I will first start by saying I liked "Christian Mingles". I thought there were many well respected men on this site. The second day after signing up I felt a "heaviness" in my heart, as I was receiving an overwhelming amount of responses. I contacted Christian Mingles to see if I could stop my profile immediately and receive my money back. They stated "No". I asked again the next day as I liked the site, however did not feel comfortable, this just wasn't for me. They stated "No" once again, they could not give me a refund. I accepted this, and stayed off the site. One night curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check on my "mail".
I fell into the biggest scam of all. On this one evening a picture of a "very nice looking gentleman" popped onto my screen. From that moment on I was taken on a ride with a gentleman who appeared to be the love of my life, my soul mate. I was lured into the most "professional, innovative, criminal pool of thieves" out of South Africa. They have this scam so "fine tuned", so realistic, so loving & warm, it concerns me for all others.
The story.."my story" was that this gentleman lived in California and his profession was in "telecommunications". As soon as we met on the internet (Christian Mingles) he had to leave on a business trip to London, as he had just received a signed contract back that he had been working on for eight months. He was just getting ready to plan a "romantic weekend" for the two of us to get together, however this contract came quicker than he thought so he had to leave. He stated he was going to fly to London to get this project underway with a company that places mass towers in other countries for telecommunications. Then a week later, and many warm & sincere emails later, he states he was in London only to order the "equipment" for Mass Towers, and then he would be flying to South Africa to install 5 mass towers. He states that before he left California he had purchased a new lap top because he wanted to make sure he could "stay in touch with me" and for this new work assignment. Many, many emails of warm, loving words are exchanged. Very "respectful" words, no hint of deceit, no sexual thoughts, just a God loving, handsome, very blessed, "doesn't need to work, getting ready to retire, just doing this for fun type of man" bestowed upon me love letters that would fool anyone other than the foolish. A week later he states he has ordered his equipment in London and now needs to fly to South Africa to install these mass towers. After he gets to South Africa, he states he has to go down to the hotel lobby to communicate with me because he downloaded too much heavy software on his laptop and it is not working correctly. He has in "desperate need" for another laptop and a cell phone that is an "unlocked GMS" cell phone (as he cannot get service down there with his present cell phone). I ended up using the last of my savings to assist the "love of my life", so he could complete this project and as he stated "get back to me so we can start our lives together" as soon as possible. This has been an eye opening, financially depleting, heart wrenching event that everyone needs to hear about and understand. After researching this scam, I saw pictures of men lined up in what looks like "a cave" all in front of computers from South Africa and Jamaica, "taking shifts" continuing to lure women from the United States to send merchandise into their hands for drug use, abuse to women & children, controlling the legal system and starving an already "suffering" world of people in need.
I contacted Christian Mingles regarding this "person/persons/internet fraud team". They checked on this profile and removed it, (or it had previously been removed) due to "this user was not following the terms of the agreement". I do not know if this profile was removed because of my complaint, or a previous one, they are cautious not to give out any information.
I can only pray that this laptop gets into the hands of an "Angel" who will turn around and give it to a church, hospital, adoption agency or other such entity in need of God's grace and goodness. Through prayer, God will turn this "tragedy" into a "triumph".....Praise Be To God in the Highest.