The impact of being scammed

In the summer of 2021, something happened to me that I so often warn people about. Getting scammed over the internet. Apart from the fact that it happened to me, despite being so alert, makes me feel extra guilty. The financial loss and shame is enormous. We are a year further and things are getting better. Incidentally, also the reason why my business newsletter was out for so long.

Survival by family and friends

Before I go into the how and why, I want to say that I am so happy with my family, relatives and friends. They can't solve it, but their support made up for a lot. The fear of reactions such as “gosh, how stupid” etc turned out to be unfounded. An indicative was the "if it happened to you, they must have been very smart." And it was. It was certainly not a son or daughter with the well-known "dad, I have another number and need money".

There are also two friends who very carefully asked permission to start a crowdfunding. It is just activated. It will not bring back the immense amount, but everything helps in these expensive times. At least it gives me the chance to warn again. It can't happen enough!

Abuse of trust

“But Henk, what happened exactly?” Time to explain in detail.

In May 2021 I came into contact with one Wendy Yu via Facebook messenger. She turned out to be a well-known Chinese heiress, investor, patron of the arts and philanthropist. She is the founder of Yu Holdings and the first Asian contributor to Vogue. She asked me after some initial conversations to switch to Whatsapp and gave me her phone number +852 5612 3566. The number is from Hong Kong. Everything sounded genuine and a chat friendship developed where personal stories were shared. Wendy Yu also sent private photos of her and her parents that could not be found on the internet at the time. There was daily contact via chat. After some time she introduced me to the world of FOREX trading. A completely new world for me. As a self-made millionaire and philanthropist, she felt that I needed money and wanted to help me financially to generate more money. She taught me how to create an account with trading bank ACC-FX.com. Although the site looked professional, it later turned out to be a complete fake bank.

Because it was all completely new to me and a relationship of trust had been created, I was not suspicious of the way I acted. We started acting on her advice. Profits were made, or so it seemed. If at some point I make a mistake and lose USD 5,000 in a transaction, Wendy Yu will immediately refund that amount to my account at the ACC-FX bank. The bank that I didn't realize at the time was fake. Trading is mainly done in gold, a very unpredictable market that she also warns me about. To "help" me, she deposits $100,000 into my account.

The moment I asked how I could make a withdrawal, the tone of the conversation suddenly changed and she kept hammering on for more deposits. Mails to acc@acc-fx.com will no longer be answered. On 12-07-2021 around 09:00 her Whatsapp account went black. At that point there would be USD 204,068.10 in my account, if is was a real account that is.

The day after

The blow and the realization that it was all a scam is, as I said, big. Professional as they are, these figures know how to build a relationship of trust. The deposits also make it seem like she means it. Now I know I didn't talk to Wendy Yu. Yes, she really does exist, but her name and reputation is being misused.

You scream for help. But you can forget about help and support from official bodies. That means nothing, and it means nothing. First, of course, report it to the police. Due to the corona Lock down, this happens by phone. I have to come to the office to sign. The officer on duty reads it. "Gosh, what an amount huh..." is the only response. A day later I get a message from the department. "It went through abroad, we don't have names so no, sorry... we can't do anything."

So far the gendarme in the Netherlands.

You report it to the Fraud Helpdesk, ACM and FIOD. They take it as notice and that's it. There you are. Trust in such institutions and humanity has disappeared in one fell swoop.

It was so cunning that according to instructions you transferred money to the criminals yourself. So the bank says, “yes, I'm sorry, but you transferred it yourself so there's nothing we can do about that.”

In short, the old-age provision that we thought we had due to the sale of the house in Almere has evaporated. It is currently every month with the heels over the ditch. A feeling we know, but which hurts oh so much. The more so because you thought you had everything in order. These kind of inhumane criminals have no idea what they are doing to anyone. And there is apparently no one to put a straw in their way.

Thats it. Thanks for reading if you made it all the way here. 

For God's sake, be careful on the internet. It is such a beautiful medium but now so dangerous if you are not paying attention.

Help is coming

And then comes the time when friends intervene. The WeetHoeJeLeeft Foundation is starting a crowdfunding campaign to alleviate the suffering. Oh, how grateful I am to them.

Link to the Crowdfunding on WhyDonate