Relationship Cheating Stories

The Bracelet on the Marigold Pot: How Love Became a Wire Fraud

Fear that someone you trust could be building a lie inside your daily routine begins with a small, ordinary object: a stainless steel bracelet engraved with a blood type and a pediatric patient number, left on a marigold pot at 6:22 AM. That bracelet was meant to be found, by a woman whose life had quiet gaps and precise habits-so who built the system to exploit her, and where did it finally unravel?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning Ruth Wagner found the bracelet to the pattern of transfers that followed, laying out how a dating profile, repeated repayments, and careful details were used to earn trust and move money across state lines; how did a single early repayment lock the scheme into place?

Person: Karen Rafferty
Date: September 2022 (bracelet found at 6:22 AM on a Friday morning)
Location: Orchard Terrace, Dunbar, Alabama
Person: Kevin Stoddard
Event: First transfer and full reimbursement in April 2022

- Ruth Wagner found a stainless steel bracelet engraved with a blood type and a pediatric patient number at 6:22 AM on a Friday in September 2022.
- Karen Rafferty matched with a profile named Bruce Wells on Heartland Connector in February 2022 and was 54 years old at the time.
- The profile used a photo posted by Dennis Albright in 2019 and claimed a nine-year-old daughter named Lily with aplastic anemia.
- The first money transfer occurred seven weeks after the match, in April 2022: $400 sent via Western Union and returned the following Tuesday in full.
- Kevin Stoddard, 38 and living in Gadsden, Alabama (57 miles from Dunbar), had a prior 2017 wire fraud conviction and created multiple profiles, including Bruce Wells, by February 2022.

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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 Never Went to Rome - The Secret Photo That Bought Her Love

In this episode, we trace the sequence of events from the first online comment on Crystal's food blog to the moment a meter reader knocked on her door with the impossible photo, and follow the unanswered question that started it all: why was her face laminated for use as a lure?

Person: Crystal Moore
Topic: Secondhand Spoon food blog
Date: August 14, 2019 (photo placed)
Location: Columbus apartment building
Amount: $31,000

- The laminated photograph was found behind a gas meter in the building on August 17, 2019, after being placed there on August 14, 2019.
- Crystal Moore had never owned a passport and had never left the United States as stated by neighbors and records.
- Crystal launched the Secondhand Spoon food blog in spring of her sophomore year and had 14,000 followers by summer 2019.
- The man posing as a food critic began commenting on her posts in October 2016 and by January 2017 had exchanged annotated versions of Lorraine Voss’s sour cream pound cake recipe.
- The deception led to two and a half years of fraud that resulted in $31,000 taken from Crystal by someone using a stolen identity.

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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 Envelope That Exposed a Fake Coast Guard Lover and $11,000 Loss

Fear that the person you trusted was a lie: a padded envelope left at a church contained 43 photos, a cracked burner phone, and a note that said, "He is not who he told you he was." How did one unsigned warning unravel a four-state fraud and $68,000, and who sent the envelope?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a niche internet friendship to repeated wire transfers and a face-to-face realization that triggered digital detective work. What did a single maritime-forum conversation lead Michael Griffin to believe, and how did a stranger's curiosity expose the deception?

Person: Michael Griffin
Age: 38
Location: Kellerton, North Carolina
Amount lost by Michael: $11,000
Total fraud across states: $68,000

- The envelope contained forty-three printed photographs, a cracked burner phone, and an unsigned handwritten note.
- Michael Griffin and "Dale Barnes" messaged daily from late February 2022 and moved to a private messaging app in April 2022.
- One video call between Michael and "Dale" lasted eleven minutes with the camera angled low.
- Michael wired four transfers totaling $11,000 after requests in late May and the following weeks.
- Reverse image searches traced the profile photos to Patrick Sorrell, a 39-year-old Coast Guard petty officer whose images were used without his knowledge.

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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].

She Gave Him Her Heart - He Gave Her a Stolen Identity and $48K

Grief became the door Leon Berry walked through: a man who stayed patient for months online before Ruth Vickers sent him $48,000 into an account he named Crestline Yield - and a single greeting card found in a zip-lock bag would later tie his lies to a stolen identity. How did a steady, cautious 62-year-old medical billing supervisor come to transfer that amount after months of careful contact, and what did the misplaced card really reveal?

In this episode, we tell the story of Ruth Vickers from Harwick, North Carolina, and the sequence of events that followed her introduction to Forward Step through a therapist referral. We follow the timeline from her first late arrivals at the food pantry to the private messages and voice notes that led to the $48,000 transfer - and the question of how one small object became evidence.

Person: Ruth Vickers
Location: Persimmon Street, Harwick, North Carolina
Age: 62
Platform: Forward Step
Amount: $48,000

- Ruth Vickers lived in the same four-bedroom colonial for nineteen years.
- She volunteered every Tuesday at the Harwick Food Pantry for nine years without missing a single shift until mid-March.
- Ruth joined Forward Step in late February after a referral from her therapist, Margot Solis.
- Leon Berry’s screenshot showed a Crestline Yield balance of $240,000 and he said he had started with $18,000.
- In early May, Ruth transferred $48,000 into Crestline after weeks of daily messages and voice notes.

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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 Love Letters They Tried to Sink: How Cheryl Was Conned

The first thing a fisherman found was a gallon zip-lock bag weighted and sealed, containing forty-two pages of printed emails - love letters someone had tried to sink in the Cassidy River. How did a small-town book lover end up sending $41,000 to a man who quoted Chekhov and used photographs stolen from an Edinburgh librarian, and who tried to erase the trail by throwing those letters into the water?

In this episode, we tell the story of Cheryl Myers and the sequence of messages, payments, and stolen identities that connected a Portland antiquarian persona to a man living in Grainer County. You will hear how daily emails turned into eight transfers totaling $41,000 and why the discovery of the zip-lock bag forced local investigators to ask what really happened.

Person: Cheryl Myers
Location: Kellerton
Date: May (morning discovery at 6:15)
Case: Love-letter fraud uncovered after zip-lock bag found in Cassidy River
Amount: $41,000 total over eight transfers

- A fisherman named Jason Norris found the gallon zip-lock bag in the Cassidy River at 6:15 on a Tuesday morning in May.
- The bag contained forty-two pages of printed emails with corners slightly stained but every word legible.
- A new forum account appeared fourteen months earlier claiming to be a fifty-one-year-old antiquarian from Portland using the name Steven Vaughn.
- Cheryl sent eight transfers over approximately four months totaling $41,000 after daily emails began and requests for fees were made.
- The photographs used by the fake Steven Vaughn were taken from Andrew Petrie, a university librarian in Edinburgh, whose public Instagram photos were repurposed.

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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 Mailbox in the Empty Lot: How Ross Lost $61,420 to a Fake Missionary

Fear that someone you trusted could invent an entire life and quietly take everything - a red mailbox in an empty lot, 47 pieces of mail, and a padded envelope with 14 photographs stamped "For Ross - they remember you" set off a chain that cost one man $61,420. How did transfers labeled for Nairobi end up in a personal account in Accra, and who was the man named Larry Schmidt really?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from a land surveyor's discovery to the fraud investigator's leads, following the paperwork, photographs, and bank records that reveal the deception and the unanswered questions about the fake missionary's network and methods.

Person: Ross Patterson
Date: early April 2023 (discovery); summer 2021 (beginning of relationship)
Location: Fenwick Road, Kettler Township; Millhaven; Accra, Ghana
Amount: $61,420.00
Case: Shepherd's Table Outreach / Larry Schmidt

- A land surveyor found a red mailbox planted in a vacant lot that had been empty for eleven years containing 47 pieces of mail.
- Inside a resealed padded envelope were 14 photographs, 11 of which were run through reverse image search with 7 matches.
- Ross Patterson sent 41 documented transfers over 18 months, totaling $61,420, with individual transfers ranging from $200 to $3,800.
- Transfers marked for an organization in Nairobi were routed instead to a personal account in Accra, Ghana, with no charity registration.
- Fraud investigator Diane Boyd had six years' experience and traced the discrepancy between the receipts' destination codes and the actual account recipient.

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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 Watch on the Septic Lid: How "Duane" Stole a Life and Almost the Heart

Fear of being carefully loved - then betrayed - hits like a chill: a moving dress watch left on a sealed septic lid at 8:20 AM in the second week of March 2011, its hands frozen at 11:47, would unravel a romance built by email and phone calls and reveal how a seemingly perfect stranger entered a woman's life. Who was the man behind the name "Duane," and what did the watch finally tell them?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first email in early January to the first date at Harlan's Grill and the small, precise details that built trust: nightly calls about a sick guinea pig, hand-delivered notes, and changing handwriting and scars that unsettled Alice. How did those ordinary moments lead to the object on the septic lid that explained everything?

Person: Alice Hunt
Date: second week of March 2011
Location: Harlan's Grill; east side of Kellerton; a rental property
Event: first email from Duane around January 8-10, 2011
Item: silver-toned dress watch, hands stopped at 11:47, placed on a sealed septic lid at 8:20 AM

- Alice was 32 years old and worked six years as a claims processor at Kellerton's largest insurance firm.
- Pip, one of Alice's four guinea pigs, required nebulizer treatments at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM without fail.
- The first email from Duane arrived around January 8-10, 2011 and included a photograph of a man claiming to be a civil engineer.
- Alice and Duane had talked for about five weeks before meeting in person; their first date at Harlan's Grill was the first Saturday of March, meeting at 6:30 PM.
- A septic worker, Roy Schultz, found the silver-toned dress watch at 8:20 AM on the sealed septic lid; the band looked unworn and the hands showed 11:47.

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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 Phone in the Cattails: Why He Left $4,000 on Valentine's Day

Fear and disbelief: a 52-year-old man wired $31,000 over 14 months to a woman who did not exist, then placed his phone in a Ziploc bag chest-high in the cattails on February 14, 2019 - why did he leave $4,000 in an envelope on the passenger seat that morning and walk into the reeds? What decision was sealed with that phone?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first late-night call in November 2017 to the discovery of the phone at Pelham Reservoir on Valentine’s Day morning 2019, tracing the app connection, the transfers, and the moment his daughter uncovered the truth - and we ask what drove him to that specific act by the reservoir.

Person: Roy Thompson
Date: February 14, 2019
Location: Pelham Reservoir, Ohio
Amount: $31,000
Perpetrator alias: Heather McCarthy

- The phone was found upright, sealed inside a Ziploc bag, about sixty feet from the trail at chest height.
- The phone’s memory contained fourteen months of calls, messages, and bank transfer records totaling $31,000.
- Roy Thompson wired transfers ranging from $800 to $6,000, deposited at ATMs in Louisville, Kentucky.
- Roy parked at the reservoir for twenty minutes with an envelope holding $4,000 in cash on the passenger seat before placing the phone in the cattails.
- The profile “Heather McCarthy” contacted Roy after he downloaded NutriPath in autumn 2017; the first call came at approximately 10:45 p.m, in November 2017.

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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 Envelope on the Porch: How a Fake UN Captain Stole $9,400

Cold, steady loneliness met a small, unmarked envelope on a Nebraska mailbox and led to a two-year federal fraud case that cost a widow $9,400. A phony United Nations captain, fake photos taken from a veterans' site, and a fabricated backstory turned a rancher's private savings into a con-so how did a single envelope ignite the scheme?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that began the morning the paperboy found the envelope and trace the online relationship, financial requests, and identities involved to the moment money changed hands. How did trust formed over messages and calls turn into a theft from a woman protecting her late husband's savings?

Person: Pamela Zeller
Person: Curtis Zeller
Person: Person in photo - Steven Harley
Person: Impostor name used - George McCarthy
Amount: $9,400

- The envelope was found at 7:00 AM on January 7, 2021, with no stamp, postmark, or return address.
- Pamela Zeller turned 44 the summer before the envelope arrived and ran 160 acres with 60 head of cattle.
- Curtis Zeller died in spring 2019 from a cardiac event in the cab of his tractor.
- Pamela's four certificates of deposit totaled roughly $230,000, with the smallest CD holding $22,000 and the largest $92,000.
- The impostor first asked for money in May 2021, requesting $3,400 to cover transit paperwork and promising immediate repayment.

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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 Studied Her Queenside for Weeks - Then Stole Her Heart and Savings

A meticulous chess player was targeted by someone who mapped her moves, her schedule, and even her grandmother's routines before the first intimate message arrived; a yellow sticky note with a bank routing number and the single word "Finally" tied a discarded laptop back to a three-week surveillance that began on a chess platform. How did a game opened on Chessvault become the breadcrumb trail that led to theft and an unexpected act of anger?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a public chess profile to private messages and finally to physical evidence, showing how online moves turned into real-world intrusion and financial loss - and ask what the thrower of the laptop revealed by his fury.

Person: Erin Edwards
Age: 28
Location: Caldwell Bluff, Ohio
Platform: Chessvault
Perpetrator: Ryan Erickson

- Laptop was found on Fenwick Mill Road at 9:42 AM on December 9, 2019, intact and undamaged.
- Sticky note inside the laptop vent listed a bank routing number, an account number, and the single word "Finally."
- Ryan Erickson created the KarpovDisciple88 account in June 2019 and searched players within 200 miles.
- Erin and KarpovDisciple88 corresponded and played games for six weeks before messages turned intimate.
- Ryan had a prior conviction for check fraud in 2016 and learned competitive chess during an 18-month correctional sentence.

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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].