People who prey on overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) longing for their family have victimized too many. They feed on the sadness and vulnerability of being alone abroad to catch a nice sum and scam the hard-earned money of their fellow Filipinos. One of our OFW letter senders, named Erica, shared how a seemingly innocent love story cashed away her savings from her first contract.
Dear TFT,
Before I went to Jordan, I met a man during my despedida party. My tito introduced James to me. I immediately liked him but of course, being a modest Filipina, I was cold and indifferent toward him.
Soon enough, James found me on Facebook. I was new in Jordan and I only have a handful of Filipino friends. I convinced myself that I need to talk to someone back home, aside from my family.
James was persistent, he would ask me if I have eaten my lunch already and to stand up for myself whenever my boss would reprimand me. He would also send me memes that would make me laugh and forget I am away from my family. But more that his thoughtfulness and his humor, James is so gwapo [handsome].
I am in my late 20s, ka-TFT. My past relationships did not work out for me because it felt like my partners did not understand the things that I still want to achieve in life. But with James, I feel like I have known him for a long time, we have so many things in common.
I knew James was really serious about me when he met my sister and her family. Sometimes she would tell me that James dropped by and brought donuts for my nieces. Because of this, I liked James even more. It was not long until I said yes to being his girlfriend.
James and I talked at length every other night. I was half-way into my contract and very excited to be together. Eventually, he convinced me to live with him when I get home. In preparation for that, I sent P20,000 to James and asked him to deposit it in his bank. He told me he did, but I did not know that James was unemployed. It did not matter to me then, as long as we can be together in the Philippines, I did not mind him cutting a piece from my money.
His demands got a little bigger, he started to borrow money for their supposed Noche Buena in Nueva Ecija, and I gave in.
TFT, my family did not know that I was sending him money. When I told my sister, she said James does not talk about buying a house or looking at any condos at all. But when she confronted James about it, he denied receiving almost P80,000 from me but I sent my ate the money transfer receipts as proof.
I immediately broke it off with him. I cannot believe I let myself into this mess. I know that I am at fault for trusting a stranger so easily.
I am now in the Philippines on a short vacation, and unfortunately I cannot recover the money because James transferred to another place and he blocked me on Facebook. I trusted and got played, I honestly did not know how to tell my family that I willingly gave all my hard-earned money to a stranger, whom I thought deserves my trust and affection.
Sincerely,
Erica*
