Why I Thanked My Scammer

At age 37, I became interested in money.

Before that, I recoiled from anything having to do with money.

Then I discovered a podcast with a rabbi who changed the way I thought about money. "Money is God's way of making us realize we need each other." I hadn't thought of money as a spiritual or philosophical medium before. The old adage that money is the root of evil may have been lodged somewhere in my subconscious.

As I explored the metaphysics of money, I noticed some recurring themes. The Universe won't trust you with a lot of money until you demonstrate you can be trusted with a little money. Money makes you more of what you already are -- a generous person will become even more generous, a selfish person even more selfish. For every ten pieces of gold that come into your purse, set aside one to save or invest, one to donate, and one to enjoy.

All of a sudden the thought of gold and purses, for the first time in my life, sparked joy.

Then I got into crypto. I listen to Mitch Murder - futuristic synthwave - learning what a block-chain is, what NFTs are - contemplating value and what makes life worth living. I've seen a neon candlestick chart and thought this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I've read, 'don't invest more than you are comfortable losing'. And this is extra true when it comes to crypto. When I met "Andrew", I had about $400 dollars in my crypto wallet. Shortly after meeting "Andrew", I would have $3.

We met on a networking app that is full of crypto and forex people and I had always thought it seemed shady. But whatever. I was in learn-it-all mode, and cool with seeing how it would all play out.

Andrew - at this point a WhatsApp contact - guaranteed me that my $400 would be handled by an artificial intelligence investing robot that would quadruple my initial investment within one week. I thought obviously that is bullshit, but I also thought - what if it's true? Like a poker player who calls a bet just so he can see his opponent's cards, I transferred my $400 into some weird-looking account, and went to bed.

The next morning, my $400 investment had miraculously become over $8,000 ... according to the shady-looking website. I texted Andrew who congratulated me for my achievement.

"Dude, your English isn't perfect," I messaged him. I'm a linguist by trade, and there were subtle signs of his not being born-and-raised in Chicago as he claimed. There's nothing wrong with imperfect English, of course, but it suggested that he was a fake - a scammer.

"I grew up in Italy," he said.

"Perfetto!" I said in a voice note. "Parliamo italiano allora!"

No response from him.

"You don't speak Italian either? How about a voice call. Video call?"

"I prefer not to call," he said.

I wasn't surprised. And these were things I should have done before throwing a few hundred bucks into some bullshit. But again...whatever.

I attempted to withdraw the money back to my crypto wallet. I didn't care about my $8,000 "earnings"; I just wanted out of the shady-looking website. Of course, for some reason or another, I wouldn't be able to withdraw. A "customer support" person from the shady site told me that my attempt to withdraw would make it impossible to recover the original investment unless I purchased another $1,500 worth of something, or something like that.

I felt I would have liked retribution, somehow, from Andrew. Then I remembered what got me interested in money to begin with -- the way wealth and wisdom interface. What would, I don't know, King Solomon do? What would the rabbi from the podcast (who I think cool) do? I don't know.

Anyway, I messaged Andrew and said, "Thank you for the lesson, to learn not to trust people like you, and to be more careful."

I also said, "If you get any of the money I lost, let it be a blessing to you. Food for your kids, or something for your parents. May it be a blessing." And when I said that, all of the bitterness I had been feeling melted away.

Andrew did not reply.

In one of the money mindset books I had read, the author suggested setting aside some gold for your education fund, in addition to your investing and charitable accounts. With my $400 loss, I feel I invested in both education and charity.