Help Me Recover from a Devastating Scam

Opening up about the scam YouTube video

I was scammed in 2022. The scam went on for about a year and a half, and I've been trying to recover ever since.

I met the men through a very close loved one. They had built quite the relationship, and because of this, this man knew a lot about my life. He knew I was making a good income, had an 800+ credit score, and was ready to buy my first house relatively soon, as well as a newer vehicle for myself (my daily driver and only vehicle to this day is a 2016 Fiat).

After constant sweet talking and many false promises daily, I agreed to purchase 4 cars so that the men could run a car rental company using them.

I was sold the dream of "there is absolutely no risk for you," "nothing will ever be late, late payments are not even an option," "this contract that we are signing completely protects you," etc. They also said that after about 3-4 months, they would transfer the cars into an official business under an LLC.

I learned the hard way that contracts only matter if you're prepared to take the person that's breaking the contract to court, which is extremely costly.

Right off the bat, my insurance was canceled from non-payment (they added the cars to my personal insurance while they were "waiting to be able to purchase rental company insurance"). I had just turned 25 and had had that insurance since I was 18 and not one payment was late previously.

Next, none of the payments were made until the second month that they were due. The collector calls began, and continued daily from morning until evening until present.

There were 3 insurances in my name canceled from non-payment. The first insurance policy that was canceled due to non-payment I was told would be paid by them, but it never was and I received a letter in the mail that it would be sent to collections within 20 days so I paid it out of my savings, around $1000. Then the second insurance policy was canceled due to non-payment and I didn't know about it and was driving around uninsured (as was anyone driving the 4 "rental" vehicles).

Each month, I was having to come out thousands of dollars to support these cars. Cars that they were driving and using as daily drivers.

Then the parking tickets and toll road tickets started coming in.

They would promise to pay them, but then I would get another bill in the mail of the ticket weeks later with a late fee on it. After this happened enough times, I realized I just have to pay all the tickets that come in so that I'm not stuck with the $50-$100 late fee on top of the ticket amount.

Then the missed payments started to hit my credit. So I would come out more money to cover those.

We would have these "meetings" where I would be in tears begging and pleading for help because I couldn't keep up with dishing out all my money to these cars.

Then went my entire house savings.

Then went all of my tax savings. Twice.

For a long while, I was crying every day, feeling very hopeless about life. These men would tell me "you're like family to me," "I love you so much," "I swear I'm going to make this all better soon." Constant lies, gaslighting, and manipulation for a very long time. I was completely beaten down and broken. Constant crying and sadness, completely lost my confidence. I really didn't know what to do or where to turn.

I haven't been able to go to the doctor for my yearly checkup and MRIs for my multiple sclerosis. All of my money went to these cars and these men. Stress triggers my multiple sclerosis to relapse. The symptoms are vertigo, blurry vision, body numbness, bladder disfunction, and a very uncomfortable itchy rash.

I ended up looking up the main man online and did a deep dive. It turns out this man has been a con artist for a long time (around early 2000s). That's when the final straw was officially broken and I had an epiphany, I'm being scammed. I reached out demanding they return my property to me immediately. They refused to return the cars to me. I had to meet with detectives and hire an attorney to officially demand them back.

It's been a long process of building myself back up.

The total amount of the cars on my credit is a little over $350,000.

The total amount of money I had to pay out of pocket towards it all is $61,469.51.

I just filed bankruptcy and am doing what I can to build myself back up mentally and emotionally. At this point, I have good days and challenging days. I am very hopeful for the future. I am looking at this bankruptcy as a fresh start. My partner also ruined his credit by maxing out all of his credit cards with car payments to try and help me stay afloat. He will be filing bankruptcy as soon as we have the money for it.

The rebuilding begins now.

I learned a lot about business, scams, and trusting people the hard way. I've pretty much watched every single con-artist documentary on Netflix at this point, and they all act the same.

For anyone interested in learning more about con-artists to protect yourself and loved ones I highly recommend watching the 2022 documentary "The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman".

The amount that I am trying to raise is to help me pay my back taxes and get caught up on doctor's appointments and neurologist/MRIs for my brain and spinal cord. People with MS are recommended to get yearly brain and spinal MRI's and I have not done so in years due to this scam.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my story. I appreciate you being here. Much love to you <3