a fool and his money...


hi5.com is a virtual social networking site. You create a profile, and your real life friends add you to their buddy list, and you get to see all of the other buddies your friend has added. It's an easy way to expand your social network. The site also doubles as a dating site, and enables searches based on age, gender, proximity to zip code, and what type of relationship is sought (friends, dating, just looking around). After a couple friends invited me to be their buddies, I spruced up my profile, and took the search engine for a spin. I came across Felicia, who lived in Lansing. Here is what her profile looks like:



Gender: Female

Age: 27

Birthday: January 10

Looking To: Date Men

Status: Single

Location: Lansing, MI

Country: United States of America

Interests: Modelling and Photography

Hometown: Lansing

Favorite Books: Inspirational Books, Management Books, Entaintainment Books, Books on current affairs.....amongst others

Favorite Music: Country music, R & Bs.

Favorite Quote: Honesty

About Me: I am a nobody , got nothing impressive to offer; not a prince charming nor a knight in shining armor. All i have and can give is my tender heart. Only hope and pray that it is enough to get me by in the game of love. I believe that love is a crime i.e an accomplice is needed to love; but not all are willing to commit the crime of love.As for me, I live to love, to experiencethe magical feeling that love gives, to give my heart , my soul , my everything. I long to live my life for something worhtwhile{ love } ; for it is like oxygen, the very essence of life. Much time is wasted on frivolities and trivialities and chasing after the wind and if there"s one lesson i have learned in life, it is that u got to make d most of everything for life in itself is never ending and coming to love is what makes life eternal. Indeed , the greatest lesson is to love and be loved. So, i crave that, i want it, i desire it; if for just a moment, then my life wouldnt have been a waste Life is too short to be chained to an unloving heart and if there"s little love anywhere on the planet, i can travel the lenght to seek and find it. I am young @ heart but puts no barrier to love. I only seek to find the one who appreciates the "little" i have to give. So i keep hoping , as i know the best things in life either come too soon or too late{ i pray for soon though} but never @ the time we expect . I await love with love. NB: my yahoo ID is xxx@yahoo.com

I'd Like to Meet: A man with a loving heart. Goodlooking? Not necessarily. Willing to love & be loved. Men liberty? why not so far he remains : flexible[ to his needs & mine]; accessible[ to those who need him];responsible[for all his actions];& what is more, originality[being himself]

I decided to send her an instant message, thinking it would be fun to seduce her. She got back with me within hours. We got to know each other. She was a former model who went to photography school, and was on a freelance assignment in Ghana. She asked me if I was married a total of three times in the first week of our online chats. She started calling me "cherie" pretty quickly, and started sending me love poetry with African imagery. Example:


Yesterday was One fabulously wonderful day for me

as I was strolling along a sandy beach

looking at life so beautifully,

I saw the most incredible life force at a distance.

The harmattan sun was beaming upon this

life intensely as my eyes were focused

in a deep vision that drew me into it

like a very powerful magnet

I was standing from afar in awe of this

life I was seeing while my jaw was open

wide in disbelief of the magnificent

beauty that radiated from it.

The birds were singing all around this

force with multitudes of happy songs that

filled the air with so much joy that it

put smiles on every living thing

An assortment of beautiful creatures that

were around this beautiful site began to

dance to the multitudes of songs the birds

were singing ever so joyfully around it.

No clouds in the skies could block out

the suns rays upon this life because it

had a force that gave life to all things

around it and above it

It was purely magnificent to look at and

watch as it danced with all the creatures

while the birds flew up and around in the

air doing their own fluttering dance and

landing upon this beautiful thing giving
it tiny kisses.

I began to walk towards this life and the

closer I came to it the more power I could

feel from it radiating a happy warmth deep

inside my soul and elevating my spirit.

Sparkling brilliant sunlight flowed off it

with particles of golden with silver glitter

floating in the air catching the wings of

all the birds and coating the skins of all

the beautiful creatures as they danced.

I was so awe struck with it's beauty that

I began to cry with so much happiness like I

never felt before, while the force that it

created kept pulling me closer and closer as

I saw the sun sparkle off all the glitter it

had created out of thin air.

I became faint as this life touched my soul,

because there was so much love flowing from

it onto all the living things and unto myself

with such incredible loving power that made

you want to dance with so much joy.

When my eyes cleared from the blinding

force that camebeauty I saw what this force

was and I was totally overwhelmed with

what I saw, It was you I saw, Yes You,

the most beautiful upon me due to it's

heavenly creature on this

planet called MAN- whom i call HERMAN.

This are the thoughts of my heart this day .......


I have learned not to get too emotionally invested in relationships that start this way, and her premature romantic attachment and lack of command of the English language raised red flags. She expressed a deserate need to meet me, again and again, but said she couldn't because of a complex "situation." Her Agency owed her $9000, but they only paid with money orders or certified checks. She needed local currency to pay for a flight back to the US, and settle her affairs in Africa, but no local bank would cash them. I asked if she had family stateside, she said her parents had died, and her last surviving reletive, an aunt, was "down with cancer." What about her local US bank? They needed her physical presance to be of help. What about the embassy? They couldn't help either.

Eventually, she asked if I could help. She proposed that she have her agency send me the certified check, and on the same day, I would send the same amount to an address in Lagos, Nigeria via Western Union. A pårt of me wanted to believe the story, and I thought the idea of rescuing a woman from darkest Africa was romantic, so I gave her my address.

Yesterday, I got four e-mails from her, two of which were identical, containing long love poems. The difference was that one of them opened with "Dearest Mark," and was signed with a different last name. At that point all doubt that the whole affair was a scam evaporated. What a lousy scam artist: too lazy to cut and paste the name from a form letter!


When I asked who "Mark" was (knowing full well that Mark is crime slang for intended fraud victim) she said she thought it was my middle name. She sent this e-mail:


UPS confirms the delivery of the check will be today or o moday...Pls effect cashing the check immediately @ any of the cashing points in your neighborhood............i am tentatively putting my return till thursday hoping that u effect cashing the check today. There is no telling how excited i am now that i am closer to meeting U.....can only hope that fate guide us thru this & we make something better of our lives together. I pray that my love quest ends in U.To love & be loved by U would be the ultimate gift life gives me.

I called the secret service asking if there was anyting I could do to help them procecute them. He'd heard my story before. He advised me to take the counterfeit money order and frame it, and hang it on my wall, and that there was nothing he could do about the scammers.

At this point it was my turn to have a bit of fun. Even though it cost me a $20 processing fee to so, I sent them a $1.00 money transfer. They have to go across town to collect it. Her resposnce:


Hi Lee,

I appreciate ure generosity in sending me that amount of money,...i am really grateful for ure kindness....a million "thank u" cannot express the deep gratitude i feel insde for ure willingness, how i wish i was right by u at this time cherie to take good care of u and to really show u too how much i care about u in person....however this can only be possible if u could help me in expediating the cashing of the check that was delivered to u today as this would make it possible for me to ake it back tmr to settle down and get to meet u cherie...i love u in ways words cannot explain, if u could do this for me now, u deserve me more than anyone in the world, i care and will always care about you....................

UPS confirmed the delivery of the check today at about 9:15 am , this is the tracking code for it: xxxxxxxxxxxx . Pls kindly effect cashing the check immediately at any of the check cashing points in your neighborhood............i am tentatively putting my return till tuesday hoping that u effect cashing the check today. I cannot wait to meet u finally as i yearn to have us both explore and dicover much more about ourselves......I pray that my love quest ends in U.To love & be loved by U would be the ultimate gift life gives me.

(repeated my instructiions for the money transfer)


I would be catching a plane from here, as soon as i receive the money...........pls cherie hasten up everything, my expectation, anxiety is heightened with the thought of seeing U soon.

Please make it count.

Kisses & Hugs


My reply:

n/p I just wanted to make sure the money actually got to the right person via this method. I did get the check from ur agency today, but i can't immediately cash it because my wheelchair is still being repaired. It should be fixed later this week.


Please be patient, the time of our sweet union won't be delayed too long!


I will certainly send the money the second I am physically able.


I'm desperate to hear your voice. Can we arrange a time when I can get u on the phone? Perhaps tomorrow morning at 8:00 (I guess that would be noon for you)?


Your one true love,


Lee


Her reply:

This is the thought of my heart 4 U:
Do u know of a place called Uppendi?? A special place in everyone's heart............hmmmm what kind of place do i have in mind??
It is a place where the crazy moon makes the monkey sings & the baboon to swoon, a place where the sultry sent of the lotus bloom, will simply carry you away..........a place where the hippos swings on the jungle pine & the rhinnos rhyme in a konga line; a place where the flaming flamingoes are intertwined & the stars only go out to Play........
It is a place where U watch your step because the top is steep for falling & a place where you hold your breath while flowing in the water, cos it is a long way to fall of the lovers leaf & the falling can only be divine............
Even if U walk the earth like there is no tomorrow, from east to west, north to south, from Tanganika to Kilimanjaro, from the everest to the lowest of valleys, U will simply find such a place called Uppendi, so far it is under the Sun..........
Cos , in Uppendi, U got the passion fruit grow sweet,such that it is so divine & you lose your mind as it sweeps you off your feet, in Uppendi, u got no worry or a fear; & it only takes 2 to make it 2, your heart will lead you there!
Ask me, where is Uppendi...............it is in your heart
What is Uppendi..........a special place in your heart, a special feeling, called LOVE!

I already found mine & it is in U....................

Kisses & hugs

(she yet again repeated the instructions foe the moneygram)

this was the exact same letter she sent two weeks ago

The check arrived Monday. I blew off her attempts to contact me until today, when we had this chat:


good morning cherie

how are u??

good!

nice to hear that

and how is ure health too dear

i miss u a lot

what part of lansing ddo u live in?

Roosevelt avenue

why do u ask??

curious

ic

how is ure health??

u must live near I 10 then, right?

around there

i thought u would call back the other day

but u did not

hope nothing

bank of america branch on bourbon street or canal street?

why are u asking!!

u are not even answering me

curious about u?

i understand

but u do not care to even answer my questions

u do not know roosevelt avenue at all??

yes, off course

ic

which branch?

BOA branch

have u been able to help in cashing my pay cherie??

which streeeeet

have u??

canal or beale

u are not answering me cherie

is there something u are not telling me??

no, but u r not answering me.

which branch?

beale

lee??

Where do you grocery shop, H.E.B. or the Piggly Wigglya

i would not say anything again

unless u tell me

have u helped in cashing my money??

Where do you grocery shop, H.E.B. or the Piggly Wigglya

Lee??

will cash todday

are u trying to paly on me??

play on me

no

when today

now

ic

i have entrusted so much to u cherie

where do u shop?

and i do not want to feel i made a mistake now

i told u the nature of my job

i am mostly away from home most of the time

i was only to come around and settle down now

at least take a break from the trouble and

stress my job has brought this past weeks

i know, but whut grocery storee did u last visit?

please, it's important to me

the last time i shopped

i did so in NewJersey

H.E.B. or the Piggly Wigglya in Michigan?

i last shopped in NewJersey

in MI

about 3 months back when i was in MI

i shopped at H.E.B

Have you gone to see the 60 ft bronze elephant statue downtown?

yes

what if i have

things are getting frustrating here for me cherie

i was never it to take this long to help me

if u really wanted to

do u feel otherwise about me now

is that it??

let me know cherie

if that is it

i told u all along

i could not compel u to help me if u do not feel obliged

i acted on ure word that i could trust u

i thought i could listen to the dictates of my heart about u

and now

i do not know what to think anymore

it has been 5days now cherie

I 10 runs thru Texas, not MI. Beale st is in New Orleans, not Lansinng. There are no HEB in MI and there is no Elephhsant Sytatue

i know all that

goodbye