Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 39: Past The Point Of Rescue (Hal Ketchum) Secretly, I hoped that Paul would just pick up and leave or be killed in a plane crash or in a car accident on one of those dark nights he came home late from a business trip or “working at the office.” I had never been able to shake my concerns that Paul had been and perhaps still was sexually involved with Anne-Marie. He alwa …
Romance Scams Part 1: Canadians lose $17 million in 2016
Looking for love online is dangerous and in honor of Valentine's Day, law enforcement agencies around the world tried to remind citizens of that. The first of three articles Lovefraud will be posting on the issue comes from Canada. Nearly 750 Canadians reported that they lost money in Internet romance scams last year, totaling $17 million, according to CTVNews.ca. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe only about 5 percent of cases are actually reported so the money lost is likely much higher. Sgt. Guy Paul Larocque says that most of the money stolen is never recovered. According to CTVNews.ca: Larocque added that these scams are often executed by professionals based in other c …
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Identifying sociopathic behavior is easy; giving advice is hard
Just about every day, Lovefraud receives e-mail from readers who are looking for answers about confusing, contradictory and abusive behavior exhibited by people in their lives. The new readers don't understand what they are dealing with; they just tell, either in a few paragraphs or lengthy compositions, their stories. The e-mails describe some or many of the following behaviors: Pathological lying Pity plays Shallow emotions Devalue and discard Cheating or promiscuity Addiction to drugs or alcohol Controlling demands Financial irresponsibility Manipulation of children Broken promises Claims of “you made me do it” Pleas of “I'll never do it again” The …
Identifying sociopathic behavior is easy; giving advice is hardRead More
Sociopaths Lack Empathy–Even For Their Own Children
Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 38B: By now, I hope you are catching on to sociopath math and can predict Paul's reaction to arriving late with Daniel's birthday pizza. “But I just got here, and I cut my day short to get the pizza,” Paul said. “Paul,” I replied, “we have to leave or the kids will be late to practice. We'll heat it up when we get back.” “I never said I'd be able to get here earlier,” Paul …
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The tables were turning – I was not the easy open target anymore (Part 2)
Editor's note: Lovefraud received the following letter from a reader whom we'll call "Celia." Names have been changed. Read Part 1. His home loan Out of the blue one day, probably two weeks after I had arrived, he had me sit on his lap, and was stroking my arm lovingly. He casually asked if when my home sold, I could put the proceeds into his home loan. I got the strangest twinge of panic inside me, and asked him why I would do that. He immediately threw me off his lap and became tense and argumentative. To calm him down, I suggested we maybe buy a holiday home together along the coastline somewhere. He was not interested at all. Thinking back, he probably had a stinky credit record and …
The tables were turning – I was not the easy open target anymore (Part 2)Read More
The tables were turning – I was not the easy open target anymore (Part 1)
Editor's note: Lovefraud received the following letter from a reader whom we'll call "Celia." Names have been changed. Hi Donna, I have been reading your blog for a few years now and although I have not made myself visible, I have been active reading all the stories and advice you have shared with everyone. Your blog created an awareness within myself of just what I had encountered, and why I felt so traumatised during and after the relationship. There were times I could not bring myself to read some of the stories, as it brought back so much of the trauma I was wanting to suppress. My relationship was very short, about 6 months in total, but nevertheless, shattered my dreams and faith in …
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Convicted con artist Patrick Giblin again pleads guilty to scamming women
Patrick Giblin, 52, formerly of Ventnor, New Jersey, yesterday pleaded guilty to scamming more than 10 women out of $15,000 to $40,000. Giblin did this between January 2013 and December 2014 while on parole for previously scamming 132 women out of $320,241. Here's Lovefraud's original coverage of the story: Patrick Giblin trolls phone dating lines, taking money from 132 women, on Lovefraud.com. According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Giblin's most recent adventures in phone scamming went like this: From January 2013 to Dec. 16, 2014, Giblin allegedly posted advertisements and messages on telephone dating services throughout the United States. Giblin cultivated a telephone rapport with …
Convicted con artist Patrick Giblin again pleads guilty to scamming womenRead More
Sociopaths Lie Even When The Truth Would Work Just Fine
Every week, a chapter of my book, "Husband, Liar, Sociopath: How He Lied, Why I Fell For It & The Painful Lessons Learned" (available via Amazon.com, just click on the title or book cover) will be published here on Lovefraud. To read prior chapters, please see the links at the bottom of the post. Chapter 38A: I always considered Paul honorable and honest, so it took me an embarrassingly long time for inconsistencies in his version of events to register as what they were—lies. I knew my husband had faults and, in all likelihood, had had an affair with Anne-Marie, but it never occurred to me that he was fundamentally dishonest and a chronic liar. But I could not escape the obs …
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Woman finds the ‘pickup artists’ who raped her – and bragged about it on the Internet
A San Diego woman passed out in the apartment of some guys she just met in October 2013. She was raped. When she awoke, she went to the police. Many rape cases end up being "he said, she said" situations, where the perpetrator claims that the sex was consensual. But this woman conducted her own Internet investigation. She found that the man who raped her, Alexander Markham Smith, 27, and his friend, Jonas Dick, 28, ran a business called "Efficient Pickup." The idea was to teach men how to have sex with as many women as possible. To prove that their methods worked, Smith and Dick posted stories about their exploits including a detailed account of the San Diego woman's rape. It was enough …
Woman finds the ‘pickup artists’ who raped her – and bragged about it on the InternetRead More
Radical Acceptance – a path to true emotional healing after the devastation of a sociopath
Book Review: Radical Acceptance Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha, by Tara Brach. Review by Donna Andersen You realize, or at least suspect, that you have a sociopath in your life — that's why you're reading Lovefraud. You may still be in a state of shock — you never really understood that people like this actually existed. But they do; now what do you do? Lovefraud is full of information and advice about escaping a sociopath and dealing with the fallout. Generally, recovery means moving forward along two paths. You can pursue both paths at the same time, and progress on one path helps you with the other one. The first path is solving the practical problems the soc …
Radical Acceptance – a path to true emotional healing after the devastation of a sociopathRead More