The Geese That Lay The Golden Eggs. Nicola Maria Vitola

      Â«I’ve applied for discharge. They’ve told me they’ll accept my application but with certain conditions.»

      Â«What conditions?»

      Â«They want me to pay something. A sort of penalty.»

      Â«How much?»

      Â«The equivalent of 24 thousand euros in dollars.»

      Â«Well, you’ve got it, haven’t you?»

      Â«I’ve invested in securities in the United States, it’s money that is tied-up. I haven’t got the amount they want, here.»

      Melania is upset by this request. It’s not decorous for a man to ask his woman for money. She’s not used to it, because although she can remember many shortcomings of her former husband, he always provided for his family.

      She never lacked anything while she lived with her first husband.

      A little alarm bell rings faintly in her brain, but her heart overrides the doubts that are surfacing. Because he’s also clever at brushing them aside.

      Â«I don’t know if I’ll be able to get that amount together» Melania says, already starting to regret her caution because she has some money put aside, more than the amount John needs.

      Â«Don’t do it, my darling, if it’s a problem. I feel rotten asking you to do this. It’s not right. I have enough savings for both of us in my US accounts. It’s the man who should always look after his woman! Forget what I said. We’ll find another solution. I’ll stay here a bit longer and we’ll postpone meeting for a year until I’m discharged.»

      Â«A year?». Melania is appalled at the prospect of waiting another year to be able to embrace John. No, she can’t wait that long. Because he writes to her assiduously, intense words full of emotion. He tells her how much he loves her, how lonely he feels laying in his bed and hugging his cold pillow; every night he dreams of kissing her and making love to her, then in the morning waking up leaves his soul empty and sad.

      So, Melania gives in. She dips into her savings and transfers some money by Western Union. John collects it and disappears. The great love affair ends overnight.

      John doesn’t really exist. The person writing to Melania is a 23-year-old Nigerian. He’s part of a gang of crooks who split the loot between them after each romance scam⁴.

      When Melania contacts the police, they tell her she is the third woman from Rimini to be scammed in a few months. But that’s small consolation to her. As soon as she can she insults the so-called John (online again) and calls him a thief and a scammer. He answers that he gave her what she was looking for and suggests she join him in Nigeria to have some “fun”. Melania calls him an “animal” and ends all contact with him for ever.

      No dream could finish in a worse manner. Poor Melania. She’s upset about the money - yes - but even more about having fallen for a scam which, with hindsight, seems so obvious to her. «I really am stupid!» she tells herself every morning as she looks in the mirror.

      She began treatment because she didn’t know what else to do. She closed her Facebook profile. The psychologist told her to avoid the computer and start going for long bike rides again like she used to when she was young, to enrol in a club for environmentalists, artists or whatever she liked, to leave the virtual world alone and get out and meet real people.

      Luciana

      When Luciana reads the friend request on Facebook, intrigued she thinks “A Frenchman? He’s not bad actually!”

      The man immediately tells her he’s a widower, like Luciana, and he makes a date to chat online with her the following evening.

      She’s a widow, he’s a widower. They’re the same age, both 50 with children. This is how their daily online meetings begin. A very pleasant date for the woman who becomes fond of Vincent (this is the name the self-styled French widower gives her).

      According to Luciana’s tale their date every evening becomes pleasantly unavoidable. The messages he writes are always very polite, he sends her kisses and little hearts, and he also sends a few photos with and without his children. Luciana does the same as she falls in love like a teenager.

      Â«It felt like I was reliving the now forgotten feelings of my youth. He used to send me words of love that I’d never even read in books. In the end I was completely off my head, to the point that I was unable to tear myself away from my mobile or my computer»⁵.

      Departure for Ivory Coast

      Let’s be clear in our minds that Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, are almost always involved in any fake love stories, because these are the places where the swindlers live, and they need to have the money sent there. Our dear Vincent warns Luciana he is about to leave for Ivory Coast for his work as an art dealer. But this is wonderful news for her. Once he has finished his African trip to buy inlaid wooden masks, he will return to France, but not without first stopping off in Italy to embrace his beautiful lover from Rimini.

      How exciting! The dream is coming true. Luciana starts to fantasize about their meeting at the airport. Her holding a notice on which she will have written “VINCENT” in big letters. Him, handsome and elegant, with his suitcase labelled Abidjan, and sunglasses; perhaps a small souvenir for her or her child.

      Luciana can’t wait, and she begins organising all the details of her welcome for Vincent. “Shall I make a banner to put up in the hallway at home? Perhaps not, it’s silly.”

      She doesn’t want to seem too taken and treat him as if he were the only man on earth. Much better to think about more concrete things like a special dinner, with all her best dishes: saffron-flavoured lasagne, blueberry tart, a good Italian wine. Everything must be simple, but perfect, to welcome the man who is going to change the course of her life. Luciana can’t wait to embrace him. She takes up going to the gym again, she lunches on salad and mozzarella. She wants to lose two or three kilos in the time she has left before she meets Vincent.

      Luciana becomes more beautiful and her friends notice this. Her eyes sparkle as she tells her story, how lucky she has been to have met a special man on Facebook. A few of her friends speak of caution: «Be careful with social media! Things are not always what they seem!» But Luciana barely listens. She expected these warnings and doesn’t take heed. Her happiness springs from having met the man of her life, and her friends’ gossip will not ruin it for her.

      But one day she receives bad news that dampens her contentment, that feeling of being lucky, privileged almost by fate. Vincent sends her a message from Ivory Coast asking her for help. He’s desperate. His briefcase has been stolen and with it his wallet and credit card, his mobile phone and all the money he had with him. What’s more, the thieves chased him by car and while he was trying to get away from them he ran over an 8-year old child who was seriously injured and is now in hospital. At this point, Vincent risks prison if he doesn’t immediately pay 2500 euros for medical treatment.

      The fog begins to clear in Luciana’s mind

      Many women would have paid, just as they pay in other Romance Scams, but Luciana starts hearing little alarm bells ringing, and she begins asking things, asking, asking: a photo of the run-over child, his name and details, the address and bank coordinates of the hospital where the money is to be transferred.

      Vincent is a little offended by her mistrust. He tells her so. Then he patiently explains that the hospital does not accept bank transactions from Europe. The only way to pay is by Money transfer.

      The fog clears in Luciana’s brain