Church is from the Philippines and met a guy named Gerald Chang through her direct messages on Instagram. She had just gotten out of a bad relationship with her ex-boyfriend and was looking to move on from him. She was in a romantic relationship with Gerald for 6 months before she suspected that something was going on. He kept claiming he would send something but kept asking her for money in order to retrieve her package. Was he really going to send her a package or was he just a romance scammer? Let’s find out!
Why Did She Form a Romantic Relationship with Gerald?
Church is a mother to two kids and has been working really hard to take care of them. She was in a bad relationship with her ex-boyfriend and decided she needed to move on from him. She saw that Gerald messaged her on Instagram, and was curious as to who he was. She decided to reply to him and asked him what she could do for him. He responded that he wanted to get to know her life more. She told him about her life story while living in the Phillippines, her two children, and how she loves to help other children.
As Gerald and she started to talk, she started falling more for him since he seemed to be nothing like her ex-boyfriend. She loved the way he acted toward her and how he was a man of God. After talking to a close friend, she decided to make their relationship official, and make him her online boyfriend. They would talk to each other every day for weeks, and he knew all the right things to say to her.
Gerald Decides to Give Church Gifts
When getting to know Church, Gerald found out how much she loved helping kids and decided to send her two parcels. One was going to contain gifts for just her and the other was going to contain gifts for families in need. Gerald stated that she was going to receive school supplies, iPhone supplies, a diamond ring, $3500, and a customized necklace with her name on it. She told Gerald that she appreciated what he was doing, but that her love wasn’t materialistic and can’t be bought. All she asks from him is time and respect.
Because she wasn’t materialistic, she was telling these families in need that she was going to give them cash to help them out, thinking that she would have the cash that Gerald was giving her to help them out. Every time she has extra money, she makes sure to help her community out because that is the kind of person she is.
Why Did Church Start Sending Gerald Money?
However, she wasn’t expecting to have to pay extra shipping fees. Gerard asked if the shipping company called her, and she said no. He then asked if they sent her an email about the shipping details, and when she went to check her email she was taken aback by what she saw.
She received an email from a company stating that she needed to pay $11,000 in shipping fees in order to receive her parcels. To her, $11,000 is enough to live for 3 months and is half her salary! She wondered where she was going to get the money since she only had $4,600 in her name. The so-called company offered to put her on parcel credit until she could get the rest of the money.
She sent him $2,800 from her emergency fund through Western Union, and they asked why she was going to send money to Bangkok, Thailand. Even though they were suspicious, Church still proceeded and he video called her immediately after the payment was made, even though he covered up the camera. He wanted to see the receipt of the payment to confirm she made a payment for the parcels.
Apparently, One Payment Wasn’t Enough…
A few days after the payment was made, Gerald was pressuring her to pay the rest of the money. He was suggesting that Church could take the money out of her son’s savings account and he would pay her back later. She said she wouldn’t touch that bank account since she works hard to provide for her son and would not take any money that was going to go toward her kid’s education.
However, he was persistent so she ended up taking money out of her kids’ savings accounts, her own bank account, and ended up borrowing money from her brother. She really wanted to obtain these supposed packages filled with expensive items from her boyfriend, since she felt obligated to help him.
Gerald Was Indeed a Romance Scammer
She is now financially struggling to try to build her bank account back up and having to pay back her brother all at the same time. She asked the scammer why he did this to her and to scam a billionaire instead of someone who is poor. She has to budget how much she spends on food and has a drawer of food that she takes with her when she goes to work.
Social Catfish founder David McClellan offered her advice on how to handle this difficult time in her life. He suggested that she reach out and talk to the close family members and friends in her life to talk through the pain she was feeling. Since she has been there so much for them and has given back, he thinks that she will find the support she needs with the people that care about her.
Social Catfish is Here to Help if You’ve Been a Victim of a Romance Scammer
If you think you’re dealing with a romance 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 the 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 cargo 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 romance scammer you are talking to.