After my marriage ended disastrously, I decided to join a dating website.
I did not want to believe that all men were the same. It had been two years since my divorce, after 20 years of marriage.
Immediately upon Joining this site, I was matched with several possible candidates with whom I had a very high compatible percentage rating, but there was 1 in particular that stood out to me and so I decided to contact him.
Within hours he replied back and we started conversing, he told me his job was working as a Drilling Engineer on an Oil Rig out at sea and he’d only just returned from a stint on the rig.
He told me he lived in Scotland and as I live in Wales it did not seem that bad, I thought we were only a hop, skip and jump distance away from each other.
Things were going fine so after a few weeks, he suggested that we should exchange telephone numbers as he found these sites a little too impersonal.
I readily agreed and so instead of going via the dating site we started chatting on the telephone. I suggested that we do some video chatting which Stewart (that was his name) readily agreed to
However, Stewart informed me that whilst he was on the rig he’d dropped his phone and his camera was not working properly now that he was back he could now go o the phone shop and get it sorted (there rang the 1st alarm bell – which I did not notice)
So we continued chatting phone calls only for the time being (I thought what’s the harm he’s only in Scotland) but after two weeks he informed me that he’d had an emergency call from the Oil Rig to say that he was needed back immediately as they had a need for a Petroleum Geologists for which he was qualified for.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, he informed me that the Phone shop had told him that he could pick up a replacement phone (which they had ordered) and if he just needed to bring his old phone in and they would swap it over. Perfect timing he states because it would mean that we would be able to video each other whilst he was away.
So the next few days we never chatted properly as Stewart was busy getting ready to return to the drilling platform he’d only just left a few weeks ago.
He asked me to switch to Google Hangout as the WhatsApp signal was hit on miss on the rig (there rang the 2nd alarm bell – which I still did not notice).
After a few days, we started texting each other again, he apologised for the delay but said that he was so busy dealing with the problem that he barely had time to eat and sleep.
Anyway moving the conversation on……Stewart informed me that he’d left in such a hurry that he’d left his wallet behind (which contained cash, bank and credit cards) so monetary wise he was brassic (there rang the 3td alarm bell – which I still ignored) and he asked me if I could send some Gift Cards so that he could purchase some much-needed supplies from online store Amazon.
And so it started, I would buy these cards regularly on a weekly basis (after all he’d promised to return every penny I’d spent upon his return home but after 3 months and £2500 lighter the penny started to drop before I realised that | was being scammed. Because I was wondering when was this man ever coming home, after all, he only went out to sort out an emergency and how long does that take – he was good I kept getting excuses and the best thing of all was that although he’d had a new phone (presumably) we never ever got round to that video call – more excuses came.
I’ve cut out a lot because I just wanted to get the main point across. Suffice it to say he never returned home and I never received any of my £2500 back.
So now anyone who says that their job entails for them to travel overseas I avoid like the plague., unless we have done a face-to-face meet up beforehand.
Rita H – Swansea, Wales
