I didn't want to make this public but after some level of considerations on the advice I received from close friends, I think my story will be a lesson to everyone.
Last night around 10:10pm GMT 1.
I was sitting on a sofa looking after my mom who was receiving a dextrose saline infusion following her recent I'll health, when I received a notification on my cellphone.
The message was from zahidsun, Yes fake zahidsun 😭😭😭.
@zahidsun has been my friend for years, I knew him from https://bearshares.com and recently he helped me out with the complications I had in setting up my blurt witness node.
We belong to so many telegram and Whatsapp graphene blockchain groups where we run promotions together.
He is a kind hearted man with great integrity and vision.
He accommodates everyone no matter your race and always give support to people when needed.
The message read: Good evening brother, Please help me out with $16.2 eth, I just got an email that one of my servers will expire in few hours.
I went out on an all night program with only one cell phone, I will send it back once I get home. I need it urgently.
Honestly I didn't think twice because I already wasn't in my right state of mind looking at my old woman on sick bed.
The message was a pop up notification which I read without opening the main telegram app.
I Clicked on reply and said send me your eth receive address, which he sent in few seconds.
Then I transferred $16.6 eth with $1.44 fees from my binance wallet to the said address based on trust without proper verification.
A few minutes later, he sent me a message that he has received the coin.
I replied Goodnight sir and dropped my phone on the sofa.
After a few seconds, I got another notification which read in capital letter
_FUCK THE MONEY IS NOT COMPLETE_
Immediately I realized it wasn't @zahidsun because I know him to be a noble Muslim who would never use such derogatory speech as FUCK.
Then I rushed and wrote him on WhatsApp to confirm if he was actually the one chatting with me.
I noticed he wasn't online.
Then I went back to my last chat with him on serey Africa group telegram and click on the message box.
To my greatest surprise, I saw my chat history with him was not reflecting the recent messages.
It now dawned on me that I was chatting with a fake account 😭😭😭.
He blocked me when I told him I knew he was a scammer and thus lost all chats with him.
For a moment my adrenaline was up and running steadfastly because I was devastated.
I haven't been a victim of such scam in my life, I only hear about them on social media.
But last night was my turn and it didn't play well with me emotionally.
This morning, I read in blurtcast telegram group that the same scammer tried to defraud @tekraze and @clixmoney but the were smarter and blocked him.
Please I want everyone to learn from my mistake, Try to verify every online transactions that involves money no matter how strong your acquaintances with the said person.
It is said that A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes such a mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.
Good Day to the Smart/Wise You.
This post was manually curated by @anyiglobal
Damn.. I'm so sorry. Scammers are everywhere. And it's so annoying that they catch us at unawares, especially when we don't even expect such to happen.
So sorry about the loss brother. This is one of the reasons why I don't believe anything on the telegram group because I know scammers use it to unleash their evil acts. Please verify any request for money support before you give it out.
Pls Be careful bro, scammers everywhere
I am so sorry to hear that, always sucks to be scammed.
At least now you take the lesson and always be vigilant when someone is asking for money. I guess it is safer to contact you through WhatsApp rather than telegram for that important matter.