Reports :

I met Peter Jacobs about November 2016 in e-Harmony website. He told me was born in South Africa and resided in Pretoria, and his father is Kevin Jacobs, who resides in Leicester City with Gretta, partner in UK. His mother, Ruby Theresa, was from Pretoria and resided there. She passed away in 2005 perhaps in October.

eHarmony sent me 1 email about having closed his account, but provided no explanations as to stating why. I wrote them asking for a reason, but they provided no clear answer. Peter told me that he had paid for a year, and since he had found me, and he had unexpired time, he gave the access to the membership to his friend, who was changing the profile pictures, and when eHarmony saw the changes is pictures, they decided to close it. Peter's explanation sounded like a thing guys would do. Thus, eHarmony nor any other website is really safe.

We started talking and texting, and he told me he was going to Doha Qatar to work in a construction project on 12/26/2016. We texted through Skype. After 3 weeks of staying there, he told me his bank in the USA froze his accounts, because he had not responded to an email to confirm where he was. Throughout his stay and his course of doing business, he asked for my financial help to complete his business, because a big wheel broke and was not covered under warranty, or 2 employees were sick, and he took them to the hospital, etc. I was sending wire transfers through Western Union, and one of his employees would pick up the Western Union transfer. He would say he could not go, because he needed to stay in the worksite, and that was a long-day task.

I sent wire transfers since 01/30/2017 through 10/29/2017 totaling $27,255. He was supposed to get paid on September 25, 2017 a million and a half. An accident had occurred in the worksite, one employee hit another one killing him after few days. On 09/25/2017, the worksite was closed, and the company he was contracted by, placed a stop payment on the check. He told me he needed money to hire a lawyer to represent him in court, because he would have to appear in court to request the account be unfrozen and have worksite reopen, which I sent. He told me the judge requested the body of the employee be sent to Turkey, so I sent him money, so he could send the body of the employee to his family in Turkey. Next, he was required to pay accidental death benefit to the family of his employee in the amount of $55,000. He stated he made arrangement for the deceased employee's sister to appear in court in exchange for the $11,000 I sent to a Colak family via wire transfer.

He, the deceased's sister and the lawyer appeared in court, and he told me the judge declined their request to open the work site, because he had not pay in full the family of the deceased. He had giving around May 2017 a copy of his Utah driver's license. He stated that the Qatar corporation kept his passport and other documents. Finally, I had the courage to talk to my 2 best friends (separately), and each told me that I needed to get a private investigator, and he showed all the signs and symptoms of a fraudster defrauding me. Thus, I found a private investigator in Salt Lake City, UT, and he went to the Driver's License bureau, and he confirmed the driver's license was a fake. Thus, he is officially a scammer and he defrauded me out of $38,280 in 2017 year. He still resides in Doha, Qatar, and is staying there with an expired visa. He said he has a British passport. His father is Kevin Jacobs residing in the UK.

What to Do:
Hire a reputable private investigator. Check the Better Business Bureau if the private investigator had any complaints. Check the reviews in their profiles in yelp or any other service. A driver's license check costs about $150, and your peace of mind is priceless. I did the driver's license check too late in retrospective.

You need to report the crime also to:
Federal Trade Commission 877-382-4357
Western Union 877-989-3268 if your wired money through this entity or the applicable entity FBI at www.ic3.gov Your local police department. Provide your local police with the case numbers you secured from the FTC or any other agency Your state Attorney's General Office If he says he is in another country, send your claim to the embassy of the country. I am sure they do not want foreigners committing crimes in their country.

This type of losses is tax deductible. You need proper documentation. Check Publications 17 (Chapter 25, Nonbusiness Casualty and Theft Losses), 547, 584 and 536 and Form 4684.

Research websites, such as:
www.consumerfinance.gov

Wire Transfer Info:
Bank Name: Yapi Kredi
Account Name: KADRIYE ILKNUR COLAK
Account Number: 50915395
IBAN Number: TR81 0006 7010 0000 0050 9153 95 Swift Code: YAPITRISXXX Branch Code: 049
Address: Kurtulus / Istanbul
Beneficiary Address: Bozkurt Mahallesi, Kurtulus, Caddesi No: 139/A Sisli/Istanbul, Turkey

Katie (USA)