Relationship Cheating Stories

Hooked by a Soldier Who Never Existed: The Darlene Scam

Grief turned into a lure: a locked pink phone, hooked on a trotline, held the last tender message of a woman who had been carefully targeted by someone who spent four years studying how loss works. How did a fake Army sergeant turn a Facebook grief group into a ledger of victims, and why was Darlene entry number thirty-one?

In this episode, we tell how Darlene Zeller joined an online group called Valor and After, met a man using the name Norman Erickson, and gradually came to trust him - but what she trusted was a constructed identity that hid a deliberate and patient manipulation. How did the scammer build credibility and what signs were missed until that pink phone appeared on Cutter Fork?

Person: Darlene Zeller
Group: Valor and After
Fake account name: Norman Erickson
Real photo owner: Dennis Okafor
Entry number: 31

- The account was created in January 2019 and its Gmail routed through a server cluster in Lagos.
- The initial message arrived on March 14, 2019, after Darlene had been reading the group’s threads for months.
- Darlene was widowed in 2015 and joined the Facebook group in early 2019, which had roughly 1,200 members.
- Darlene gave thyroid medication to her four-year-old border collie mix, Pepper, at exactly 6:45 a.m. twice daily.
- The pink phone was found hooked onto a steel trotline on Cutter Fork and was the device holding Darlene’s final outbox message.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

The Man Who Stole Her Trust: The Framed Photo That Kept Her Quiet

A framed photograph left in an empty garage on Larkin Road became a small, impossible clue in a yearlong betrayal that hollowed out Debra Thompson's life; the garage had been vacant for eleven months when county surveyor Heather Young spotted the picture on the third weekend of October, 2019. Who built a fake identity and used it to dismantle a museum professional piece by piece - and why did a single image keep Debra silent?

In this episode, we tell the story of Debra Thompson and the online account registered as Dennis Moore that drew her in, the professional context that made her vulnerable, and the sequence of messages and calls that shifted from technical curiosity to personal entanglement; how did a profile assembled from stolen credentials and a stock photo become the instrument of manipulation?

Person: Debra Thompson
Date: third weekend of October, 2019
Location: empty garage on Larkin Road
Occupation: junior collections coordinator at Arlowe Regional Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Impersonated person: Brian Kessler

- The garage had been vacant for eleven months when Heather Young saw the framed photograph.
- Debra sent her first message to the account registered under the name Dennis Moore at age twenty-two.
- Debra had applied three times to the Arlowe; her third application resulted in hiring as a junior collections coordinator.
- The fake profile’s photograph and professional history belonged to a real consultant named Brian Kessler, who learned of the impersonation only after investigators contacted him.
- By September 2018, Debra and the Dennis Moore account were speaking twice a week by phone, escalating to more personal calls by October 2018.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

The Rabbit on Her Fence: How a Staged Child Saved a Con Artist

The quiet of a rural Tennessee morning hid a calculated signal: a twelve-inch pink rabbit with one missing button eye, a laminated card listing a child's name, a blood type, and a fake pediatric network phone number - left on a cedar post at 6:47 a.m. That staged prop became Exhibit Forty-One and a lynchpin in a scheme that stole $22,400; who staged the rabbit and why would anyone plant proof at a stranger’s fence?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of events from the first online match to the final courtroom outcome, laying out how a careful woman was drawn into a months-long romance scam and what the rabbit ultimately revealed about the fraud mechanics. Could a stuffed toy be the single piece that unraveled a network of fake profiles and false emergencies?

Person: Donna Edwards
Date: February-August 2019
Location: Calder Ridge Road, rural Tennessee
Case: Exhibit Forty-One in spring 2021 trial
Status: Perpetrator received fourteen years

- The rabbit was found at 6:47 a.m. against a cedar post fence with a laminated card tied to its left ear.
- Donna transferred a total of $22,400 by August 2019 after repeated requests over several months.
- The first money request was $800, sent nine weeks after the HeartlandMatch match on February 9, 2019.
- The fake profile “Travis Cole” claimed to be 41, a long-haul trucker based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a 9-year-old daughter named Lily.
- The woman managing the scam, Frances White, 44, operated 17 active profiles across multiple dating platforms from Bowling Green.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

He Posed as a Roman Food Writer - She Lost Her Life's Work

There is a quiet, precise danger in charm: a stranger posing as a Roman food writer spun months of daily messages that led to the destruction of a food blogger’s life's work - but why did the fraud depend on beautiful, exact prose? Who was the man actually posing as Roy Green, and what did he do with the papers burned in a park storm drain?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first comment on a Rome post to the photograph that revealed a man destroying papers in Elmhurst Park, following the relationships and small choices that let the scheme unfold. What was in those papers, and how did everyday trust in good writing become the instrument of loss?

Person: Megan Casey
Person: James York
Person: Gordon Sullivan
Date: August 11, 2019
Location: Elmhurst Park, Roanoke, Virginia

- Megan Casey had written the food blog Salted & Found for twenty years and reached 150,000 readers a month.
- On January 2019 a commenter identifying as Roy Green began daily correspondence with Megan, sometimes twice daily through February 2019.
- James York photographed a man in a blue-gray utility vest feeding rubber-banded papers into a storm drain at 7:40 AM on August 11, 2019.
- Megan’s Rome anniversary post that drew the comment included a passage Megan later called “the best thing she had read about ragù in years.”
- Gordon Sullivan, a 58-year-old retired software auditor who lived three houses away, noticed irregularities in how original writing had been assembled.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

He Told Her He Was Coast Guard - She Lost Everything, Then Found Proof

Fear and cold discovery: a film photograph with a handwritten note and a set of coordinates was taped to a condominium wall, and it led to proof that someone had been watching a woman’s every morning for months-how did a stranger know the private gesture she never told anyone? What else did the printed photo and those coordinates reveal about the man who claimed to be a Coast Guard officer?

In this episode, we trace the timeline from the first online message about a sea turtle to the voice calls, the film photograph discovered in July, and the phone timestamps that documented months of surveillance; how did a fabricated profile, stolen image, and recorded details convince her it was real?

Person: Karen Underwood
Location: Waverly Lighthouse, Pelican Shoals, Georgia
Date: Photograph found on a Tuesday morning in July
Case: Profile claimed name Douglas Hunter, used photo of Brian Colwell
Event: Photographs of Karen’s boardwalk route began in November

- The photograph was a film print with a bright white border, taped at eye level beside the service entrance to unit four-C of Waverly Point condominiums.
- Gary Hansen was fourteen and three weeks into his paper route when he found the photograph.
- The back of the photo had geographic coordinates and the message: "she needs to know it wasn't real."
- The fake profile claimed nine years of U.S. Coast Guard service and a daughter named Lily; the profile photo was actually of Brian Colwell from Pensacola.
- Timestamps recovered later show photographs of the Waverly boardwalk path beginning in November, two months after Karen had established her routine.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

He Stood in Her Backyard: The Therapist Who Wasn't Real

A woman found a laptop in a ditch with a single Post-it: "He's not who he says he is." That photograph became page one of a 430-page file about a fake therapist who had messaged, befriended, and actually watched his target - but who was he really and how did he get so close?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the June 14, 2022 discovery of the laptop back to the first online messages in March and the earlier in-person work on the house, tracing how a fabricated profile built intimacy and access. How did a series of ordinary details-gutter work, profile photos, friendly messages-become enough to convince Michelle Barnes he was real?

Person: Michelle Barnes
Date: June 14, 2022
Location: Ridgecrest Drive, Delvane
Case: 430-page file
Event: Laptop with Post-it found in drainage ditch

- The laptop was found upright in the gravel of a drainage ditch on June 14, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
- The single Post-it inside the laptop lid read: "He's not who he says he is." written in blue ballpoint.
- Michelle Barnes joined the New Chapter Forward support group in March 2022 and received private messages from "Todd Anderson" three weeks later.
- Todd Anderson's profile included four photographs featuring the same man's face and claimed details: mid-fifties, divorced eight years, a daughter, therapist in Columbus, Ohio.
- Dennis Pryor had worked at Michelle's house in fall 2020 doing gutter work and exterior painting over three days.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

The Man Who Loved Her Books - Then Took $22,000 and Vanished

Heart-sinking and intimate: a twelve-page, blue-ink letter signed only "Kenneth" arrives on a porch, and a woman loses $22,000 to a man she never met. Who was Kenneth, how did a closed farm stand on Route 250 help unravel the scheme, and what made Julie Myers believe a stranger enough to send him thousands?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from May 2019 back through Julie's first contacts with an online rare-book account, the development of an emotional bond, the money transfers and the small detail that cracked the story open. What connection between a library, a storage unit and a roadside farm stand finally led investigators to a man in Augusta County?

Person: Julie Myers
Date: May 14, 2019
Amount: $22,000
Location: Sycamore Trace, Dunmore, Virginia
Case: Kenneth Hughes / KHughes_Rare

- The letter left on Julie's porch was twelve pages, both sides, written in blue ink and sealed in a plastic sleeve.
- Julie began corresponding with the account KHughes_Rare in February 2018 and moved from forum posts to direct messages, email, then phone calls by August 2018.
- Julie was 32 years old in spring 2018 when she inherited her mother's house and library and started cataloging the collection.
- In late March 2019 Kenneth reported being stranded on Route 250 east of Charlottesville and mentioned a farm stand opposite the road.
- Investigators eventually located a man sitting in a storage unit in Augusta County connected to the scheme.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

God Loves Earl: How a Fake Missionary Emptied His Life Savings

Fear that your good faith could be weaponized: a photo in a plastic bag led investigators to uncover a faith-based romance that turned into a meticulous financial scam, and one man lost everything to carefully dated requests. How did a stranger on a faith platform convince a diligent 53-year-old to send steady donations for fourteen months?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the day a photo was found on Sycamore Trail through the months Earl Price sent money to a supposed mission in Honduras. We recount the messages, the spreadsheet of donations, and the moment friends realized something was wrong - and ask how identity and grief were used to build trust.

Person: Earl Price
Date: April 9, 2019
Location: Sycamore Trail, Bredenton, Ohio
Occupation: Calibration technician at Halloran Precision Components
Platform: PurposeMatch

- Earl Price was 53 years old and had lived in the same duplex on Comstock Lane for eleven years.
- The first requested donation was $400 in February 2018 for roof materials.
- Earl kept a manila folder spreadsheet recording each donation beginning February 2018, with dates, amounts, and notes.
- Earl regularly attended Millbrook Community Fellowship and sat three rows from the back on the left.
- Friends noticed his distraction at trivia in March 2019, after fourteen months of sending money.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

The Roses on Whitmore Lane: How They Stole My Heart and $8,000

Cold roses left against a gas meter on a thirty-one degree March morning were the first clue that something engineered and intimate was unfolding on Whitmore Lane; why did freshly cut long-stemmed red roses appear at an empty rental and who arranged the trust that followed? The suspicion: a romance built to extract $8,000 - but who constructed the face and voice that convinced a careful man to send it?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led Gordon Reynolds from casual coffees to transfers totaling thousands, and how a borrowed identity and staged intimacy moved him to act; what part did the recorded voice memo, the river walk, and the roses play in persuading him?

Person: Gordon Reynolds
Date: March 9, 2019
Location: Whitmore Lane, Columbus, Ohio
Amount: $8,000
Introducer: Dave Henning

- The roses were found pressed against the gas meter of a rental property that had been empty for six weeks.
- The morning temperature was thirty-one degrees Fahrenheit and the roses' water had not frozen, indicating they were placed recently.
- Gordon Reynolds transferred an initial $6,000 after a Sunday walk and a phone call about a stalled real estate deal.
- Ten days after the first transfer, a second request arrived asking for $4,500.
- The man Gordon met used the name Gregory Sanders but the photograph belonged to Wade Purcell taken from a 2016 travel blogger's Instagram.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].

The ring from Lagos: how a stolen face cost her forty-one thousand dollars

A padded envelope arrived at a church in Denton, Ohio on February ninth, postmarked from Lagos with a return address on a Houston street that did not exist. Inside was a ring in a velvet pouch, sent by a man Janet Lane had never met but believed she was about to marry. How did a photograph stolen from a Brazilian fitness influencer become the face of a romance that would drain her savings, her personal loan, and six weeks of silence from her mother?

In this episode, we trace Janet Lane's descent from a wellness app questionnaire to forty-one thousand dollars sent across three continents, examining the padded envelope that arrived before the financial crisis began, the recorded confession from a cellmate that broke the case open, and the DNA match that connected Dale Osei to an unsolved attack four years earlier.

Person: Janet Lane
Location: Denton, Ohio
Perpetrator: Dale Osei, age 31, originally from Ghana
Amount stolen: $41,000
Event: Romance fraud via Cornerstone Health app, February to March 2019
Conviction: Four counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, October 2019

- Janet downloaded Cornerstone Health in November 2018 and was matched with a wellness coach named Dale Wells, whose profile used a stolen photograph of Marco Alves, a Brazilian fitness influencer.
- The first crisis call came on February 14, 2019, when Dale Wells claimed his passport and laptop were stolen in Lisbon and requested eighteen hundred dollars.
- A padded envelope from Lagos arrived on February 9, 2019, containing a ring and a return address on a Houston street that does not exist; Wade Riley, the retired church volunteer who received it, noticed the address was wrong but said nothing.
- Between mid-February and late March 2019, Janet transferred forty-one thousand dollars across four separate bank accounts spanning three continents while ignoring her mother Beverly's calls for six weeks.
- Dale Osei was arrested in April 2019 over a rent dispute, spent six days in a shared cell with Henry Pryor, confessed the details of his operation, and received a seven-year sentence in October 2019 with no restitution order recorded.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].