A woman from West Virginia named Betty Jean tried online dating on the site Mingle 2 and met a guy named Johnson David Spires. He swept her off her feet, making her believe he was in the military stationed in Columbus, OH, and lasted for three years in an online relationship. However, things took a turn for the worst when he started asking for so much money that it left Betty heartbroken, homeless, and broke. She started to suspect that he might be a Nigerian romance scammer and turned to Social Catfish for help.
She knows that this same guy has been scamming multiple women and draining their bank accounts so that he can have all that money to himself. She wants to make sure his images and information are out there so that if another girl was talking to him, she would know to block him immediately.
In April 2017, she had lost her husband due to underlying health issues he was facing. She woke up one morning and found him laying on the floor, not moving or breathing. They were married for 25 years and agreed that if one of them passed away, they were to move on and try to be happy with someone else. Because she was lonely, she took a stab at online dating with Mingle 2.
“I just felt like my world had collapsed,” she stated in the interview.
She just wanted to take a relationship slow and maybe get to know someone online. That’s when she met the scammer online, where they talked for 3-4 months before she started developing feelings for him. They would talk every day for at least 2-3 times a day for the next 3 years, as she fell more and more in love with him.
With MoneyGram, Western Union, and iTunes Gift Cards combined she has sent around $20,000 to the scammer. She got this amount of money by borrowing from her friends and family, and by selling her house and vehicle. She thought she would get a nicer house and vehicle once he supposedly came to live with her, but she realized that was never going to happen.
“I am a widow and I am currently living in a tent,” she commented.
Her family and friends have turned their backs on her and won’t talk to her, knowing that their money went to her being scammed. She’s finally getting to the point now to where some of her family members are okay with talking to her.
“I’m sorry, we should have sat down to talk about it and I should have let them be a backbone for me,” she replied when asked what she would say to them now if she could.
After she lost everything, she began to realize that he was most likely a scammer. She sat down and tried to visualize clearly everything that had happened for the past three years, which led her into a depression. She was cutting herself because of everything that happened and tried to overdose. The depression got so bad that doctors had to administer anti-depressants to her.
For the last 3-4 months, she has been telling him how she knows he’s a scammer. However, he keeps trying to convince her that he’s a real person and that he does truly love her.
Don’t judge others for dealing with a Nigerian romance scammer when you don’t know what it feels like. Most of the time, these victims need someone to talk to so just being there to help them is all they can really ask for.
Now, things are looking better. Things for her are slowly coming back together. She’s talking to someone else online, but they are able to video chat so she knows he is real. He hasn’t asked for money and doesn’t think he ever will. She explained to him that she had been scammed before because she wanted to be completely honest with him. She also wanted to make sure he knew she would not be giving anyone money anymore.
Whenever she encounters someone else online that asks for money, she just blocks them.
“Don’t send money to anybody. Whether its cards, money. If they ask for it, get them out of your life,” she states.
If you think you’re dealing with a scammer or have had your pictures stolen, Social Catfish is here to help you!
If you want to be a part of our next YouTube video or blog post and share your story, now is your chance. You can educate our audience about what you have gone through and make sure no one else goes through the same thing. All you need to do is email ShareMyStory@socialcatfish.com, and we will get back to you with more details.
You can also reverse search any information you have on the Nigerian romance scammer to see who it is you’ve really been talking to. If you have their name, email address, phone number, social media username, or image you can search it up in our search bar to see if there is more information on the suspected scammer you are talking to.
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