Ready to Share the Truth

Last week I tried to focus bravely on keeping promises, but some promises are wrong to keep. This confession could take a lot of space, but I'll try to condense it and suggest you wait until I'm ready to spread out all the details as a warning to others.

It turns out that I was being scammed last week - big time! But because I had never heard of this kind of scam before, and I get easily confused when people throw around lots of numbers, I fell for it.

However, as a few days passed, I became more worried. It could not be all right. The man who called me daily and led me around with my cell phone to buy gift cards for him had some plan that he was not fully explaining to me.

It began on Saturday and he kept promising that on Monday I would get delivery of two large registered checks, then he moved the date up to Tues, and Wednesday. I began to beg God to get me out of this - trap!

On Wednesday, when this man pushed that date forward to Thursday, I blurted out, "And if they don't show up then, I can call the police, right?"

Oh did he get angry! He went ballistic with swearing and ugly, filthy name-calling! In all of that he dropped clues that showed me this was a scam! I resolved that evening to put a stop to this. He had already tried to get me to use up the limits on my credit cards to buy those gift cards. I did not want that huge prize...I just wanted to get out before I was left penniless!

On Wednesday, the 27th of March, since he usually called at 9am I resolved to make some calls before that to inquire about this plan from the company he said was sponsoring this. Turned out they knew nothing of that prize!

Well, things got messy for a few days, but I started hitting the BLOCK button on my new phone. However, within 2 minutes he was calling from another number. I blocked that too. When he didn't let up, I unplugged my phone, and refused to turn on my cell phone. The rest of Wednesday I had peace and quiet.

and writing up a report for the police with as much detail as

I spent my time sorting all the cards and receipts in order, I could reconstruct. That evening I filled out a fraud report to the police website and uploaded my three-page summary of events.

I saw I was going to need a new phone number so I plugged in my phone before 9 and quickly called my phone company to ask for a new number. I had it within 2 minutes!

I had an appointment and some personal errands to run but since no one had my new number I left it plugged in.

Well, in the days since I've worked at reporting to my credit card companies, which blocked my cards for a few days so the scammers could not get into them. I've paid off at least small amounts so that they know I'll pay what I can. The cards are now unlocked to me. I've changed passwords - just in case, and also changed my cell phone number.

Hopefully, I am safe now from further attacks by this "crime organization!" Though I lost my business hours and work for over a week now, I think my life is almost back to my own normal.

The police dept has not got back to me yet, but perhaps I'll hear from them today.

But my heart and mind are at peace again, and I'm grateful for a God who knows how much I can bear.

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