Part Two of My Scam Story by Kate Kleinert

“Once you realize you are being scammed, your financial situation does not get magically healed. You not only live with the heartache, but you also have to find a way to keep your head above bankruptcy.

Shortly after my scam ended, the weather turned quite warm. I don’t do well in the heat, and I immediately turned on the central air. It didn’t come on. I couldn’t afford to even have someone come look at it, let alone fix it.

At this time, I had 6 hospice dogs. The dogs themselves were in hospice, and I took care of them, spoiled them as much as I could, loved them until it was time, and then held them and sang to them hymns I knew from church until they had crossed. They needed to be comfortable, too.

I set up a portable room air conditioner in the living room which was the place I could keep the coolest. There was no electrical outlet in the living room that would take the plug. I got one of those long, heavy duty orange extension cords and ran it out to the kitchen. Cool at last! The dogs and I ate and slept in the living room that summer.

I woke up around 5:00 a.m. on July 16, 2022, to find my living room on fire. The air conditioner and cord were spitting out flames and there were dozens of small fires everywhere I looked. The dogs took off to the back of the house and I used their dog beds to try and beat out the fire. It didn’t take long for the fire to get out of control.

The house burned to the ground and all 6 dogs died. I couldn’t figure out where one heartache stopped and the next one began. I had lost all my money in the scam and now I lost everything I owned and my 6 fur babies as well.

A few months later as I was living in a hotel waiting for the homeowner’s insurance to settle, my scammer called and asked me how I was doing. When I told him about the fire and the dogs, he kept saying “Oh, how awful” “Oh, my poor baby!” and then he said “But I need a gift card for $50. Can you get that this afternoon?” And I said….. well, I won’t repeat what I said!”