I’m still grieving. Love and kind words, donations, support in anyway – these all help and are so appreciated.
Be safe and smart and trust your gut no matter what.
With love and thanks, Danon Clark
Organizer and beneficiary
Alex Rabe
Organizer
Columbus, OH
Danon Clark
Beneficiary