SCAMMED By My Man For Over $100,000, Episode 4

In this episode of the Influence Her Mindset Podcast, Miko discusses being scammed in relationships, focusing on a story about a woman who lost over $100,000 to someone she believed was a celebrity! Miko reflects on the excitement of cuffing season, the honeymoon phase of relationships, and the charms that can lead people to overlook the red flags of dating. 
Miko shares a personal account of a former coworker who, despite being intelligent and financially stable, fell victim to an online scam while navigating a difficult divorce and personal losses in her family. This coworker believed she was in a serious relationship with a celebrity that she had never seen in person or on video, leading to emotional turmoil and significant financial loss. Miko emphasizes the importance of being cautious in relationships, particularly in the age of online dating, and teases a follow-up episode that will explore how to identify Romance Scammers.

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Transcript

What's up, y'all? And welcome to another episode of the Influence Her Mindset Podcast. Yes, I'm Miko and I am your host. So let's get into it. I'm hoping you're enjoying this Labor Day weekend, Salon weekend, and hey, this is officially the end of summer. It is coming to a close, but I love summer because I'm a summer baby and just had a birthday, so I love summer. But talk about what's coming. That's right. Listen up, class is in session. Let me tell you where we're headed. We are officially heading into cuffing season. That's right, cuffing season. In honor of the Labor Day weekend, I'm about to labor in love for my couples. Because cuffing season may come early for some of y'all, like September, October-ish, you know. 

And if you're really feeling it and you're really into it, it's going to last a while. I mean, you could like make it till April 15th, 2025. And what is that? Income Tax Day. That's right. Cuffin season could actually last till April. So, but you know, by Mother's Day, it's a wrap. By Memorial Day. weekend, Memorial Day weekend. We back outside. We popping firecrackers. We having a good time again. So hey, ladies, these men know, hey, they're going to be making love to your mind. And fellas, these women are very charming. And we are so sensual when you learn how to turn us on and just really fill us up with your words and make us feel so good and so pumped up. 

But let's get into it. So that's right. I mean, you know, like, don't get me wrong because we love finding love. Everybody loves the feeling of being in love. I know I do. So check it out. Like that first, you know, couple of months, the honeymoon phase. How many people like the honeymoon phase? I love love and I love the honeymoon phase of relationships, especially when it's fresh and it's new. Hey, man, nothing don't bother me. You can't make me mad for nothing. I'm feeling good. I'm thinking about my boo. We booed up all the time. I'm just, you know, like, we just in such a good mood. Well, we in love. You can tell when somebody is in love. Really, you can. I mean, like, ladies, we turned up. We like, hey, hey, hey. We in our car singing our favorite song. I mean, like, what's your favorite song? 

Say I love you. You my everything. I mean, I know y'all feel me. We be in that car. We be so serious. We be singing to our boo. I mean, come on now. Tell them we go together. I said we go together. Tell them we go together. I mean, ladies, do y'all feel me? For real. Like, we be so into it. But let's switch gears a little bit. Because I want you to be smart this time. When you're in this new relationship and when you, you know, get the right one, he didn't approach you, you know, like he thinking about taking it a little further because, you know, we hibernating September, October. I can remember every time the holidays came, it seemed like I was, you know, getting pregnant. Like this is a hibernating season. But 

Let me tell you, like, right now I'm watching TV and usually like Friday nights, I'm glued to the TV because I'm always looking at all these shows like Love After Lockup, Love During Lockup. And I'm thinking, man, come on now. I can't believe he fell for that. I can't believe she fell for that. Like, come on. that would never really happen to me. I would be thinking, you can't be that crazy to fall for that trick. Because that's exactly what it is. I mean, like, I'm always amazed at the cast members because, you know, like, everything good. They spending all this money while these inmates are in jail. And it's like, oh, we in love. We get married soon as he get out, you know, he done proposed to me. And some of the people actually have spent 

Thousands. And they have actually married, you know, these inmates in jail. So, tell me, like, why after the inmate gets out of jail, we give them, like, about two or three weeks. I'll even go two or three months. And what? We see them crying on the internet. I mean, you know, like, we hear them talking about each other. They crying on the shows. They like Man, I can't believe they took advantage of me like that. Like, I got scammed by the inmates. Really? Like, come on. We got to be smart. Because as soon as these people get out of jail, back outside, on the block, it's a wrap. It's over. It's almost like just feeling like I've been scammed by my man. Scammed by my man. 

Let's talk about it. I mean, this is what this show is about today. We're talking about being scammed by the man you were so in love with, you thought was going to last forever. Okay. Every time I hear that scam by my man, I kind of want to break out into that song. Stand by your man. I don't all the words to it, but it sounds good. And I can hear it playing in my head. But no, we talking about scammed by my man. That's my man. My man, my man, my man. We be so in love. I'm telling you, man. And then sometimes I feel like, lately, I didn't feel like these celebrities kind of like been scamming us. Because you know what? I about people like Future. I mean, like... 

And Mr. Cannon. I mean, you know, like, what could you possibly be telling these women to make them have your babies over and over again? Like, they are so charming or just so charismatic that just whatever they tell these women is like, come on, boom, I'm going to have your baby. And here comes another one. Like, what could they possibly be telling them? I mean, because ain't no way. Like, I'm finna be baby number, baby mama number 14, 15, 16. No. No. Ain't no way. No. I'm not doing it. And let's... We cannot leave without talking about the billionaire D. A.K.A. Poppy. Like, come on now. I mean, like, I'm feeling like this ninja for real. Like... Come on now. Like, we've been rocking with you with this old crooked high-top fade. Like, I mean, come on now. For decades. We really missed this one. I mean, like, for real. For decades, we have been supporting him. Like, we kind of thought about, like, okay, maybe Biggie. I mean, it was, you know. We kind of had an eyebrow raise for Pac. Mm. 

I mean, come on now. He had us spending our coins every week with this fruit-flavored liquor. I mean, come on now. Every week, we spending our coins. We get lit. I mean, hey, we have a party. We turn up. He get rich off us. He around here passing our podcast. Come on now. And monthly allowances for about $500,000. Come on now. Man, come on. Get out of here. I mean, he bamboozled us. Everybody, you know, like, at first we was we was rocking with him. You know, hey. The clear fruit flavored drinks they they was hitting. I ain't gonna lie. I mean, I had a few of them myself. But you know what? Outside of the money and the power. I mean, like, who really was listening to his songs? I wasn't. I mean, like, I'm not feeling it. 

And now I'm really not feeling it because like without money, like who's really paying attention to you? Like really go join whoever you need to join. I mean, we'll see you on love during lockup or something like that. I don't know, but we don't really care. I mean, that's just what it is. So we don't switch gears. Where is my online dating crew? Like, let me hear it. Put it in the comments. You down with the online dating? I just... For me personally, I cannot do the online dating because I really need to know because I'm just that person. I don't trust nobody. Like, I need to know who you are, what you look like behind the phone, the I do not... 

do online dating, point blank period. I mean, you know, this online dating world has just been taken to a whole nother level. Like I talked to some of my friends sometimes and you know, it worked out for them. Like, yeah, you know, it worked out. We met online, we dating, we live together. Now we get married. Okay, great. I'm happy for you. You know, All I think about is scam. Like, in my mind, that's just how my mind works. Like, I mean, like, I'm waiting on the other shoe to drop. I know a scam is coming out of this some kind of way. Reminds me of my coworker. Like, this true story. I had a coworker a couple of years ago. I'm talking smart. Book smart. Young lady. Very bright. 

Graduated degrees, went to HBCU, married her college sweetheart. They both worked at sister agencies with us. And so, I mean, everything about this young lady, she was well off. I mean, just brilliant. I mean, you would not have seen this. This particular young lady, because you would have thought she was so smart. I mean, you know, like you never saw a scam coming with her because I'm going to tell you at work, she was always reading people like, you're not going to get over on her. She was fighting for her kids in the school system. Like the teachers, she was not having it. One of them teachers called her trying to say her kid was acting up. No, she wasn't having it. She going toe to toe at work, at school, wherever she was. 

She was just, you know, she seemed like she was on her business. You know what I'm saying? She stood on business for her kids, definitely. So, I mean, like, I was just taken aback. But let me tell you her story. Let me tell you how this unfolded. So I told you she married her college sweetheart. You know, and let me tell you, they have four kids. And they were very well off. Like, they worked for... A long time saving up money. You know, they were well off. Her parents were well off. His parents, I think, were well off. I couldn't tell. But I know they lived in a six bedroom house, suburban neighborhood. I mean, from the outside, it looked like they were a very happy family. Everything was working out for them. You did not think anything was wrong from the outside. 

But of course, you know, everything that we see online or we see on the outside looks okay to, you know, you get behind closed doors. Well, the truth of the matter is that he was cheating on her. He was cheating on her with several women. The husband, her husband was cheating on her. During the time she was working with us, her mom passed away. Her dad passed away, like, in a close proximity of time. And from the outside, you could tell she was starting to break down a little bit. She had a really bad crisis going on. Like, life hit her. Like I always say, life was lifin', okay? So, but she was financially stable. They looked like, you know, they wasn't hurting for no money, you know? 

Even when her dad passed, I remember her telling me he left her some bricks of gold, like the actual gold bars. And they were very valuable. I want to say this was probably around 2015. So that was around the time that gold had pretty much rose in value. So these blocks of gold were very valuable. You know, her mom, when she passed, this particular young lady had three or four siblings. So they were all taken care of when her parents passed away. So again, they were very financially stable is my point. So, you know, it started to be a little hard for her to, Focus at work. You know, you got this man cheating on you. You can't really say nothing, you know, because you checking it out. You got to check the facts. You got to figure it out. You know, somebody can tell you today, hey, such such is cheating on you. But, you know, you in love. So you don't really want to like really just take it at face value. I mean, you have to show me a picture or you have to give me some evidence. So I got to do my own research. I got to do some background work. Come on now. I'm going to sniff it out. 

I thank you for the tip, but I'm going to have to figure it out on my own, you know? So, hey, she was trying to keep it together, but it was coming, you know, to be a little difficult. And, you know, we all been there. So a few years passed by and, you know, she started to open up to me because she was also my Sarah. So, you know, we talked a lot and I was very supportive. And, you know, at the time we kind of had, you know, A lot of in common. We knew a lot of the same people. So me being me, I'm trying to talk to her and kind of like give her advice to get her through the situation. But, you know, some of it was uncharted territory for me. So I did what I could, but I did give her some good sound advice. So a few weeks, you know, going to it and we're talking. And I think a couple of years have passed by now. So she's telling me, hey, you know, 

long story short, I'm going through a divorce or, you know, I went through a divorce. You know, I was like, oh my God, you know, I didn't know. So I'm trying to be very like, you know, supporting. At the time, I don't think I was divorced, but I feel like I could like sympathize with her because anybody that has been through a divorce knows that it's not the best time in life, especially if you have kids, you know, You're trying to work through some issues. Like, what is this going to look like when I get on my own or whatever? So, yeah, she was processing all of that. At the same time, you know, she was saying, you know, we were Facebook friends. Let me just say, and I can see, you know, every now and then. Actually, I don't think I was her Facebook friend. Let me take that back. I was not her Facebook friend. 

But I knew that she had a Facebook. I think everybody at the job knew she had a Facebook because she was starting an event on Facebook. And because her husband worked at like a close sister agency, we knew him. So I'm assuming that with the commonalities of people that you know are in your phone, your contacts, If somebody posts something, it may come up on your feed, but you don't necessarily have to be friends with them for you to see it. So I will see every now and then kind of like, you know, oh, he think he really doing something. You know how we get we be like these coded messages like, you know, you think you got me, but wait till you know. 

The other shoe dropped. Just wait, you know, because I got you coming up and she thinks she really got herself something. But wait till she really find out what I had to go through. Like, you know how do it. We'd be like, we spend nobody feelings. I'm telling it all. He cheated on me. So let's let's do it. I'm roasting him on social media. Not me personally, but I'm just saying I've been seeing some posts and I'll be like, so she going through it right now. So I can tell by the post, you know, you can kind of tell what somebody going through. So long story short, you know, I remember her telling me, you know, she had a few pastors that reached out to her. Pastors of churches, she said, were in her church. 

messaging, direct messages in Facebook. And she was like, they was trying to reach out to her for healing purposes. They want to help or whatever. And I'm thinking, okay. And then she said, but you know what? I kind of want to tell my story about how he cheated on me and how I caught him in the form of a movie. And she was like, I know this famous guy. He do movies. So I might let him tell my story. You know what I'm saying? So I was like, hmm. She said, don't be surprised one day you might see me in a movie or something. I was like, okay, girl, don't forget me. Don't forget the little people out here. You know, I don't want to work either. If you get rich doing this movie, girl, do not forget me. Come get me, girl. I'm ready to be on the movie. So, you know, I'm tired of working too. So, hey, let's do it. But I was like, okay, you're not telling these pastors your business, huh? Because I'm thinking... 

pastor reaching out on social media. That's kind of like I don't know if I'd be doing that. But anyway. So, then she tells me, she said, this guy reached out to her on social media. Facebook, to be exact. Facebook. And he happened to be a famous guy. Famous celebrity. And, you know, back then, we were, we were not As, you know, up like we are now on people scamming people on the internet and in social media and things like that. I mean, somebody tried that now, you might be a little leery. But back then, we was, you know, we still on the fence a little bit. But she said he was famous. You know, they were from the same hometown. Okay, it's possible. You know, she knows somebody famous. Okay. 

so we go with it. She started telling me a story and I'm like, this way get a little shady at those. So when he reached out to her on Facebook, you know, he was claiming he was this famous person. He'd always call her through the phone or whatever on Facebook. I guess the little chat, I guess now it's messenger, but you could actually call like a video or a regular call, you know, in Facebook. And, I know I'm like, anybody call me on Facebook. I'm like, I'm the nerve of you. Don't be calling me on Facebook. I don't even know you like that. I'm not answering. But so, you know, she answered because she felt comfortable with this person and she thought he was a celebrity. So, you know, they ain't never seen each other for a while. I mean, I think it was about two years past. She's still talking to this dude thinking he a celebrity. I mean, 

Daily, like they had a relationship. Like, I mean, this was really getting serious. Two years go by. And so during this time, you know, she was still going through, I guess, you know, trying to figure it out about the divorce or whatever. So fast forward, she ended up getting fired from the job. Now, mind you, smart young lady, degree. 401k. I mean, she'd been there for a while she she was fired after 23 years at this company. And that wasn't easy. So she started coming unglued. She seemingly was kind of like menopausal right before she got fired. Like she was really doing some stuff at work. Like it was so kind of like, embarrassing on her part that I was, like, asking the supervisor, like, hey, like, maybe she might be going through menopause. Like, can you cut a break? You know, like, I know she tripping at work, but I don't want her to lose her job. You know, before they fired her, I was really advocating for this girl. Like, really. And then it came a time when she turned on me. She was like 

You didn't tell me they was talking about me. I was like, who? Bill. I was like, girl, who? Like, what you talking about? She was like, I can't believe you didn't tell me. I'm like, okay. So needless to say, I'm painting this picture. She was coming to glue. She was losing it. So like, you can just imagine like things are all over the place. So long story short, they had to let her go. At this time, I think her kids were going to college. She at least had two kids in college. And so they were, you know, like almost grown. So they kind of knew like, you know, mom talking to this dude on video every day. He's not putting on his camera. She ain't never seen him, but they always on the phone. And she think it's this certain celebrity. So long story short, one of the kids reach out to Dr. Phil. 

and ask for help because mom is losing it. Like, we really think mom's losing it. Can you help us, Dr. Phil? Because at this point, we didn't try to talk to her. Her siblings didn't try to talk to her. Like, there's nothing else we can do. We reaching out for, like, at the time, Dr. Phil because Oprah wasn't online no more. We trying to talk to Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil invites them to the show. Cause he like, no, wait a minute. You think your mom is losing it because she's in a real relationship with this celebrity. Okay. Come on down to the show. Have y'all on. We going to unpack all of this and get down to the bottom of it because Dr. Phil actually is friends with the guy she's saying she's in a relationship with. So he knows him very well. And he, you know, he was like, okay, Hey, yeah, come on. Hey, y'all on the show. 

So, by this time, my ex-co-worker has changed her name on Facebook to the last name of the celebrity she claims to be in the relationship with. So, we ain't looking for the regular person. We looking for the one with the last name, same as the celebrity. So, hey. That's, that's just where she was. She, in her mind, she hooked up with the celebrity. That's all it is. That's it. That's all. Ain't nobody gonna tell her nothing different. So, hey, by the time the show airs for Dr. Phil, everybody at work is like, you know, the show is coming up. I heard the day is coming up hey if If I got work late this day, I'm going to be in the covers room. We watching Dr. Phil at work. So, hey, the day is here. We all gather around. Hey, you got your popcorn? You got your, hey, let me take a sip of water real quick. Hey, let me get ready for this episode because Dr. Phil about to tell her, girl, you are not to who you think you talking to. But, hey, let's take a sip. 

Okay. So everybody at work, now come on now. Is she really tripping or is she really talking to this dude? Because they are from the same hometown, so it's possible. But is it possible? Because we know coworker is coworker and coworker was kind of like, we got book sense, but I don't know about the other stuff. We tripping because we don't know. Is we being punked? Like, what's the real deal? So, you know, hey, of course it was suspect because we know she had, you know, a couple of deaths in the family. Her husband was working all this overtime, cheating and going on. You know, hey, it could have pushed her too far mentally. We all know that. So let's do it. Dr. Phil is on. So we in the conference room and we listening to the details like he landed out. So you do know that it's impossible for you to be actually talking to someone that claims to be a celebrity. You've never seen them before. You only talk to them through social media. Let's see what else. Red flag number one, two and three. 

You know, you've never seen them like this is somebody you don't even know who he really is, but he's claiming to be a celebrity. And if he's really a celebrity, you're not going to have direct access to him like that. You know, you may go through his assistant or you got to make an appointment. OK, we meet for lunch because I ain't really got time to be playing with you on social media. Red flag three, four and five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. you know, was present. So I listened to the details and, you know, I almost hit the floor because he says, Dr. Phil lays out all these things. You know, he had his little board where he had, here's the history. Here's what we know to be true. And here's what has happened. So one of those things on the board was, um, 

You have sent this man over. You're ready. Over $100,000 of your retirement fund that you had to pull out because now you lost your job. So now you living off your retirement. But you didn't send this man $100,000 of your hard earned money. You got four kids. And by this time, husband is out the picture. She's working for Uber. She's living in an apartment. And you done sent this man $100,000. Come on now. Like, what is wrong with you? So I was like, oh, no, that got to be. We can't be talking about the same person. The one that went toe to toe with everybody. was scammed for $100,000 from somebody through Facebook. We don't know who, but it was somebody. I even heard him say on Facebook that this particular young lady had even drove, like, we talking crossing states. I don't know if she was visiting somebody in this area, but she actually went to one of the person's houses or mansions 

Who claimed to be the celebrity. She went up to the actual person's house thinking that she had been communicating with him. Went to the guard area. And said, hey, I'm, you know, Miss 2B celebrity. You know, hey, let me in. I'm here. Hello. And wait, I left out. an important part of this whole story. I left out a part. Before she left work, she gathered the addresses of our coworkers and she sent them wedding invitations because she was engaged to be married to this celebrity. So she thought. But hey, So never seen anything like that. But, you know, I started trying to unpack all of this. And I just want to wrap this up, kind of like, let's just unpack this whole scenario. So what we do know at this point, how did this happen? Her husband of many years cheated on her. Her parents passed away. She lost her job in the process of all of this going on. 

The only thing at this point that was feeding her mindset was Odoo through Facebook. She sent out wedding invitations. She changed her name on Facebook to his last name. Her kids reached out to Dr. Phil and they had reached the point of desperation. The only problem person in this story that is happy is the man that has scammed her out of her $100,000 in her retirement fund. So I'm going to stop here. And we are going to take a pause for part two of Scam by My Man. And we are going to look into how How did this happen? And how will you be able to identify a scammer from social media or online if it ever happens to you? Thank you, guys. That's this first episode of the Influence Her Mindset podcast. Join me for part two. Bye.