The relationship that has developed between artist Maria Grette, originally from Sweden, and “Johnny,” a former Nigerian scammer, has a very bizarre beginning. However, the story is a wonderful lesson in human potential.
Grette was just 62 when she started an online dating site after her divorce. “I received messages telling me that people had contacted me, but I never looked at them,” According to her, the BBC.
Then one day she logged into the site and responded to an email from a man she refers to as “Johnny.” “I still don’t know why,” she said. “It was like a sudden impulse happening before I could stop it.”
He said that he was a 58-year-old Dutchman, who was born in Holland and raised in South Carolina. He is currently living in England. His son was a Manchester University student.
After a few emails, he finally called her from a UK telephone number. Although he spoke a foreign accent, she didn’t let that stop her from calling him.
Maria Grette was conned out of £8,000 by a stranger she met on a dating website! After three months of communicating, he agreed to visit her in Sweden.
“I wanted to meet him because I liked him,” She said. “He had a way and a sweetness I had never known in a man before. And he was innocent in a way that puzzled me.” After making a quick stop in Nigeria to interview for a job, he said that he would be coming to Sweden to visit her.
Johnny called her first time from London’s Heathrow. He called her to inform her that he had arrived in Nigeria with his son. When he called her again, he said that he was in Lagos with his son. He had been shot in the head while mugging.
Johnny said that the hospital was requesting €1,000 for his son’s treatment but he couldn’t pay the bill because his bank had no locations in Africa. He asked Grette for the money in order to allow his son to receive treatment.
“I will never forget how I rushed to the Western Union office, trembling while I did the transfer,” Grette said. “All I could think of was to get the two persons in Nigeria out of danger.”
After the initial transfer, Johnny asked her for more money due to “complications” and demanding doctors. After sending €8,000 to Johnny, she began to believe that something was up. “I was angry, I sent some very angry emails when I realized something was wrong,” she said according to The Mirror.
Three weeks later, something amazing happened. Johnny called her to tell her that he was a 24-year old Nigerian scammer. He had completed university two years prior, but couldn’t find any work so he was forced to prey on people. “When he revealed everything to me I was past the point of shame. I felt so sorry for him,” She said.
“He said he had never met anyone like me before, that he had been fighting his feelings for me for a long time,” She said. “He said his scamming mates had warned him about falling in love with a ‘client’, that he had ignored them because he trusted me and did not want to lose contact with me.”
“I wanted to meet him,” She said. “I could not live with this relationship unless it was adjusted to reality in all senses.”
Grette went to Nigeria in October 2009 to meet Johnny. “When I saw him at the airport in Abuja, tears fell over his face, and I knew I had known him all my life,” She said.
They developed strong friendships while in Nigeria. She began to wonder how she could help these men get out of dubious jobs after meeting scammers among her friends.
Two years later she began helping African artists visit Europe for exhibitions and workshops. She has also been to Uganda to speak on art. It all came down to her meeting a unique Nigerian fraudster.
“Johnny has given me more than he took,” she said, “Without him, I would not have met Africa.”
Johnny has stopped working on scams and with the help of Grette, moved to America to get his education. “He is very dear to me,” She said. “He has asked me so many times to forgive him and I told him that the most important thing is to forgive himself.”