"I blew up a romance scammer's life."

I blew up a romance scammer’s life This one is fresh and still unfolding but it’s already hit an explosive level. Some details intentionally vague. Context: I’m a woman in my 30s with a reasonably good corporate type job in a field with lots of room for growth and am recently back into the dating scene after a decade.

I’m kind of a “would be a 10 if she lost 30 lbs” looking girl, beautiful face if a bit chubby, but I never have issues getting a date. I’m not well off but I’m stable and have a bit of spending money. I live in a large multicultural city and my ex was an immigrant so I’m open to dating people of any origin.

What happened: A few weeks ago, I met a very charming man from a Latin American country only a couple years younger than me. Seemed very sweet, cuddly, intelligent, family oriented, emotionally available, educated, and in a good profession back home in his country and had a lot in common with me.

Chemistry seemed amazing inside and outside the bedroom. He was honest that he was in my country on a tourist visa but hoping to stay. I made it clear I wouldn’t be able to help him with that but we’d have a fun summer fling while he was here. If he managed to stay or come back, only then would we consider a real relationship.

Then the other shoe dropped. A couple weeks and 4 dates in. During a text conversation about my work, he asked me to be his sugar mommy. I initially laughed and assumed it was a joke. He kept pushing and clearly said it wasn’t. Of course, feeling insulted by this, I went off on him. He maintained it as a serious ask until I hit a nerve with my complaints about how embarrassed he should be to ask me that.

Then he got angry and insulted me for thinking he was serious about it. No apology for being hurtful to me. Obviously, what I did next was take screenshots and cry about it to my closest friends. I was hurt that I was fooled into thinking he liked me and that he thought I needed to pay for a man. My friends started the fuse on what happened next.

One of my friends started snooping more on his online presence, together we found about 6 different Instagram accounts that were him using different variations of his name and different photos of himself all uploaded in batches. On Facebook, a similar pattern. All very scammy and suspicious-looking.

He’d been foolish enough on one of his profiles though to follow and tag the employer that he was working for illegally on his tourist visa in my country. So I contacted another close friend in a local law enforcement agency that works with immigration. She looked up his file, he had a wife and daughter at home!

I released the hounds after that. The friend who helped me investigate online made several group chats on multiple platforms with all of his family (immediate and extended) and friends. She released all the screenshots as well as a rant about how shameful it was. As they started blocking her, she added more people. I found his sister's phone number, she sent her messages on there too.

Everyone he knows including his wife know he’s unfaithful and trying to take advantage of women. 30 mins after the online bombardment started I got a rude message from him about how I should be smart enough to know he was joking and he doesn’t need to sell himself. I didn’t reply.

Next step? Online immigration reporting form with all the info we found; work info, employer name and address, his home address, full name, dob, photos, screenshots admitting to working. Usually, these reports take months to be reviewed if at all but I gave the file number to my law enforcement friend. Two days later, law enforcement officers visited him at home. They found him with a phone number that was issued to a local resident.

All his roommates also had numbers issued to the same person, a direct link to the employer. He received a caution for trying to scam me, a no-contact order and a flag on his immigration file that based on his country of origin will likely mean he can never return as well as a strict warning to not work without authorisation. His roommates also received warnings. His employer received a visit next.

They found significant proof that they’d been employing him illegally as well as multiple other people. Their investigation is still ongoing but so far they are likely to receive tens of thousands in fines or possible jail time.

The guy isn’t getting deported because the government would have to pay for it and proceedings take longer than his remaining visa time but he’s now upgraded from a flagged file to a multi-year ban on reentry to my country. If he bothers me again though he will be deported as well. Hope he enjoys going back to his angry wife and the ridicule from everyone he knows. See ya again never!

EDIT: The comments on my appearance are a tongue-in-cheek way of describing how he may have viewed me and speak more to his failure to select the correct victim profile. It’s not that deep, and I don’t really care about my appearance very much. Relax a bit peeps.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

theloclatowndrunk wrote:

Assuming his roommates aren’t pulling the same stunt, I feel bad for them being collateral damage in all of this. It’s one thing to go after him—it’s another thing to cause a domino effect with affects others who didn’t do anything to her.

ChaseAlmighty wrote:

Wait, you're only a few years older, and he wanted you to be his sugar mama? WTF?

And he straight up asked you to be? Again, WTF? I know I'm older, but this seems like a stupid tactic.

[deleted] wrote:

Cool. I am glad you dealt out punishments to scammers.

What is up with that narcissistic statement in the first paragraph? You would be a 10 if you lose 30lbs? Just saying that nonsense alone would net you a -5.

evilgiraffe04 wrote:

I have a friend whose husband abandoned her a year ago and has overstayed his visa in Thailand by a year while hiding from yet another ex wife (this one is in Europe and there’s child support involved). Any chance you would like to use your skills to make sure he gets what he deserves?

Tinkerbell666 wrote:

Maybe I just haven't been online long enough, but this seems...diabolical? Because he...insulted you? Honestly, you could've just chewed him out & blocked him but now his roommates have been burnt by him too. Just seems so over the top and extremely cruel.

likealivingdrug wrote:

What is wrong with all the people in here pissing on OP for TAKING DOWN A LONELY HEART SCAMMING RING?!?!

Should she have continued to let him and the other men deceive other women as well as the government of her country.

She opened up a can of whoop ass just trying to punish him and discovered an entire operation geared to scam people out of their money. This is wrong to you people?!? YES, asking multiple people to have the same romantic relationship with you using different names is a scam. Look at who you are rooting for?!?! What the hell is wrong with y'all?!