A few years after her divorce, 62-year-old Maria met a
58-year-old Scandinavian man on an Internet dating service. There were months of
emails and phone calls before the Swedish art teacher convinced “Johnny” to
meet her in Sweden – after he took a quick trip to Nigeria for a job interview.
But his next call had bad news. He’d been mugged and was in a Lagos hospital.
He needed €1000 for medical bills. After Maria transferred the money, he needed
more. Finally Maria realized she’d been scammed; she stopped responding to his
messages. Three weeks later he called and confessed. He was a 24-year-old college
graduate with no job prospects. He couldn’t get a visa to go to Sweden, so she
visited him in Nigeria. Since then Maria has arranged for several African artists
to visit Europe for exhibitions, workshops, and competitions. “Johnny has given
more than he took,” she says, “Without him, I would not have met Africa.”
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