Reply to Viv

Submitted by Fyldefolly (United States), Apr 6, 2009 at 11:14

Thank you for sharing your experience.

These are typical scenarios - 'I have nowhere to live because I have no money'; 'I'm in trouble with the Police and need money to get out of it'; 'I want to start a business for both of us'; 'I have just learned I have a child in Europe, but they won't let me see him unless I pay them (a large amount of money); 'I am sick/a member of the family is sick and I don't have money for the doctor/hospital'; 'Bring me label/designer this and that' - you never see these things again, as they sell them to the highest bidder; 'I want us to live in Tunisia/Egypt/Morocco/Turkey' - until you are married and they feel confident enough to go to the Embassy for the visa etc etc.

This is not only happening in Egypt and these are the stories given to me by my Tunisian ex-husband - but I was foolish enough to give him money. I did stop at the child story - especially when he would not show me the photos he claimed he had been sent. Soon after, we divorced!

The love you feel will soon fade and you will ever wonder what you saw in him - trust me on this one. Please count yourself as one of the luckiest women alive - I wish I had been as strong as you.

Every individual thinks their 'friend' is 'different' - but they are not; they do it because they have seen many before them live the 'high life' on such proceeds and want some of it for themselves. It is very easy money to them.

One particular English lady I saw over several years sticks in my head and I forget what happened to me because I feel so sorry for her. The last time I saw her she was staying in the same cheap hotel as me for 13 weeks - all she ate was her breakfast and the food she had packed away from breakfast for the rest of the day. Everyday she tried to see her husband - everyday she was rejected by him. She had spent all her money on him, his Tunisian home and plastic surgery to make herself look better for him. The money had run out - so there was no more money and no chance of a visa - so his 'affection' had run out. She had only been married less than a year.

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