I am 52 years old, live outside Atlanta, and have been out of the dating realm for over 15 years while raising my son as a single parent. I felt that my son would feel safer if I dedicated my life and attention to him as apposed to bringing a strange man into our lives. So, after discussing it with my son, who turns 21 this year, we both agreed that it was time for me to get out and meet guys and have some fun. I joined Mate1, Yahoo Personals, Tagged, and Singlesnet.

I made sure I was honest in my profile, but also extremely definite about what I was looking for in a man. I even had an age limitation, but it seemed as though all I had contacting me were older men than me or just not interesting enough for my energetic personality. So I had basically just given up and would answer the emails once a week. On August 10, 2008 I was "tagged" by Mark D. It is the introduction on Tagged.com and if someone tags you, you have the option to accept or decline. The first thing I noticed was a very handsome man, 41 years old, and a soccer scout who travels all around the world. And the letter he wrote me (I still have it) just knocked me to my knees. It was so beautiful and wholesome that I couldn’t help but write back to him and want to know more about him.

He wrote that he was a single father born in Dublin, Ireland, but had moved to California when he was 18, and now resided in Virginia. He told me he was in Nigeria at a large soccer convention signing contracts with players for his club he owned in Alabama and for Pepsi. He was very polite and had a wonderful way with words and compliments regarding my profile. He told me that once he saw my "blue eyeballs" he could look no farther for a woman. We began talking daily sometimes 2 or 3 times a day by phone and IM. We had long talks on Yahoo IM, sometimes for hours telling each other our deepest feelings and dreams that we wanted out of life. Before I knew it, maybe 4 weeks into this internet relationship, we were telling each other we loved the other one. We didn’t want to ever be apart once he returned to the states (which was "soon, sweetheart"). I was so happy I was telling everyone I knew about this wonderful man I met on the Internet and that he was rich and was going to come home and we were going to be married. He sent me a photo copy of the check he received from Pepsi through FIFA for $450, 000 to show me that he was fully capable of supporting me. I was hooked just like a fish but mostly because I would be able to continue operating my small landscape business and not have to worry about money. I felt that I had finally met the man of my dreams and he felt the same way about me (so he told me every day). He was ten years younger than me, an athlete, had a gorgeous accent, highly educated with two Master Degrees, and spoke three languages. What a catch!!

In October, he informed me that he had run out of money buying the players and all the expenses it took to stay in a foreign country for so long and asked if I could start calling him on my cell phone and send him some money for food for his son and him. He told me they were hungry and that he was broke. He also told me that he could not cash that check until he returned to the US. He would have it sent Fed Ex Air when he knew he was flying home so it would arrive a day after he did. Keep in mind, that I had no reason in the world not to trust Mark at this point in the relationship. I figured that he just miscalculated the costs to be over seas. So I began to send him money and a lot of it. Sometimes it was $100 and other times when he needed passports for the 6 players to come to the US, it was $500 and even $1100 (which was an entire paycheck) for his tickets because he was COMING HOME!! This was November 18, a week before Thanksgiving. I had a nice dinner planned and we were supposed to go to Orlando the weekend after Thanksgiving for our honeymoon even if we hadn’t gotten married yet. I had already paid for a 4 star hotel room and a dinner play The Arabian Nights since I called him my "prince" and I was his "princess". It was only appropriate that we share that atmosphere together while enjoying our new love. The day he was to board the plane I called the airline to make sure he was set to go and they informed me that he never bought the tickets. He sent me his flight itinerary but never followed through to purchase the tickets. His excuse was that he was at the airport and the NFA texted him and asked him to stay and train some of the players and draw up contracts for them. There were 15 of them he had to work on. Said it would only be a few weeks and that he’d be here by Christmas. I had Thanksgiving dinner by myself and canceled the Orlando trip. His reaction was very smug to the entire scenario. He told me that this was the reason he came to Nigeria and he had to build up his name and reputation in the soccer world. Meanwhile, I am still having to support him so he can feed his son and stay longer. And by this time I had been laid off my steady paycheck job and was working for commission putting estimates together for another landscape company, so I was taking on side jobs and work very hard with machinery in order to help him and still try to keep up with my own obligations. Many of mine got pushed aside since he kept telling me that when he returned he would take care of all my bills and make sure that I never had to worry again about any bills. So I lost many of the luxuries I had finally achieved from hard work and paying them on time, such as a deferred account for clothes, road service, fax service, credit with various companies I used for my business. My rent and storage units in Florida became so far behind that I lost one storage unit and the only reason I still have a place to live is because the man who owns the house has a good job and a big heart. He also tried to warn me that Mark didn’t sound like the real thing and that anyone in his position as a soccer scout would have many connections to be able to get out of a country without depending on a woman he met over the Internet. When I suggested that to Mark, he informed me that he had no one else and that I was sent to him by God to save him.

Well, it is February now and he is STILL not here!! My best friend put her van title up for $2500 to send him since he told us they canceled his other tickets and he was coming back Dec 14. By the way, all the Western Unions I sent to him were in the name of an Ayodele Beckley – His reason was that this guy owned the hotel he was staying in and it was easier for him to get the wires. So the day he was finally leaving, he gave his cell phone to Ayodele since he wasn’t going to need it over here. I called the cell to make sure Mark got on the plane and the voice that answered had the SAME accent as the man I had been talking to for 4 months!!!! It was not an Irish accent I was hearing, but a Nigerian accent!! My blood ran cold! Could it be true?? Was this all a scam?? I called KLM airlines and once again, he had not bought the tickets after sending me a flight itinerary. My girlfriend and I still went to the Atlanta airport just to make sure that maybe he had gotten on. NO MARK or Bechmann, his son. KLM informed us that they do not cancel tickets for the sports personnel for a year. And even then they give them a substantial discount if it is over the year. We had been TAKEN!! You can just imagine how we both felt now – neither one of us with a fulltime job and now her van was in hock and those title places have no mercy if you are late with the payments. It was 3 days before I heard back from Mark and he told me that he was in Amsterdam and was stuck there because of tax problems. He said he boarded a different airline but could only go as far as Amsterdam. By now I am very angry and we had many arguments and he disappeared from our IM for a week. Then and ONLY then, did I begin to check into Internet scams and when I read all the horror stories and the profile of the romance scammer, I knew that I had been totally compromised and that I would never see this guy. I put his name out on the various forums and had a young lady contact me to say that she was talking to my Mark. She thanked me for saving her because she was getting ready to change her phone service so she could call him (he now had a new phone and number). She told me it was going to cost her a lot but she had fallen for him!! This was Dec 27. She sent me all their conversations and I saved them. He finally came back to our IM Dec. 28 and I informed him that I was aware that he was talking to other women. That one just happened to be a college buddy of mine from an on-line school I attended and that I was telling her about him and she knew him. He immediately dropped her and came back to me. We have been writing ever since but he keeps saying that he is depending on me to get him back here..that he needs $800 or more in order to leave.

Now here is the summary – I have never seen this man in person, only pictures and most recently, an ID from the UEFA Soccer Federation that is supposed to be his coaching license ID. The Virginia address was real, but he did not reside there. He has been staying in a 4 star hotel in Amsterdam but never gave me a room number. I never had one when he was in Nigeria either. I have gone public with my story and even went on CBS in Atlanta. I have been contacted by numerous women who applaud me for having the strength to tell this to as many people who will listen. This is a very serious problem throughout the US. Many unsuspecting females like me, are being taken for their entire life savings by these smooth talking con artists. I had NO idea that there were people that did this and I have now made it my mission to STOP them. If more women are told about these guys they will have the knowledge to know who is real and who isn’t. I want to SAVE as many as I can!! I am involved on every scam forum, and will have my own web page through "cyber dating danger" web site real soon. This is very embarrassing for me to admit. I consider myself a highly intelligent young woman who just finally became brave enough to even attempt to date after many years, and the first one that interests me turns out to be a con.. What luck!!