Hello Guiltbylove and welcome to R.S.
I am deeply sorry that you are hurting so. All of us here know all to well how painful it can be after the truth is discovered. It may not help right now, but please know that you are not alone. You are among others that know and understand what you are going through. And why you did things that would normally have been out of character for you. But please don't blame yourself for the fact that you were scammed. You were obviously searching for something, but becoming a victim of a scam was not on that list. It was on the scammers list of things to do. So let that part of the blame rest where it belongs. With the criminals and not their victims.
Guiltbylove
I'm still going through a private investigation to find out the truth. I'm not sure if this is necessary because sounds like the money can never be recovered?
If you have been sending money to West Africa then yes your money will never be returned to you.
And on this note you must be aware of what is called a
recovery scam. You maybe contacted by someone who will claim they can get your lost money back. But of course there will be taxes to pay. Processing and filing fees to pay. It's all just another way to keep you paying them under a different pretense. Do Not Fall For It.
And brake off all forms of communication with these criminals. It will only prolong your healing.
There is another part of your post that must be covered. It's not going to be easy to hear, but you must.
Guiltbylove
However, my biggest problem for me now is I cannot let go of the image of this wonderful man in the pictures,,,, not knowing who the real person in the picture is hurts me 10 times,,,, My biggest hope in this investigation is to be able to find the real person. Please tell me if this is hopeful or impossible. My heart really has fallen for this man that i cannot forget him.
This is common and a normal reaction but there is a huge problem in wanting to find out who it is.First and foremost the man in the photos is not the man you have fallen in love with and will never become him.
Scammers do not steal whole profiles to work their schemes with. They steal just the photos off of the internet, and only the photos. All of the rest of it the scammers create out of thin air. If a scammer was to use anything real about the profiles they use to scam with a simple search would uncover their lie.
Besides a real, normal person is not good enough for a scammer's fake profile. They make profiles of the perfect person for victims to fall in love with. A special perfect person so awesome that any other real person could never measure up to. It is why we stop looking for anyone else once we meet them on the net. It's also why the pain is so much more devastating when we learn the truth. We were not just hurt by a normal, real person. We were betrayed by our ultimate perfect someone. Then later we learn that this special someone never existed in the first place. And it hurts even more.
Then there is the real person in the photo who is a victim in their own right. In most cases they have no idea that their image is being used to romance scam people just for their money. And even if they did find out there is nothing they can do to stop it.
I know this hurts. It took me about a month to finally bring myself to say goodbye to that beautiful dream. And in the end that was all she was, or would ever be. Is just a beautiful dream. And yes the pain and heartache was still there. It just wasn't as bad. But after that goodbye my real recovery began.
Bottom line it's never a good idea for a victim to try and contact the real person from the photo.
And if you don't want to take it from me. Take it from them.
What the REAL owners of the pictures say
http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewto ... 22&t=48177
It's not my intent to bring you any more pain. Our purpose here is to help.
And unlike the scammers we will only share the truth with you.
It just sucks that sometimes,,,, the truth hurts.