{"id":5303,"date":"2026-01-09T05:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/?p=5303"},"modified":"2026-01-09T05:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:02:27","slug":"this-is-not-love-its-fraud-jackie-crenshaw-on-being-trapped-by-brandon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ripandscam.com\/blog\/scam\/this-is-not-love-its-fraud-jackie-crenshaw-on-being-trapped-by-brandon\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Not Love\u2014It\u2019s Fraud: JACKIE CRENSHAW on Being Trapped by BRANDON"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My name is JACKIE CRENSHAW<\/strong>.
I am a healthcare professional from East Haven, Connecticut\u2014and I was systematically deceived, manipulated, and financially destroyed by an online romance scammer calling himself BRANDON<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me be very clear: this did not happen because I was careless or na\u00efve. It happened because BRANDON<\/strong> is a professional fraudster who knew exactly what he was doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met BRANDON<\/strong> on an online dating site in 2023. From day one, he flooded me with attention. Constant phone calls. Endless text messages. Gifts. Food deliveries to my home. He made himself impossible to ignore and impossible to forget. This was not romance\u2014it was deliberate psychological manipulation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For months, BRANDON<\/strong> built my trust brick by brick. We talked every day. We prayed together. He told me everything I wanted to hear. But every time I asked to meet him face to face, there was always an excuse. Always a delay. Always a reason why \u201cnow wasn\u2019t the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he had me emotionally invested, BRANDON<\/strong> moved in for the kill. He introduced what he claimed was a cryptocurrency investment. He sent me convincing documents and fake receipts showing my money growing at incredible speed. Everything looked legitimate. Everything was calculated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believed him\u2014and that belief cost me everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I drained my retirement savings. I borrowed against my home. I trusted BRANDON<\/strong> with my future. To keep the lie alive, he sent me a $100,000 check. I did exactly what you\u2019re supposed to do\u2014I went to my bank and contacted local police. The check came from a real account. That wasn\u2019t proof of success\u2014it was bait<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took nearly a year for the truth to come out. Only after an anonymous man called the police did law enforcement finally realize what had happened. By then, I had lost nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS<\/strong> to a sophisticated international scam operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let that sink in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lost my life savings. I am buried in debt. I will lose my home. My plans to retire are gone. Everything I worked for\u2014gone\u2014because BRANDON<\/strong> never intended to meet me, never cared about me, and never loved me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not love.
This was financial abuse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said, I did everything right. I was saving lives as a healthcare leader. I owned my home. I supported my family. I wanted a partner to share the life I built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I was hunted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I refuse to stay silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am standing up publicly with Connecticut AARP and the Attorney General\u2019s Office to expose how these scams work. A public service announcement sharing my story will run on television and radio for 16 weeks\u2014because people need to hear this before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the hard truths I learned the most painful way possible:<\/p>\n\n\n\n