Anton's mom resque fund

Hello. My name is Anton Karnoup.

I never thought that I would ever use GoFundMe myself, but here I am...

My mom, a 76-year-old woman recently got scammed of ALL of her savings.

My mom lives alone in her townhouse in Maryland. She is divorced. Her command of the English language is very poor (when she moved to the USA with her then-husband, she only spoke Russian; and ever since she lived in her Russian bubble and never really learnt any functional English, and the age is not making things any better). She was working for a meager salary (barely enough to pay the bills and mortgage) as a receptionist in an adult daycare facility. But in June 2022 she fell from the stairs at her home, broke her hip, had surgery, and is out of work ever since. The chances of getting back to work for her are close to nil. We (friends and family) were supporting her any way we could, but then this happened:

Some crooks convinced her to get into what is known as "sweepstakes scam", in which she gave away all of her savings money (in cash !!). They robbed her of about $60K in cash. What's worse, they also convinced her to borrow money (she took bank loans, and borrowed from friends) -- and she gave that money away to the crooks as well. Total loss is about $95K+ (not including the ~$8K+ that we the family and friends gave her, not suspecting any trouble, that was also lost to the same black hole).

She kept it all secret. When I came to visit her and help her after her surgery in June 2022, I had had no idea what was going on.

By the time I found out, it was too late: Her bank account is totally empty, and she fell behind on her mortgage payments, her utility bills, and the loan payments; no money to even buy food.

I am desperately trying to figure out what to do and how to get out of this situation.

It is becoming clear that I will need money to (1) pay legal fees to the lawyers who would hopefully guide us out of this mess, (2) pay mom's current bills for a while, and (3) pay the debt that she incurred. As much as I am trying to help her myself, I simply do not have the money to deal with this situation myself.

That is why I am asking for your donations.

I now do not trust my mom's money-managing abilities, so I will control the donated money myself to make sure the money is not lost and used properly. And in general, I will now have to take over control of her finances and other things in her life.

I feel embarrassed to be asking this, but I don't see many more choices to handle this situation.

While asking for money, I am also wide open to your advice on what to do.

I humbly that you for your support.

Anton