Relationship Cheating Stories

The Letters Under the Snow: How "Keith" Took Ross's Life Savings

Fear tightened Ross’s world into a single, private secret: by October 2022 he had wired $26,000 to a man he met online, and on January 9 a shoebox of 43 stamped, signed letters addressed “Your Keith” was left on Ridgecrest Road in eleven-degree cold. The postmarks were drawn in blue marker, the return address listed a non-existent North Sea platform, and the box had been placed after the first plow - so who walked back alone in the dark to park a truck at the curb?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first messages in late March 2022 to the shoebox on a frozen road in January, tracing the pattern of requests, the timing of deposits, and the small inconsistencies a neighbor noticed-then explore the system behind those coincidences: how was the trust built, and where did the architecture of that fraud move next?

Person: Ross Hicks
Date: January 9, 2023 (four seventeen in the morning)
Location: Ridgecrest Road, Devereaux
Amount: $26,000 transferred by October 2022
Envelopes: 43 sealed, each signed “Your Keith”

- Ross was fifty-four and a facilities manager who lived in the same house for nineteen years.
- The fake profile used photos of Tom Greer, a real fifty-three-year-old civil engineer from near Portland, Oregon.
- The first money request was $1,200 on July 29, 2022, described as a payroll banking error.
- Every subsequent financial request arrived within three days of the 1st or 15th of a month.
- The shoebox had no snow underneath, indicating it was placed between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m, after the first plow.

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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 Sang Her Heart - A Synthetic Lover, Eleven Months, One Lie

Cold intimacy turned into a slow, perfect deception: a twenty-one-year-old posted language lessons and fell in love with a voice that ran for 341 consecutive days. How did a synthetic, commercially licensed voice and harvested photos sustain an eleven-month romance without a single interruption-and what did investigators find on a warm laptop inside an empty bungalow?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from January to the discovery in December and trace how a language-exchange connection grew into daily calls, declarations of love, and a fabricated identity-raising the question of how much of a relationship can be real when the voice on the other end is not.

Person: Kathleen Burns
Age: 21
App: LingoLink
Duration: 341 days
Investigator: Ronald Harris

- Kathleen posted language recordings to LingoLink starting in early 2022.
- A profile named "Grant Whitley" first messaged Kathleen on January 9, 2022.
- By June 2022 Kathleen and "Grant" had exchanged "I love you."
- The synthetic voice ran without interruption for 341 consecutive days.
- Investigators found a warm laptop inside an empty bungalow in December.

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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 Gave His Heart to a Stranger - They Took His Life Savings

Fear of being betrayed after opening up is a cold, intimate terror - and this episode begins with a shoebox of photos and a brass key found on a frosty guardrail that links a careful veteran to a stranger who would erase his savings. How did a man described as "slow to trust" give away $11,000 to someone he never met, and what did the returned $400 buy the scammer?

In this episode, we follow Mark Wells from his routines and recovery after Afghanistan to an online friendship that moved from forum messages to phone calls in six weeks, and the escalating money requests that followed. What was in the 32-page script the scammer used, and how did small acts of apparent honesty lead to a total loss?

Person: Mark Wells
Date: November 2021
Location: Morgansville, Tennessee
Case: Steadfast Ground online romance scam
Amount: $11,000

- A shoebox with 17 photographs, letters tied with kitchen twine, a spiral notebook, and a small brass key labeled "Cabin 4" was found on a guardrail on a Tuesday morning.
- Mark Wells returned from Afghanistan in spring 2014 after two deployments and an IED that caused a fractured femur and partial hearing loss.
- Mark adopted a Holland Lop rabbit named Clover and followed a strict care schedule of pellets at 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., a leaf salad at noon, and 30 minutes of exercise at 8:00 p.m.
- Mark joined the Steadfast Ground forum in spring 2019 and, within less than three weeks in October 2021, received a private message from a user named Robert Lawson.
- Over six weeks, Lawson moved contact from the forum to email, texts, and calls, then engineered money requests that ultimately cost Mark $11,000 after an initial $400 loan that was repaid two weeks later.

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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 Laminated Mimosa: How "Dale Becker" Stole Sandra's Life Savings

Fear that the person you love might be a lie - and a stranger could quietly take everything you saved - starts with a laminated flower wedged beneath a water meter. A meter reader found the pressed mimosa with the words "He was never there" on the back; fourteen months later two hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars had vanished. How did six weeks of carefully staged intimacy lead Sandra to wire life-changing sums, and what did that little flower prove?

In this episode, we trace the sequence of events from a Tuesday in March to the unraveling of a fraud that moved through email, phone calls, and international bank transfers, asking how trust was manufactured and when warning signs were missed. What did the laminated mimosa mean, and why did it end up on a federal exhibit list?

Person: Sandra Ward
Age: 61
Occupation: Senior curator of ancient Near East collections at the Grover City Museum of Cultural History
Amount: $238,000
Perpetrator alias: Dale Becker (real name Thomas Ryker)

- A meter reader named Douglas Pruitt found the laminated mimosa beneath a water meter on Sycamore Trace and photographed it before touching it.
- The back of the flower bore four handwritten words: "He was never there."
- Sandra exchanged messages with "Dale Becker" for six weeks, moving from the museum portal to personal email, then to weekly Wednesday calls at 9:15 p.m.
- In January Sandra wired $8,000 to a correspondent account in Malta as a bond for a supposed exporter in Nicosia.
- Before the first message, a bot linked to phishing operations had accessed the museum's public portal 47 times in October.

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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 Said He Had a Daughter - $31,400 in Five Months

Fear that someone you loved was never real: Jason Griffin sent $31,400 across 11 Western Union receipts over five months to a man who claimed to be a long-haul trucker with an eight-year-old daughter. How did a careful, methodical life get folded into a scripted con, and what single discovery finally exposed the fiction?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of messages, transfers, and small details that turned into a pattern of deception, and we trace how friends, receipts, and a lone crinkled artifact on a porch revealed the truth. What part did the script and the photo inconsistencies play in unraveling the scheme?

Person: Jason Griffin
Person: Kent Morris
Amount: $31,400
Transfers: 11
Period: Five months

- Jason found eleven Western Union receipts under his welcome mat on September 3.
- The receipts totaled $31,400 sent over a five-month period.
- The first money transfer followed a mid-July call claiming a $2,800 clinic bill for an eight-year-old daughter.
- Gifts: Jason mailed a stuffed rabbit and coloring book in early August to a PO box that later became unavailable.
- A photo sent in late August claimed to be taken at 9 p.m. in Little Rock but showed midday lighting.

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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 Wrote Like a Dead Critic - I Lost $5,500 to It

The first message that felt off was a perfectly warm goodnight text - nineteen words copied verbatim from a 2011 food magazine byline. A dead critic's sentences threaded through six months of messages, a lost phone found on a hiking trail, and $16,500 that vanished between two women who never spoke: how did a voice borrowed from a deceased writer turn into a costly deception?

In this episode, we follow the timeline and people in the record to show how the relationship began online, moved to an anonymous platform, and then unraveled after a lost phone became evidence; could an encrypted, identity-free app and a love of precise prose have enabled a literary impersonation that cost real money?

Person: Jean Watson
Age: 48
Location: Varnell, Ohio
Platform: Amore Vero
Amount missing: $16,500

- Jean Watson had 40,000 subscribers to her food blog Plate & Place.
- The copied line contained exactly nineteen words and matched a 2011 article by Aldo Ferrini.
- Aldo Ferrini died in 2016 at age 61 of cardiac arrest in a Bologna restaurant.
- Jean lost her phone on a hiking trail in August 2019; its recovery triggered the investigation.
- The correspondence with "Norman Hughes" began in February 2019 and continued daily across multiple platforms for four months.

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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 Voice That Stole $36,000: How a Fake Coast Guard Won Him Over

Loneliness made him vulnerable: a man with a steady routine lost $36,000 to a constructed persona who repaid an initial loan to prove trust. How did months of morning messages, a single six-minute video call, and a staged repayment convince him to hand over everything?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the phone found at Pelican Cut to the bank parking lot where Earl sat frozen, and we outline how the impersonator built credibility through voice, small asks, and bureaucratic excuses. What sequence of touches and transfers turned a careful marine technician into a victim?

Person: Earl Brooks
Date: July 11, 2019
Location: Pelican Cut; Regions Bank on Delamar Street; Grover's Landing, Mississippi
Amount: $36,000
Investigator: Beverly Edwards

- Phone found face-up in sedge grass at Pelican Cut with thirty-one percent battery remaining.
- Incident occurred at 2:47 a.m. on July 11, 2019; phone discovered at dawn.
- Impersonator profile created in late February 2019 as "Aaron Whitfield - Lieutenant Commander, United States Coast Guard."
- Initial requested transfer in May 2019 was $800, which was repaid with $940 in fees recorded in cloud documents.
- By early July 2019 Earl had sent $22,000 across three accounts before total losses reached $36,000.

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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].

Glasses Case on a Dock: How He Mapped a Widow's Trust and $48K

A small burgundy glasses case on an empty dock led to a name that did not belong there and ultimately to $48,000 wired into four cryptocurrency wallets - how did a pair of progressive lenses become the first clue? Who built the architecture of trust that turned a woman’s steady habits into a target?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a surveyor’s find to the online messages that converted personal details into a financial scheme, and we ask how everyday routines were used to engineer confidence and loss.

Person: Dawn Stein
Date: June 2022 (dock discovery); March 2022 (prescription fill)
Location: 14 Crestwater Lane (dock); 14 Quarry Street (residence)
Case: $48,000 transferred into four cryptocurrency wallets
Perpetrator: Dennis Pratt (alias used: Wayne Vickers)

- A surveyor, Monica Young, found a burgundy quilted glasses case on a dock at 7:40 AM on a Tuesday morning in June 2022.
- The prescription label named Dawn Stein with a Barton Falls address and a fill date of March 2022.
- Dawn Stein joined the Rebuilding Circle forum in October 2021 and began messaging "Wayne Vickers" in November 2021.
- The man in the profile was actually Paul Devereaux’s photo; the real sender was Dennis Pratt, age 49, living in short-term rentals across three states.
- $48,000 was converted into wire transfers and routed into four cryptocurrency wallets that never returned to Dawn.

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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 Chekhov Letter in the Septic Tank: How "Edward Marshall" Lied to Scott

Fear that the person connecting with you online is not who they claim - and that the proof might be as mundane as a water-damaged paperback in a septic tank - drives this episode from the first sentence. A 1963 Signet edition of Chekhov with a page marked "The Lady with the Dog" contained a handwritten letter beginning "my darling Scott" and a wire-transfer confirmation number; who really wrote it, and why did it end up in a rented bungalow's septic access riser?

In this episode, we follow the timeline laid out in the transcript to show how an online persona built on literary detail turned into a cross-state fraud case, and we trace the physical clue that linked the virtual identity to an actual property. What did the messages and the Chekhov quote reveal about the person behind "EdwardMarshall_Editions," and how did a septic pump-out become pivotal evidence?

Person: Scott Ward
Person: David Pruitt
Person: Arthur Clemmons
Date: May 12, 2019
Location: Calloway County, Ohio

- A 1963 Signet paperback of Chekhov was recovered during a septic pump-out on Tuesday, May 12, 2019.
- The book had a single page marked and a handwritten letter that began "my darling Scott" and included a wire-transfer confirmation number.
- Scott Ward, age forty-four in spring 2017, met the online user EdwardMarshall_Editions via a rare-book marketplace forum in late April 2017.
- The persona "Edward Marshall" used photos of Arthur Clemmons, a retired English professor from Vermont, without his knowledge.
- The man sending the messages was David Pruitt, forty-one from Akron, Ohio, with at least three prior fraud convictions.

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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 Photo That Cost Her $31,400 - He Called Her Val, K

Fear that your kindness will cost you everything: she wired a total of $31,400 across eleven transfers believing a civil engineer and three children in Zambia were real-until a church newsletter and a single initial, K., started to unravel the story. Who was using real photos and real names to build a fiction that nearly emptied her savings?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from first contact on a dating app in September 2017 through the discovery in April 2019, outlining how messages, photographs, and eleven wire transfers added up to a devastating scam. How did a printed photo in a coat pocket and a church newsletter expose the deception?

Person: Valerie Christensen
Date (first contact): September 2017
Date (discovery by Leon Thorpe): April 14, 2019
Total amount wired: $31,400
Number of transfers: 11

- Valerie sent eleven wire transfers between March 2018 and November 2018.
- Individual transfers ranged from $800 to $6,200.
- The back of the found card had four words in blue ballpoint: "Val - they are real. You are real." and a single initial, "K."
- The photograph on the card matched a photo taken by volunteer Rachel Moy at a facility in Ndola in October 2015.
- A $600 transfer listed as a pharmacy payment for "Peter" traced to a business in Tucson, Arizona.

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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].