Maria Grette ended up becoming a man’s friend and finally ended up paying for his studies, despite the fact that she was conned out of thousands of dollars by a man’s ingenious strategy involving the internet.
The Swedish woman had been through a bitter divorce a number of years prior to making the decision to create a profile on an online dating website and look for love again.
Soon after she did that, she started corresponding via text messages with a man whose name was Johnny.
She began to have romantic feelings for someone who she thought was a Danish man in his late 50s, and their connection progressed as a result.
After three months of flirting and talking, Johnny told her that he planned on meeting her in Sweden, but before that, he told her that he had to fly to Nigeria to accompany his son Nick for a job interview there.
This came as a surprise to her because Johnny had been telling her that he planned on meeting her in Sweden. Nick was in the process of looking for work in Nigeria.
Nick required surgery that had the potential to save his life, but the physicians allegedly wanted a payment of one thousand euros before they would conduct the procedure. Nick ultimately passed away as a result of the procedure.
The man’s bank did not have any branches in Africa, and the processing time for wire transfers took several days.
Maria did not give the idea of spending the necessary funds to save the family of the man she loved a second thought. She did this without giving it a second thought.
She finally came to her senses after he persisted in asking for more money to support the cost of therapy; however, once he begged for more money, she stopped replying to his messages.
Three weeks later, Johnny sent her an email in which he apologized for the dishonesty he had made and confessed that he was a 24-year-old Nigerian “419 scammer” who had committed fraud because he did not have a job despite having graduated from university two years previously.
The con artist and the Swedish woman continued in touch with one another until they developed a connection that was based on honesty rather than lies.
Later Maria started to believe that communicating with ‘Johnny’ via the internet wasn’t adequate, and she desired to see him in person. As a direct consequence of this, in October of 2009, she went to Abuja, Nigeria, for a vacation lasting two weeks.
It was discovered that Johnny’s acquaintances were lovely young men who supported themselves by engaging in fraudulent activity over the internet. It was a delight to spend time with them.
Maria has dedicated the last five years of her life to ensuring that African artists have access to financial resources that would allow them to compete and show their work in European art contests.
She acts in this way because she wishes to have a positive impact on the lives of the people she has recently become friends with.
She has been of tremendous assistance in locating international grants and other types of funding in order to provide her new friends with access to bigger opportunities.
Not only has the instructor, who is 69 years old, found it rewarding to assist Nigerian musicians in advancing their careers, but she has also provided financial support for Johnny’s studies in the United States.
With consistent communication, the two keep one another abreast of the goings-on in their respective lives.
Maria told the BBC that she has a lot of love and respect for him. “He has asked me to forgive him so many times, and each time I’ve told him the same thing: the most important thing is for him to forgive himself,”
Johnny has lately found work in the oil sector, and with his newly acquired cash, he has purchased one of Maria’s paintings. She then had it delivered to him in the United States, where it is currently hanging in his home.