Hi, my name is Debbie. I was a victim of a scam back in 2018. This is my story.

I was new to social media, and a handsome man called Perry Johnson came to my inbox.

We got chatting, and pretty soon, I became his sole attention. He would call me day and night, although he said he was from New York and an engineer working on a cargo ship headed towards Germany.

He asked me to download an app called Kik. I didn’t like the app and told him I was uncomfortable using it, so he asked me to download WhatsApp.

He said his wife had died and left him with 2 sons; one son was with him on the cargo ship and the other at boarding school in New York.

In September, he sent me horrific photos of a school bus accident in which he said his eldest son was on board. He said he didn’t have access to his bank. Could I help pay his hospital fees? I borrowed £1,000 and sent it to him by bank transfer.

He then talked about a box he had with money in it—$33 million, to be precise. He asked me if I could open a bank account here in the UK and him send me the box. I refused and told him he would get me into trouble here.

After this incident, we continued talking, but it became less and less.

He then asked me to email his son as he missed me. I told him I’d never met his son and it wouldn’t be fitting for a stranger to email a minor.

I started to feel uneasy about the relationship and asked him to send me photos of the ship he was on—I’m like a dog with a bone when I feel something isn’t right. He said he had no data to call. Could I send him an Apple gift card? I didn’t have much money, but I bought him a £25 gift card.

I noticed he would only message me on a Sunday asking for gift cards each time.

Again, I asked him for photos. I said, “You’re on your phone, just take a photo.” He sent me a picture of a six-man yacht, and I knew something wasn’t right.