The Dating Detectives - The Rental Car Robbery

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

This week, Rachel shares the story of a whirlwind vacation romance that seemed almost too good to be true. What starts as a spontaneous Las Vegas fling quickly feels like something out of a rom-com when Rachel meets a charming stranger who insists on paying for everything—from luxury hotel stays to dinners and weekend getaways. But when she agrees to let him borrow a rental car for "just a few days," the fairytale begins to unravel. As missed texts turn into excuses and a simple favor spirals into a costly mess, Rachel finds herself uncovering a pattern that suggests her experience may not have been as unique as she thought. Are you in the Chicago, Tampa, or Orlando area and want to come see us live?! Get your tickets at the links below:7/16 in Chicago: https://tickets.thedentheatre.com/event/dating-detectives-llpj8q?utm_source=performer&utm_medium=performerlink&utm_campaign=datingdetectives8/5 in Orlando: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/48863575/the-dating-detectives-live-orlando-funny-bone-comedy-club-orlando8/6 in Tampa: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/35010834/the-dating-detectives-live-tampa-funny-bone-comedy-club-tampaClick here to join our Patreon! For only $5 a month you will get 2 extra episodes a month, monthly virtual live events, and access to our community page. And now for $9 a month you can get all of that, plus ad free episodes!If you've been dogfished and want to share your story on the show, email [e-mail] or contact us through our website using this linkThis episode is brought to you by Quince. Give your wardrobe an upgrade with premium-quality essentials—without the luxury markup. Head to quince.com/datingdetectives for free shipping and 365-day returns.***The following Program contains names, places and events that have been anonymized or fictionalized for the purposes of protection and safety. The following Program is provided for entertainment purposes only and any commentary from the hosts are strictly conjecture and should not be held as making any definitive statements about the truth or identity of any particular individuals or circumstances.If you or a loved one are involved in an abusive relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for support.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following program contains names, places, and events that have been anonymized or fictionalized for the purposes of protection and safety. The following program is provided for entertainment purposes only, and any commentary from the hosts are strictly conjecture and should not be held as making any definitive statements about the truth or identity of any particular individuals or circumstances. If you or a loved one are involved in an abusive relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-723 for support. Good morning. Happy dating detectives Monday. I love how many people comment and say that saying happy dating detectives Monday, like makes their week. Because it's a holiday every week. Everybody gets so excited. They're like, oh my God, what kind of shit show do you have for us today?

Oh, no. Well, we do have a shit show today. Rachel is our guest today. And she is a good example of someone who went through an experience and is like, oh, hold my beer. Like, give me the microphone. I need to spread the word. You'll hear obviously from her. But I'm really glad that she chose to increase the reach of her story here because she's posted online.

It's one of those stories where the relationship itself really doesn't get out of the dating stage. Like, it's pretty quick. And yet the damage is long lasting. Yeah. It's one of those things that you just can't get away from and it sucks because it feels like a scarlet letter almost, one of those types. You know what I mean? It's very frustrating. You're going to be frustrated.

It's got some financial scam situation. So let's let her tell the rest of the story. But for shorter business, we have shows, more shows. In Tampa, Orlando. I'm so excited for you guys to come here. Are you excited to come to Florida? I am beyond excited, especially. I know we talked about it a little last week,

but I just can't stop saying how great Chicago was. Everyone we met was. Oh, my God, isn't it amazing? It's a delightful. My new favorite city, new favorite city. And I love everybody who came to the show. It was so awesome. I know everybody says the Midwest is.

nice, but truly the Den Theater, the staff was so sweet. Everyone we met was just so sweet. And you guys were so fun and involved. We gave everybody red flags. So obviously when you feel like this red flag, you can wave your red flag. It was so interactive and it was funny. Like we would and somebody would be telling a story and you'd see all these red flags shoot up. Like, oh yeah. So this guy started talking and then all the red flags were. It was funny. So Orlando and Tampa is coming up. And if you want to tell your story, well, obviously if you want to come, there's tickets in the show notes, so get your tickets. But if you want to come and come on stage and share a story, it does not have to be a super long dogfish story. It can be a crazy dating story. We just want to talk

to y'all and hear your stories, but we need you to submit them ahead of time. So you know the drill. If you have a story, email, investigate at the datingdetectivespodcast.com. If you're in Orlando or you're in Tampa and you want to chat with us. We want to hear from you. So look at the dates and the info in the show notes. We cannot wait to meet you in Florida. And as always, I know you guys are good about this, but tell us where else we should go. Because these shows are going pretty well. I think we should do more. A lot of people like, come to this state, come to the state, come to Texas, all these different places. So I think that's really neat. So thank you so, so much. And I think let's get into it. Let's let Rachel tell her story. You guys are going to cringe.

Hi, Rachel. Hi, Rachel. Thank you for being here. Hi. We're so glad that you're here. We would like to give you the floor. Will you please take us on your journey? Yes.

My name is Rachel. I live in San Diego. So basically, me and my two best friends, Olivia and Brooke, we decided to go on a trip to Zion National Park in Utah. And while we were there, we thought we may as well. We have this rental car go for a day trip to Vegas. It's not too far of a drive. And we're always down for something spontaneous.

So we did on our last full. day. We packed up the car and we drove down to Vegas. We just planned on going to a day party. And then one of my friends was sober. So she was going to drive us home that night just in time for our other friend to get on her flight the next morning back home. While we were there, it was so much fun. We had a great time at the pool party. Went down to the casino after, had a couple more drinks, just having a great time. And then as we were on our way out of the casino, my friend Brooke ran into this guy that she knew from previously. While she was talking to him, I noticed that the friend he was with was sitting at the slot machine. He kind of looked cute. I decided I was going to go over and introduce myself.

I did that. His name was Logan. I introduced myself. I'm sitting with him. He offers me a drink or two. We're having a great time. We hit it off right away. And then he's asking how long I'm going to be there for. How long does he get to spend with me? And I was like approximately 10 minutes before we got to go. And then he started offering, you know, well, you should stay. And I was like a can. My friends got her flight tomorrow. And then he's offering to pay for her a new flight. And then I was like, well, we don't have a hotel. And then he's offering to pay for a hotel.

And then... Oh, my. Usually that's not something that I would accept that kind of offer. But I don't know. Brooke knew the guy he was with. I thought it was chill. We all kind of looked at each other like, fuck it. Let's do it.

Should we? Yeah. Wow. Can I ask like how old are y'all at this point? You're obviously, I assume, single. Yes. All of us were single at this time. I was 27.

Brooke was 28 and Olivia is 26 at this point And these guys How does she know this guy? She met him back home at an event I guess he had come to our town And I guess they had the little fling That was casual but nothing crazy came from it

So It wasn't like a random person friend It was like a past hookup That makes sense Yeah but nothing like too serious or long term or anything Like it was like Oh I know you I remember you from that one night at the club type of situation.

So yeah. And then after he offered to pay for those things, we felt like, you know, why not? She doesn't have work for a few more days. She doesn't have to get back to the city right away. So let's just stay. And so we do. This is like so Vegas just to be like, you know what? That's what I was thinking in the moment too?

I was like, what's the worst could happen? Like this is Vegas coded. We'll have so much fun. We're all very smart girls. We're not going to have anything crazy happen. Yeah. Exactly. So we do spend the night together, the whole group of us. He ends up booking us two really nice rooms for us all to share. Just spoiling us to the nines. Food, anything we wanted ordering it right away for us. The moment I said I wanted something, he was like on his phone ordering it. And then I was like, oh shit, we need toothbrushes, toothpaste. We don't have any of this stuff because we weren't prepared to stay the night. So we all go to CVS. And again, he offers to pay for everything. He's like, go down whatever aisles if you want some alcohol for tonight. If you want. snack, something for your drive home tomorrow, like whatever you want, get it, it's on me. And I mean, who wouldn't want to hear that and go for a little shop?

Yeah, thank you, fella. I appreciate this. Right. And there was no feeling of like, I'm going to pay for this stuff, but you better spend the night with me. Like, he was nice and gentlemanly. No, nothing at all. He was flirting with me, but I didn't feel any type of pressure.

Like, if I got all of that and then I was like, you know what? I don't really feel great. Like, I'm going to actually head home tonight. We're going to hit the road. I didn't feel like he would have any issue. you with that. He was so nonchalant, but still flirty. He made sure that his interest was showing, but without, like, feeling pressured at all. Because I get the icks so fast if someone makes me feel like pressured into anything. And I did not feel that way at all with him. So yeah,

we spend the night. We don't go out out, but we like hit a couple bars. We walk around Fremont. We're drinking the whole time. And me and him spent the night together in one of the hotel rooms. it was honestly so nice. Like I get the ick when I think about it now because of what I'll share. But in that moment, it was so romantic. He got us a room with like a big jacuzzi and he got all these bath supplies from the CVS and like just some of this whole really nice evening for the two of us. And it was great. I had a great time. And I was really excited because during that we discovered that we didn't live too far from each other. Me living in San Diego and him living in L.A., not far at all. So, and like usually that doesn't happen when you meet someone on vacation. I feel like usually you

somebody it's got one night or one vacation fling and then you never hear from them again but we were so close so excited i was like i get to keep getting to know you and keep getting spoiled yes yes you're so right it was going to be great what did he do for a living so he sold electronics and appliances buying them from like auctions and stuff and then fixing them up and reselling them for more than he paid is what he was doing for his job he so he was entrepreneurial didn't really work for anybody kind of worked for himself. The next day we left, or like they were leaving, we were leaving. He like offered to fill up our rental car with gas too, just everything you could think of that he could possibly paid for. He was offering to pay for. Get it, guy. Yeah. I know. It was so nice at the time.

And then we go back to Zion National Park, enjoy the rest of our stay, head home. Once I get home, we and him were still talking. He's not being on FaceTime calls or phone calls, so it was mostly just texting, which I didn't love. I do prefer a good FaceTime or phone call, but we start dating-ish. We're not like official or anything, but the intention from what he was saying was definitely we're getting to know each other with the intention of dating. And I was very honest from the jump that my last relationship wasn't so great. And I'm definitely not looking for anything casual or wishy-washy where I feel insecure in the relationships. Like, I want to put that on the table right now that I'm looking for something serious. And he agreed that he was looking for the same thing.

thing. How long had it been since your last relationship ended? My last relationship formally ended in like 2022, the summer of 2022, but then we kind of stayed connected for another year until 2023. So I would say that it was about like two and a half, three years that I had been single for before meeting him. That's a while, yeah. It had been a while. Yeah. And it was not a good breakup, the last one. So I felt like I had to come into that so honest with him. And it was so nice to finally hear from a guys that they are looking for that because I feel like usually when you tell a guy that they're just like, okay, I'm out of here. I'm not looking for the same thing. Or they lie to you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Aren't actually. So we start talking about coming to see him,

me coming to visit him, and, you know, we're getting to know each other. He tells me about his family. He has two kids. Surprisingly for me, that's not something I care about. I didn't, didn't bother me, but he told me about them. He was very honest, which I appreciated that he let me know that right away. He told me that they were two separate moms, one of them being a one-night stand. And the baby was very young, I should say. He was like two years old, I think. So he was like, that was a one-night stand. I'm not like involved with the mom or whatever. Told me he hadn't been in a serious relationship since high school. And he like, it's kind of just telling me exactly what I was telling him, but in a different font. Like, same thing. I haven't been in a relationship

for so long. And like, I'm also looking for something serious and meaningful with you. Wait, can I hear more? about I got to hear more about his kids. So do all the kids live in the same city as him? Was he like cute dad energy when he talked about them? One of them he said lived in the area with his with the mom primarily and then he just had the kid on weekends. The other one lived a little bit further away and he definitely was giving like cutesy dad got to go to his football games, his basketball games. Whenever we would go out shopping, he would be in the kids section looking for stuff for his sons as well, which I thought was really admirable. And he seemed to be a very present great father,

which I found very attractive. So I end up going to visit him two weeks after I got back from my vacation. He books me a train ticket because it's just the easiest, quickest way to get to him. I don't have a car myself. So he books me a train ticket. I head down when I get there. He suggests that we rent a car for our weekend so we can go around. He said his car was like, I don't know, whether it was like a tire was stopped. He had issues with this car. Something was wrong with this car and he put in drive it. And so he says, suggest that we rent a card. No problem to me until he says that his license is suspended. And so he's wondering if I can go under my name. Oh, in the moment, I didn't think it was a big deal because I was like, you know, everything so far had been so good. And like, everything was

and he's been paying for things. And he's been spending. So yeah. I was like, yeah, for sure. Like, what's the big deal putting it on my name? And we like went on to the website. He said it was something to do speeding, he made it seem very casual. And like, I don't know about, but in San Diego, you can get your license suspended for pretty much anything if the cop's having a bad day. So in my mind, I just made it seem like less than it was. And he made it seem like less than it was. I'm like, oh, you know, he's probably like one too many speeding tickets. His license got suspended. It's not a big deal. No problem. Like, I'll rent the car. So we go on to the Hertz website and everything, checking the price so he can give me the money in advance. And like this was his suggestion to do.

So I felt very comfortable doing it. So we go. We rent the car. I put it under my name. name and I obviously put it on my credit card too and we use the car. We have a great weekend. His apartment was full of all those appliances that he was selling. So he suggested that we go stay at a nice hotel instead, have a nice romantic overwater stay. And I'm a Pisces. I love being by the water. So that was just music to my ears. I was like, lovely, let's do that. So he booked us this really nice hotel over the water with again another jacuzzi. And he was like, we'll never have a hotel room without a jacuzzi with me. Okay. So yeah. books us that just treats the whole weekend.

Again, just how it was that first weekend. You know, food orders whenever I wanted something to eat. I once mentioned I wanted some fruit. And then the next thing I know fruit was showing up at our hotel is like, what the heck? We went shopping. We went to eat. We went to the casino again and just had a really great time. And then Sunday rolled around where I had to head back home so I could go back to work on Monday.

And I'm getting ready to pack up my stuff and, you know, suggest we go drop off the car before we hit the train. station or just drop it off and he's like oh you're coming back next week to visit me again do you think that i could just use the car for these errands i have to like move this tv whatever wait but is he even allowed to drive it not technically technically no but again i was just like so blinded by just like the exciting weekend i had wanting to come i wanted to come back the next weekend to have that same week like you know i wanted to do it again so i was like sure yeah no problem we can do that. Let's see how much it's going to charge for the extension. And then if you can send me the money, blah, blah, blah. And he did. We checked how much it would be to extend it till that next weekend. He sent me the money right away for it. And then I left. He dropped me off at the train station and I left the car with him. I get back. We're talking. It's good. His texting's not the besting is not the best of it's good. His texting's not the best of it's not. It's not texting is slow. I was just like, ugh, this sucks.

But even made me want to go back more so that I could skip the phone communication and just be with him to talk and get to know him more. And I was still so excited about the weekend in Vegas and then the weekend at his house that I was just so hyper-focused on having that experience again. That's always so tricky when they're texting communication is way worse than their in-person communication because you're like, I don't know, it's such a little game that it plays with your brain. Oh yeah Yeah

It's the push and pull of like Wait it's making me more attracted to them Yeah Because of it And yet you're still mad about it No it's like so common I feel like That's nice to hear because I felt so like Oh my gosh why did it like after the fact

Like oh gosh Why was I so blinded It's so I mean how often do we hear like Oh I'm just a bad texture Like oh I just am like not on my phone That much and it just it almost makes you want Them more Because then you're like

Maybe I can make them a bed Better text her exactly. I could fix him. You're going to like me so much that you're going to want to text me, or at least that's how it should be. But yeah, so I extend the car for him, go home. His texting's like, eh, but it's still, it's not terrible. It's just like I would have appreciated it a little bit more, especially after having those two weekends together. Time goes on.

We're planning the next visit. He's not like, again, being as responsive. I end up not coming back that next weekend. I couldn't come. It wasn't his doing. He did have all of it set up. for me to come. I can't really fault him for that weekend, me not coming. I couldn't get off of work. I couldn't go. But then I have to return the car by that day because that's when I extended it too.

So I'm letting him know, can you please just drop off the car. He's telling me he can't return it unless I'm there because then I'll get in, like, they'll find me for having someone else drive the car, which they would know because he would be the one dropping it off and manipulated it to seem like, I can't. You have to keep it rented or extend it until you come back so that you can return it. And so send it again. We plan another visit. So then I end up going back to visit him a few weeks later. This trip, it was definitely different.

He didn't care so much now that his apartment was full of things and kind of a mess. It was all good if we stayed there this time. There wasn't a hotel bucked. And like, I don't need that. I want to preface. Like, I totally fine. If people like my apartment's not always spotless clean, that is not an issue to me. But obviously the expectation had been set.

He told me that any time there would always be, you know, a jacuzzi stay. And I was like, okay. So it's fine. but weird to switch up like that. So we stay at his apartment. We don't even go out as often this time. Like we're really just inside watching movies, not doing too much. I started noticing that he goes to the bathroom for long periods of time when we're at his house.

He's got IBS for sure. Oh, yeah, definitely IBS or something. I hope it's IBS and not like drugs or something. Well, I was, that's what I started to think after the fact. I was like, oh, dear, like, what the heck have I gotten myself into? But even when he would come out, we'd be laying in the best. watching a movie and he's always playing these freaking casino games on his phone, which I never noticed because we were actually actively out doing things so he couldn't.

But the moment that we were just casually at his house, yeah, a lot of trips to the bathroom that lasted quite some time playing these casino games on his phone. But then when I would talk to him, he was like responsive. He was actively listening to what I was saying. So it was not like he was not listening or not conversing with me and just checked out on his phone. He would just be like on it, but like talking to me. And I was like, I don't love that. But I was just like mental noting things at this point.

Because it's still early. You're still just making those mental notes. Are these casino games gambling games or are they just silly little games? No, I think they were actually gambling games. I don't play any of those. So I don't know for sure. But from the looks of it, they looked like those like, I get ads for them all the time of those slot machines where it's like you can win. Like you're guaranteed to win this much money if you put $20 in all of those kinds of apps.

But I didn't look closely or ask specifically what they were. But I do think they were probably real games. He doesn't strike me as the type who I met in Vegas to be like fake gambling, if that makes sense. Okay, sure. So his attitude kind of changed a little this trip. He's a little more comfortable, a little more familiar. Yeah, definitely being more comfortable. Still cute.

Still like his, the way he spoke was still very flirty, endearing. Like he was saying all the right things. Like he called, oh gosh, he would call me pretty lady. And I hate that. I just hate those two words now, but he would call me pretty lady with every sentence he said. and for some reason that, like, I was like, oh, you were just in the Boston for so long and I was so annoyed, but then you came out and you said this nice little thing, and you called me pretty ladies yet. No one has ever called me pretty lady. I don't know, maybe it was the

lady and it felt like, I don't know. It sounds so really that I'm saying it out loud, but it's cute. It's good to hear the little things that made you like flutter because it's easy looking back at these to be like, oh, he was gross, but it's like, no, you were, you were falling for him and there's, he was obviously doing many things aside from paying for stuff, like just his personality sounds like it was charming. Just really easy to talk to. And I think I'm typically, I can be quite reserved with guys and anxious to share my full personality a lot of the time

because I am very out there and outgoing when my full personality is showing. And I think it can intimidate guys a lot of the time. So I'm very used to holding back. And with him, immediately I felt like I could just be myself. I wasn't like thinking before I spoke. I was just letting myself be. So I feel like that was a new and refreshing feeling. that I was really attracted to with him.

So those things like calling me pretty lady and being engaging in the conversation was new for me unfortunately. But yeah. For a lot of people, unfortunately. It's really. Yeah, it is unfortunate. It's really sad actually.

But yeah, his energy was definitely different, but still his words were really good. And he wasn't not showing up in all those ways. Like he's making sure like if there was something I wanted to eat or if I was hungry, he's checking in on those things. Like making sure I was like as comfortable as possible. without really caring about the environment we were in. And then again, same thing happened.

Sunday rolled around. It was time for me to leave and he had the same excuse. And this time I was a lot more hesitant. I didn't really want to leave the car with him, especially because I was noticing those few things in his apartment, like the long trips to the bathroom, the casino. I was just like, ugh, like I don't know if I should be doing this, but I was like in this really awkward situation in my head,

like kind of that like people pleasing mindset of I don't want to upset you because I am still interested and intrigued with like continuing to get to know you, even though there's been these like few things that I'm unsure about. And I don't know if me saying no or putting my foot down will like intervene with that. And unfortunately, I didn't follow my gut and I let him keep the car again. How did he specifically ask you if he could keep the car longer? It was the exact same way. He was like, do you think I could keep the car for this extra week?

I have this, this and this. My son has this football game on this day that I'm going to take him to. And I could really use the car. far for that. And he would always say, if not, it's okay. I can ask my mom or my sister to help me out. But then, I don't know. I wanted, again, like, to be helpful for him. I wanted to see where the relationship would go. And so I said yes, because I felt like it was the best decision in terms of the relationship, probably not the best decision for me, myself personally, but yeah. And he's still paying you back for it. Yeah. So, well, this extension, he paid, yes, the second extension. He paid for the first

booking, the first extension. And then this is the second extension, which he did pay for. he sent me the money right away before I had left. I think if he hadn't, maybe I wouldn't have left the car. I would have ensured that I had the money or it was returned. But he gave me the money. And then I left. This time around when I left, communication is a lot worse. Like days without responding to me.

Oh, no. Days without responding. And I'm like. And he has the car. And you know he's on his phone all the time. And he's on his phone all the time because I saw him on his phone all the and I sent that to him to our member in our text conversations. I was just like,

Is everything okay? Because you were on your phone when we were together. So I just, I don't understand why you can't respond. And he'd be like, I'm so sorry. I was doing this with my, like, it always was tied to his family members in hindsight. I'm like thinking how he always tied when he wasn't responsive to being with his sons or like out of football game or out of basketball game. And so how can I argue that or continue being upset when he's like, well, I'm so sorry. I was with my son.

I can't be like too bad. You can't ask for his full attention in that regard. Totally. Makes you the bad guy. Yeah. I love that. podcast is brought to you by Quince because I'm all about finding the best pieces that are ones you wear on repeat. I'm not a one and done person. I want something comfortable, versatile,

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So energy's way off, texting way off. I'm getting panicked. Less about the relationship at this point and more about the car because I'm like, oh shit, this thing needs to be returned. He's not responding enough to even feel like I can make plans to go back for another visit to go return the car even. So I'm getting nervous and I'm telling him like, it's okay like I'm even saying like if you're not interested in me anymore that's okay but we need to return the car like we have to we have to figure out the rent on you like no oh my gosh I can't believe you would think that of course I still like you I'm supposed to just been busy like all these things are going on I 100% still want to see you let me know what days work for you and then I would tell him and then again he would go two or three days without responding and then the time came with that the car needed to be returned and I was not hearing from him so the car company starts reaching out to me they're like your car is overdue

you either need to extend your rental or return the vehicle. And so I'm telling him that, but then I'm not getting a straight forward response. He's telling me he'll take care of it or he'll book me a trip to come see him when we can return it. But I'm just like, I don't want anything to go wrong with this rental. So I quietly extend the rental online myself. And I don't tell him. I tell him that it's still overdue and that we need to return the car. But so that I don't get dinged with a crazy fee, I'm just going to quickly extend it and make sure he pays me that when he pays me in general for whatever.

remaining balance there is, he again keeps just giving me the run around that he's going to return it or he's handled it or he's working on it. He's handling it. And then I'm like, okay, well, what about the fee for the extra days that it's not been returned for? He's like, I'll send it to you. Don't worry. Not a dollar will touch your account of your own money. I promise you. I just kept thinking, like, why would you leave that car with him? Like, why did you think that that was okay? Why, like, what if he's been in an accident with it? What if the car has been damaged? Like, I have no clue what's even happened with this car. Like all of the bad possibility started rushing through my head of like when I'm not hearing from him and the car company's reaching out to me saying that they need

the car back, I'm like, oh my gosh, did he get pulled over and they saw that his license was suspended and he's in jail? Or did he, you know, wreck the car and like ditch it somewhere? Did he give it to somebody else to drive? And that's why he can't return it. And he's giving me the right. Like, every possible outcome or other situations that it could have been ran through my head. And I was just honestly pretty down on myself. Like my two friends who I was with, they heard the thought. that I had where I was just like I'm such an idiot for that like I can't believe and I don't feel this way now but like in that moment I was like oh maybe I do somewhat feel this way now but I really heavily felt like I was really really really stupid honestly for just getting myself into that

situation to begin with and I felt a lot of shame I didn't tell anybody besides the two friends that were had met him for the longest time didn't tell my mom didn't tell my family I didn't tell anybody because I was afraid of what they would say or like the tough love that they would give me. I just felt like super ashamed and disappointed in myself because I am smarter than that and I know that I'm smarter than that and I know that leaving a rental car with just leaving a rental car even with somebody with a license that on your credit card isn't the wisest choice. But then adding on the layer of the fact that I knew his license was suspended definitely wasn't my sharpest moment and I think I was feeling a lot of that at the time.

And so time's going by. The time that I extended it to surpassing. and then I'm getting more text messages from the car company saying that I need to return it. And then eventually I get a letter from them in the email saying, this is very overdue. You have to return the car. Otherwise, it will be repossessed and you'll get charged a repossession fee. In addition, you may be banned from renting further with us, banned from our company.

And so I sent him that thinking, if he sees this, surely he's going to get it together and return this car and work with me here. And he tells me that he's returned it. And so I'm like, okay, maybe like they like, you know, maybe their system like auto sent this. I don't know. Again, I'm like making it make more sense in my head. Also, wasn't the whole thing that if he returns it without you, you're going to get another penalty. So he's like, I know. Well, then he said that there's like after hours drop off where you can leave it in the parking lot with the keys inside

and lock the vehicle. And I'm just like, why didn't you tell me that? I did we do that in the first place. But obviously now I'm like, oh, because you want it to keep using the car. So he tells me he's returned it. He told me that he handled it with his sister. Also, he's not responsive as in the relationship aspect at this point. I feel like it's important to highlight. Like, we were obviously just communicating about the car because he was barely even communicating about that. So he was kind of ghosting a little bit with the exception of the car. He was looking ghosting me even about the car, but then I don't know, I guess felt some moral battle to get back to me about the car. I don't even know why he chose to, I don't know. I'm very confused even now.

But he's not less pretty lady conversation. Well, no, he's still like in all his messages calling me pretty lady being flirty, being like, I've handled it, don't worry. I'm being flirty, but I'm not. I'm just like, okay, we need to deal with this. All of my communication became more straightforward just about the car, and I was less, I didn't want to see him anymore at that point. There was a point when I was like waiting for the money or asking him for the money for that last extension,

that I was being kinder just to kind to see if I could get some give from him. But no, he was like definitely trying to ghost me, I think, until I was like they're going to repossess the car. And then he said he handled it. And so, yeah, he says he returns it. A few days goes on. I'm not hearing from them either, which is very important to know. He said he returned it.

I didn't get any more phone calls from them, no email, follow-ups, nothing. So I was like, okay, like, he probably returned it. And I was checking my credit card statement for the final charge. Nothing came through yet, which I was like, I feel like they would have charged me if you returned it, but I don't know. I also hadn't really rented cars before this. I'm not familiar with the whole process or how the billing goes at the end. But all signs seem to say that he did return the car.

And so I'm relaxing a little bit. And I remember vividly, I was sitting right here actually in this in that box. getting ready to go to my friend's house for our friends miss and then i get a phone call from a la number and i thought maybe this is him maybe he got a new phone maybe that's why he's not being so responsive maybe he changed his number i don't know so i pick up the phone call thinking it's going to be him and it's someone saying oh hi this is so-and-so from this towing company i've been sent from to repossess the card oh my god if you can't it's okay like we can get in without the key but then you will get charged for like a key replacement fee and I'm like you're lying there's no way

there is no way and so I have to tell the guy the truth I'm like sir I'm so sorry unfortunately I'm not there I did let somebody else drive the car let me try to call him and see if he can come down and give you the key can you please send me a photo of where you're at with the car as well because I was like I need evidence for where this was found because he told me you returned it oh my god text him and I was like what are you doing You didn't return the car, you liar. They're downstairs right now, repossessing the car. And he doesn't respond at first. I'm blowing up his phone.

He's not answering. And then finally he texts me and he's like, it's done. I handled it. And I was like, you're lying. Like they're repossessing it right now. This is not handling it. Having it get to a point of repossession is not handling it. You lied to me.

You told me that you returned it. You didn't return it. And so I was like, you need to call me back. I need an explanation for this. And I also need to know how you plan on repaying the rest of this. Because that was like a full week at least since he told me he returned it. So there was all that overage that was being charged to my card. And he was like, yeah, I'll call you back.

I'm at my son's basketball game. Of course he didn't call me back. And then I finally get the final charge hitting my statement. They charged me $5,000 for this card. Oh, my God. Not only did he not return it when he said he did. So I paid for the extra extension. That was one bill that he didn't pay for yet because I did that without him even knowing.

so that I would thought I would be protected. Then the final charge for all those extra days added on, all of the toll charges he incurred that I was not even aware about during. Toil charges. Oh, my God. He was taking tolls. He was taking the fast lane, I think, everywhere he could, because there was $500 just in toll fees.

Oh, my God. So I get a huge charge also banned from Hearst as well. They let me know that I'm banned. And what I didn't know is tolls you also pay separately. So there's the charge and then you have to manually pay that toll fee yourself. Otherwise, they charge interest. I couldn't let that happen. So I paid it for him so that I wasn't getting charged interest.

And then added that to the balance that he owed me. I start texting him for the payment. He is telling me he's going to send it. He's just sorting out the account to send it from. And so I give him like two or three days. And then I follow up and he says that his Venmo account is locked because of a transaction that he did that got flagged. But that he's like talking to their like, resolution team and they're going to be unlocking it. It's no problem. And then he says that they tell him it's

not going to be unlocked for X amount of weeks. And I was like, that doesn't work for me. My credit card bill is due in 20 days, max. Like that's the latest. We got cash app. We got wires. We got options, buddy. Figure this out. But he says that that's his only way he can send it and that it's locked. And so I'm like, okay, I don't know. I didn't know what I could do in that situation besides just like hope for the best that he's going to send it to me and keep following up on it. So I keep following up on. it and he's giving me the runaround just telling me like you know he's still waiting for it to get unlocked and then the day comes that it's supposed to be unlocked and he's telling me that he is waiting for a deposit then and the story's changing and this is all text messages so i'm seeing him

get caught up in these lies of like what's actually happening with the payment and so i'm telling him but you first you said it was your account was locked and now you're saying you're waiting for this deposit i just really want to make sure that i get this money like my credit card bill is due at this time i really don't want to have to pay the interest this is giving me a lot of anxiety or making me really anxious. And also he's still trying to call me pretty lady and flirt through all of this. And I'm telling him, like, I'm not like, you need, bro, please. And then finally, there comes a day where I get a little bit less kind.

And I'm just like, listen, like, I need you to send me this money. If you don't send me this money, I'm going to post you in the local, are we dating the same guy group? And warn people about you. And he gets really defensive. He's like, I told you, you would not be paying a penny for this. I'm going to send you the money. I just need you to be patient.

I'm being honest with you. I'm just trying to figure out like this, this and this. And I'm like, it just doesn't feel that way. You need to put yourself in my shoes and understand that I just got charged this large sum of money. They're not responsive. And it's really hard to believe you. And he's like, I know I can totally understand why you feel that way, but I'm telling you I am going to pay for it. I'm just figuring this out. I can't control that this thing got locked or this, this and this. And I was just like, okay, you keep saying that, but yet I did get charged for it. So even though you still say that I'm not going to be paying for it, I feel like I'm paying for it right now. And he just keeps telling me to be patient. and then I was like, okay, I need you to promise me consistent communication.

I want daily check-ins on the status of all of this because like the only way I'm going to feel like somewhat okay. And he agrees to it, but then goes four days without responding. So on the fourth day, I said, I'm posting in the, are we dating the same guy group? And at this point, I'm like, okay, if I post him, I'm probably not, he's not repaying me likely after I post this. But at least I can let people know what he did to me and worn girls in his area in L.A. Wow. So I write up my post. I follow all the group guidelines.

I posted anonymously because they have the feature where you can post anonymously for your protection in these groups. And so I posted anonymously. I kept it as detailed but also as vague as possible if that makes sense. Like all the details about what he did wrong, but vague. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And at first, no comments came through for hours. And I was really anxious after I posted it too because I was just like, it's always scary posting in one of those groups and finding out what this man could possibly be.

And then I see that I got a notification and, oh my gosh, the first one was actually the craziest one too. The first comment was an anonymous comment and it was someone saying I was dealing with him during this time period. He ended up scamming me as well by running up charges on my afterpay account and then leaving me with the bill and not paying me for it. And then what was interesting is in their comment, they were like, yeah, I had a suspicious charge for the airline that my friend flew home with from Vegas. or sorry, she flew from Utah. But the airline that she flew back from, there was a charge for the new flight he booked her. And I immediately was like, oh my gosh, my heart sunk to my stomach.

At that point, I was like, oh, gosh, all of this was a lie. Like none of this was what I thought it was. Immediately all of those red flags that I didn't see before were just coming right front and center. And I was seeing all of it. I was like, oh, my gosh, if that flight was charged on her card, who paid for the toiletries? Who paid for the hotel? Wait, wait, wait. Was it someone?

Oh, God. So you're saying that this person who commented on the Facebook post says, I got a charge from another airline. And you recognize that airline as the one he said he bought for your friend. So he used this person's credit card. Oh my gosh. Exactly that. So I commented back to her and I was just like, girl, if I comment my phone number,

will you please text me? Because I know exactly what that airline charges from. And so she does. I comment my phone number very fast. She texts me. I delete my phone number off of the. the thread and I start talking to this girl and she's telling me her story and she's saying how they were dating. He dipped off in communication around September, which is exactly when I met him in

Vegas. And she tells me that they were dating. She was really enjoying getting to know him. They're both parents and she's a single mom. So they really bonded over that mutual connection of having young children. And I guess when she was explaining it to me, she said that they were hanging out one day and he was trying to buy something and something went wrong with his account. and he was asking her, hey, do you think you could put this on your clarna? I'll send you the payments right away, but my account's just not letting me do it. And I guess she was feeling the same way as me of like, you know, things were so good. I don't know.

I can't speak for her. But the way she said it was like, things were good. She felt comfortable doing so he gave her the money. Yeah. For that first charge. Clarna is the thing, just in case somebody doesn't know, Clarka is that thing. Yeah. So like if I can't afford the sweater, I'll pay it in quarter.

It's $200. Yeah, you could do like $50 every two weeks or whatever. Okay, keep going. So she let to make that purchase and then as the relationship continues progressing, he ends up getting access to the afterpay account and making further purchases. And from what she told me in the beginning, similar to my situation, he was sending her the money right away. So she felt comfortable until it got to the point where he wasn't sending the money right away. And so as we're discussing, she's telling me more about the charges and it is more of the charges that I knew were from us, like the hotels and the toiletries and food on her part. But then more comments start to come in on the Facebook post while I'm talking to her,

unlike raveling all of that, more comments come in about other women who he did the exact same thing with Klarna and after pay accounts. And I'm responding to them the same way, just like, please will you reach out to me? And unfortunately, a lot of the girls were saying how they've left that chapter behind them. It was too draining and too exhausting to try to deal with with him. And that definitely made my heart sink even further because I was like, yeah, like if these girls went through this and it got to a point where they just couldn't even do it anymore, then oh gosh like what am i getting into now i was really upset obviously reading all that and i respected

them i let them know like that's totally fine if you change your mind i would really love to hear from you more because i'm trying to connect all these dots now and figure this all out but despite that even just hearing from this one girl i was like this is enough to know as seeing those comments is enough to know that you are a serial scammer like you're doing this to people he's the afterpay asshole he's the afterpay asshole that's a good way to put it that's my name for him it was really devastating dating honestly because I am a lover girl and so I really did like him a lot. At first I couldn't even process those feelings because I was so worried about the financial aspect of it and about like just getting the car sorted and the car bill. But then when you know these other girls started to

comment and the timelines are kind of overlapping, I was like oh damn. Not only did you scam me and not return this car but you also lied to me about all these other things and so I don't even know how much of this was real. And I honestly just felt like, yeah, devastating. Like my heart just felt broken. Honestly, I wasn't, I didn't love the guy. I wasn't at that point, but I was really, really interested in him and I really liked him. And I opened up to him a lot about my childhood and my life. And I told him why I wasn't in a relationship for so long. Like, I opened up about all those things. And so it just sucked because I wouldn't have liked to share those details with him. It also sucked because like I finally thought I found someone who I could see consistently

and also for being single for so long. And then, And I wasn't like I was casually dating in between either. Like I was damn near celibate, not fully, but I was basically celibate the whole time. And so finally meeting somebody that I felt comfortable sharing my body with and my emotions with and my history, my story, my childhood with. And then losing all that and finding out that it wasn't even really real to begin with. And that I also don't have that person that I can go see anymore. Just really sucked. Like it just, the money aside, I was like, damn, I was really excited to have a little boo to go see and have sleep.

over with and keep getting to know and then it went back to like okay great now I was just feeling ready enough to date again found you and now I'm straight back to like thanks a lot yeah thanks a lot for ruining my life again literally ruined my life ruined my progress but then he finds out about the post so oh no who told him oh my god someone's not a girl's girl no those groups I could have I could I could have a whole podcast on just how I feel about those groups honestly after the fact they're not great as people think that they are. They're not what I thought that they were myself. We've definitely heard stories from people that say,

like, yeah, obviously they helped in some ways and then hurt in other ways. If you want, I know we don't have a separate episode, but what do you mean? Like, what was bad about them for you? I, in the end, got banned for sharing my story about him on there. Theyfully removed my access to protect women in his actual area. Like, I've posted it on my TikTok and like, you know, I'm talking about it with you guys.

And I'm doing what I can to spread away. about him, but being in that local group that he lives in would be the best way to spread awareness about him to make sure that women can see his face and know what he's done. But yeah, they banned me. And the reason is because I mentioned the group's existence in my TikTok when I talked about this. I didn't say anything bad. I just said, oh, I posted about him. Just like I'm telling you guys, I posted about him. Wait, that's crazy. So you mentioned that you posted it on TikTok and they were like, you can't do that. Jeez, McKenzie, we wouldn't be allowed in these groups, would we? We talk about it all the time. Yeah, no, they were like, you can only talk about it.

about the group's existence outside of the group if you're defending it. You don't talk about fight club. There's one rule about fight club. You don't talk about fight club. You don't talk about it. Pretty much. Which like I get it. They want to keep the group safe, but let's be real. Everybody knows about those groups.

So talking about their existence in the way that I was just by saying I posted in it, I didn't think was that big of a deal. And I felt like, you know, you care more about your group's reputation than actually protecting the woman in this area from this harmful man who I have proven is very harmful. Okay. Then this group is maybe not what I thought it was. If anyone listening has been banned from Are We Dating the same guy? Will you share your story and tell us why?

Yeah, I'm curious. Seriously. I know I can't be the only one. Okay, so anyway, you're talking to these girls who have all been scammed. Yeah, and then he finds out about the group. He texts me very vulgar words about how awful I am for posting him and how I should have just been patient. And he doesn't need to pay me back now because I posted him. And I was like, no, no, no, no.

You still owe me this money. Let's not forget that the money's to do with the car, not to do with your reputation or this Facebook group. He's going off on me saying that all I needed to do is be patient, trying to shift all the blame on to me and basically say that I don't need this money. If I'm going to be posting him, then I'm getting the attention I want. And I was like, this isn't about attention. I'm seeing that you've done horrible things to other woman.

Everything you paid for for for me was on the dime of another woman. Yeah. I need you to just pay me back. but then also even as I was saying that to him, I was like, this feels wrong now because are you going to pay me back with one of these women's money? I don't even know how I go about this anymore because I don't know if I can trust where the money is coming from, but I also feel like I don't want to be out thousands of dollars. It was just a really shitty situation.

He ends up saying, you know, if you delete the post, I'll send you the money right away. I don't really believe him, but in my head, I'm like, you know what? Let me follow this. Let me have it in writing, him saying he's going to pay me as soon as I delete the post. I'll delete the post. hopefully he just does it and this can just be like well I was going to repost him regardless but at the time I'm going to tell him we can leave this in the past and go forward and so I delete the post of course he doesn't send me the money I wait a few days I'm way too patient I think than I should be

but I wait a few days I give him a few days give him the benefit of the doubt he doesn't send me the money so I post him again when I post him again my post just disappears it gets reported or the admins deleted it I don't know but usually when your post get flagged just those groups they give you a reason, a feedback reason for what group rule you broke. And there was nothing there. So I was like, weird. Like, I don't know why my post is gone. So I post him again and it gets removed again.

And I'm like weird. Like just so odd. I think that like people, he knows people in those groups for sure who had to have been like reporting the post. Or he like catfished his way into it. Honestly, I would not be surprised. Maybe all that time in the bathroom was who knows what plus getting in on the R&D the same guy groups. But yeah.

My post just keep getting removed. he's not sending the money. He is saying he's working on it. I don't have the post up, so he has no reason to say he's not paying me. We're on good terms. I put in air quotes because how good of terms could it really be in this situation?

But he's saying he's still going to pay me. We're still in communication. So far, despite that initial conversation of him being very angry that I made that initial post, things have kind of simmered down. And he's again back to saying he's going to pay me back. And there's no conversation of him being like, I want to see you again.

like I miss you like there's no he did say at one point during that initial Facebook post and like that huge like conversation we got into where he started off very vulgar and then simmered down as we agreed to delete it and him paying me he did say he's like it really sucks because like that you like you think this of me like those that those comments in that group aren't even true it's just like people trying to bring me down people from my past you don't even know the full story like none of that is true lying to me about all of it and saying it just really sucks because I really did like you and I really did like getting to know you and I still like you and I still like you and I just wish that like you could like blah blah,

be patient and know that I wasn't trying to do anything like this to you. This isn't what it seems. I didn't know my account was going to get lost, but I think like this has ever happened to me. Again, one thing is money saying like I've never not had money. Like I've had millions before and I just couldn't have seen this coming. And I'm like, I really hope you know that like, I'm going to pay you back.

And I'm just like, yeah, you keep saying that. But yet no payments have come my way. And so. Did you think he was going to pay you back at this point? Or were you kind of like, I just want to see what happened. I would say it was like 90% sure he wasn't going to pay me back, but 10% of like, I still want to hold on to hope because it's a lot of money and I wanted it. So I feel like a part of me was just trying to hang on to any limer of hope that he would pay me back.

But majority of my mind knew that he wasn't going to pay me back. And even that 10% of the hope that he would was still conflicted with where was that fund coming from. And so then I lose my job, of course, like right after I paid this large bill and he's like giving me the run around to pay me back. I lose my job, unfortunately. And so my income stopped, obviously. And I let him know that. I was like, honestly, blessing in disguise. But at the time, it was very, very stressful because of that large charge and just

everything going on. But I let him know thinking maybe this will make him feel bad and he'll put a little bit more work into paying me back. No, not the case. He doesn't even acknowledge that message, actually. It's one of the messages that he ignored. And then when he did eventually come back and say, sorry, I didn't wrestle when I was going through this, like I'm working on getting the funds for you.

I would say like, you know, I literally told you I lost my job and you have no urgency to make this right. Like, I'm struggling here. And everything just stays the same honestly from like losing my job till around March. His communication stays just as horrible. Anytime he does communicate, he's made the same exact excuse of he's working on it. He's doing this. He's getting it together. He's going to send it to me soon.

He's never been this low in his life and he's just trying to get out of this like. He said he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. That was his exact verbiage every single time. He's never been stuck between a rock and a hard place like this before, and he's just doing what he can to get out of it. I'm on the top of his list to make things right and pay it back. And I'm just like, okay, like when I need this money. But again, still conflicting internally of like, where is it coming from?

And I really don't believe you're actually going to do it. But then to my surprise, come March, it's my birthday. And on my birthday, he sends me $300 out of what he owes me. Yeah. Happy birthday, I guess. It was, you know, it gave me more home. It definitely made me feel like, okay, maybe he really was just going through something really bad. Like maybe he did never intend to do this.

Sounds awful, but I was like, you know, maybe my situation was different because I did feel like the intentions in the beginning were good. The car was for a weekend. We did have that great weekend together. Maybe this did just end up in a sticky situation unintentionally. And he didn't ever ask me to open a Klarna account. He never asked me to do anything like that. So I was telling myself, maybe I was different than these other girls. Ew, I hate that, but I was like, okay, maybe because he just sent this $300.

Maybe he really truly was trying to get it together. And he said that he'll send weekly payments of at least $300 until it's all paid off. And I'm like, okay, sure, one week goes by, no further payment, tells me that he is working on it. Again, just the exact same runaround. And so I'm like, okay, you're, again, probably not going to pay me. I'm really not buying it. but I keep pushing forward. I really can't like dwell all day, every day,

consistently like begging him for this money. So I'm kind of trying to move on and not let go of it because I'm pretty stubborn and I don't want to let go of it, but try my best to keep moving forward without it letting just like letting it take over everything. Yeah. And then time keeps going on. I'm sending maybe a check in like once a week or maybe even two weeks. Like I'm being really, really patient and lenient with it,

but still not fully letting it go and letting him know that, hey, I'm still here and I'm still expecting this money. and then June 1st rolls around. Still no further payments by this point. There's not much that goes on. How long ago is that that trip where you first rented the car? Yeah. That was in September, 2025.

I'm doing math. Oh my God, wait, 2025. So June, like a month ago, June? Yeah, like last month. Oh, boy. June 1st, I've received that one extra $300 payment besides the initial payments that he did give. and I sent him a message and I was like, listen, I need the money by June 15th. If I don't receive the rest of this payment by June 15th, I'm going to go all over the media

with your name, your face, and exactly what you've done to me and these other women. I'm going to post it on every social media app that I have. I'm going to plaster your face everywhere to make sure that everybody knows what kind of fucked up person you are. And I know that you're not going to pay me back after I do that. That's fine. But I'm going to make sure that you can't do this to anybody else. you have until June 15th.

So I gave him just over two weeks to figure it out. He doesn't respond to that message. June 15th rolls around. He still hasn't responded. So I'm like, okay. And I didn't get any payments, obviously. I'm like, all right, I'm going to put it everywhere. And I took a few days to process that internally,

like what that meant I was going to be sharing and putting myself out there like that. And then I sat down and I recorded it for my TikTok and I told everybody what had happened. the TikTok did numbers, which I didn't expect my account. I don't, I am not, I am not a con, like I do not have a lot of followers. I am not someone who has viral videos by any means.

I had like one other video in my life that like went somewhere, but this one went somewhere fast. People are starting to reach out to me. What were people saying? You know, it was a mixed review. A lot of people were like, why are you telling us? Why aren't she telling the police? And I'm like, I did, but I'm not going to, you know,

I don't need to tell that to the TikTok. That's after the best. Oh, wait. You did tell the police though? I want to hear. I did call. Can you tell us that? I did call them before the TikTok post, but it was pretty minor.

I just called them, told them that he did this and that I knew he was doing things to other women as well with their funds. But the police basically just said, this is a civil matter. We can't really do anything to help you. So good luck. And sorry that happened, which is like annoying, but it's true. I mean, for my situation, unfortunately, I did willingly rent the car. So it wasn't a criminal matter.

He didn't force me to a car rental place, forced me to sign a lease and like take the car. You know, you do any of that. But yeah, the TikTok response was mostly a lot of people saying, why didn't she call the police? A lot of people telling to sue him. Yeah. There was some people who knew him. There was a few people who were like, oh, I have him on Snapchat. He was Snapchating me or I saw your post in the Rwe dating the same guy group.

I was trying to look for it. There was one girl who told me that she was in communication with him and would casually hook up with him. But as soon as she saw my post on, are we dating the same guy, completely stopped responding to. him and I was like thank goodness that in doing this I at least stopped if it's just one girl that I stopped from getting harmed from him then I've done at least it's worth it here yep oh I bet that felt really good I mean not good but good but yeah it was one of those ledge sword where you're like I wish I didn't have to yeah but I'm glad because I just you know if someone had posted about him prior to me being involved maybe I wouldn't have had to go through this I'm really glad that I could share my

experience and prevent that I could try to pursue civil law as well as well and try to go to small claims court, but I don't know. I don't want to go through that process. Who wants to go through that process? They don't have to. I thought maybe he would send it by posting. And also I knew that going through civil law and going through small claims court, from my understanding is they garnish wages from somebody.

And he wasn't working a job that he can garnish wages from. He was selling appliances on his own. So I was like, what's the point in dragging myself through all of that for like basically the same outcome in my mind? And it's still something that I am thinking about. And I have talked to attorneys and it's still on my mind as a possible option. But I don't know. Honestly, the TikTok was the start of like. More than it's worth.

It might. And I don't want to spend any more money on him or the situation rather. So, B.I, post that TikTok. It gains lots of traction. The first day that I posted it, he responded. So it was June 18th. And he texts me, which is such a coincidence. He does text me.

But he texts me is that he hasn't. seen it or like he doesn't know that I posted it as if nothing happened he was just like hey I know it's been a while I'm not going to give you excuses or give you the run around but I almost have it together and I'm going to send you some money soon and in my mind I don't even respond to his text message because I'm like don't believe you I think you're just trying to save face because you saw my TikTok video and you're trying to be a lot less aggressive with your response so that it seems like you're the nice guy and you're trying to make this right and you were never trying to do all of that but when he responded to the Facebook post, it was a lot less kind.

And so I was like, hmm, I wonder. So he responds nice at first. And then all of a sudden he hits me with, you've got to be kidding me. You posted da-da-da-da-da. I hope you got the attention you wanted. He said, I can't believe I ever messed with a bitch with no home training like you. What? Because I posted him on TikTok.

Wait, with no. Wait, that's so. This freaking guy. rude. He called me a suicide bomber who would rather blow up everybody else's shit than just be patient and deal with it on my own. Oh my God. You mean you don't want me to raise awareness for the bullshit you're doing. That's what you don't want.

You don't want other women to know because then who are you going to scam next? You're right. It does blow up his whole plan. And that was the goal. That was like if you're not going to pay me, I just need to make sure you can't do this to other women. And I kept telling him that too. I was like, if you want to think I'm doing this for attention. then that speaks to who you are.

And we're going back and forth. It's him constantly just in different words telling me that I should have been more patient. All I needed to do is be patient. I'm like six months is patient. I don't know how much more patience you expect from me. I lost my job. I paid the bill. I paid the tolls.

Like I have been patient. I've gone weeks without even following up with you and giving you time and space. Like I've been patient. You need to just figure this out. Get a real job. And he says, I will if it's something I think I need to do. I'm like when you owe this many people money, it should be the first thing you feel like you need to do.

do. And then time passes the TikTok's up. It's going around. He tells me that it's only fair for him to pay me back if I delete the TikTok. I said, nope, I fell for that once before. You told me that when I had the first Facebook post in January and you still haven't paid me back some sense. So why would I believe that you're going to pay me back if I delete this TikTok? I'm not deleting the TikTok. If when you pay me back, then we can discuss the potential removal of my videos. Thank you. Yes. Only if and when I received my money. Up until then, that video is staying up and I'll post more as well. So then I get a comment on it that says,

OMG, not my baby daddy. Oh. Not my baby daddy. What? Baby mama unlocked. So I messaged the baby mama and I was like, hey, I don't know what your relationship with him is like. I don't know if you guys are on good terms,

but I could really use your help with some things. And she's like, I don't like to get involved with his girlfriend drama. And I don't know how much I could have. help you, to be frank, like he owes me a lot of child support. So that's my main concern over what he may owe other women. And I was like, that's so interesting. I'm so sorry to hear that because he made it seem like he was such a present great father. And I would assume he'd pay his child support. She's like, he said he was a present father. No, no, no, not at all. And I was like, that's crazy. She's like, what did he tell you? And I was like, oh, he always told me he was at his

his son's football games, at his basketball games, doing all these things for his son, buying him gifts. She was like, buying him gifts. He's bought him one pair of shoes in the past. year and that's about it. And I'm like, oh, I saw him buying jackets and clothes and like all these types of things. I'm like, did he just return all those things after? And he was just trying to flex possibly. She's like, no, he got one pair of shoes, Max, and he's not received anything else from his father this whole time. She even told me that the other child swims, but doesn't do other sports, but that he has never gone to his other son's swimming practices or anything to do with his other son. So she was like, I don't know how much I could help you, honestly. I was like,

oh, I'm not like expecting you to ask him to give me the money, but if you could help me get his new address that's all I really need so that if I do decide to serve him to take him to court I need that address and she said she doesn't know it because he was recently evicted but that if she gets access to his new address she'll give it to me so that was the last conversation I had with her I don't really want to bug her about it but one day she comes to me with the address and maybe I can take him to small claims court with that but coincidentally the day that she messaged me he also came back out on me, like, really, really rude asking me again to tell me, delete these posts, calling me all the names in the book again. At that point, I'm just like, I don't want to deal

with you. You have to pay me back this money regardless. Like, I don't know how to get that through your head. And so I ended up sending him a formal demand letter through text, because I don't have his address stating, this is what you owe me. This is why you've acknowledged that you owe me it. This is a formal demand letter for payment before I do take whatever legal action I can. And I sent that to him with the total at the bottom, my PayPal link, and then I blocked him because I was just like, I don't, I don't want to go back and forth just to say the same thing over and over and over again. It's draining. It's very draining. And I know that that's what you're trying to do. Like now that I'm like processing it all and I've gotten all this information, I know that you're

trying to frustrate me and tire me and exhaust me of the situation to the point where I just let it go. But he met his motherfucking match and that's not going to happen because I'm not letting this go. Amen, girl. I'm not doing my breath out for my hand to spread awareness about this because it's so just, it's disgusting. Like you have children whose mothers are struggling at your hands. You've made another mother single mother who's maybe not your baby mother, but she's a single mom and you're making her struggle at your hands. I might, I have my fur babies and I'm struggling at your hand. It's just disgusting.

So I block him and obviously he can't reach out to me anymore. And then I post him on my Instagram. And this is the one I did last. because it was honestly the one I was most scared of just because Instagram is more personal. I feel like it's more people that I actually know in real life. TikTok, like the algorithm can just take it away and do what it pleases. It's not really so many people from my personal life, but Instagram. Yeah.

That's kind of like my last one that was going to be a little bit more personal. So I did post on my Instagram and the friend, his friend, who my friend knew, the one that we met originally in Vegas, we follow each other on Instagram. So I knew that he was going to see that. And he did. And he directly himself. did not reach out to me, but he had a bunch of his friends and his brother all harassed me, calling me all these guys and names saying that I shouldn't be using men to begin with.

And I'm attention seeking and just like all these things. So I'm just like blocking them because I'm not, I'm not going to deal with it. But mostly a positive response. He's locked. So I have no idea what he's saying or trying to say or wants to say, but posted it there. And then did reach out to his mother as well because like anything I can do at this point, I want to do. So I reached out to his mom.

How did you reach out to her? on what platform? What did you say I need it all? I Facebook messaged her. Facebook message. That's the way to go. Yeah, I Facebook messaged her and I was honestly so polite too and respectful. Even though I wanted to be like your fuck-ass son is so fucked and like you need to figure this out. I was like, hey, like I wanted to look you know.

Yeah. About what your son, you know, the situation with your son here like he owes me this much money for this reason. I also know that there's a few other women that he has some wrongdoing. to correct with. It's not your responsibility, but I'm really hoping you can encourage him to make this right, because I really don't want to have to take this further than it is. So I would really appreciate if you could talk to him, try to talk some sense into him. She blocked me. No response. No. I'm sure he's lying, lying up his butt to all of these people saying, yeah, who knows what.

She's lying. This never happened. But I have all the proof. I have all the receipt. It's all, but either way, she blocks me and I think it's mostly because she's benefiting off of it. Another reason that I found him attractive in the beginning is because he was uplifting the woman in his life and speaking so highly about his mom and his sisters and how their father wasn't present. So he was really the man of the family. And since a young age, he was taking care of them. Like he got a sister a car for her birthday and he pays his mom's phone bill every month. So in my mind, after she blocked me, I was like, oh, you benefit off of it.

His scamming is paying your bills. So of course you're not going to tell him to stop. you're going to keep enabling it because you want to keep benefiting off of it. So yeah, she blocked me. I blocked all these friends who are harassing me. And that's where it's at now is like he's blocked. My post is up. And honestly, going through another resurgence these past couple of days,

so even more people are seeing it and finding out about him. And I'm sure you'll get more and more stories about him. Unfortunately, I think I will. I think I'm just scratching the surface because I feel like if you've been able to successfully do this with the women that I do know about, out there, it has to be so much more than what I can see. There's no way that it's just that. And it's just a fluke that you were able to successfully scam these for and me.

And there's no one else. Like there has to be more. But yeah, that was my experience with him still out about $3,000. I'm so sorry. It's so shitty. I wanted to say like there's, so when someone asks you to borrow money and you loan it to them and they use it for something different than what they said they were going to use it for, that's a crime, right?

that's an arrestable offense. Okay, I don't know how much it'll hold up, but whatever. It's still a crime. I wonder if the rental car thing is along the same lines. But I mean, I guess I see your point to like if you rented the car and then let him drive it, I guess. I don't know. Ah, it just sucks.

Yeah, he didn't technically steal money from you. So from my understanding, because I did call a few attorneys in his area, I got as many free consultations as I could take and just see what my options were. Most of them were like, you could try to go for him because you haven't writing, him acknowledging that he owes you that money. So it's less of like the car rental and the contract with the hurt, like none of that, but more so you have a contract with him in writing through text that he was responsible for paying you for that.

And so you could try to take him to small claims for it with that. Not so much like he stole the car or he didn't pay for the car to the rental company because I was responsible for the rental car company being paid and I paid it. So my responsibility was done. I did what I needed to do. His responsibility was to uphold the agreement he gave me of paying me back for that car rental. And so that is where I might have legal grounds. But then letting someone drive a car with a suspended license is also an offense.

So, man. I did make mistakes in all of this. I didn't make the best choices through all of this. But all because of being love bombed and manipulated and fed these lies that I think most people who, you know, I'm a lover girl at my core. So I like to believe people when it comes to those types of things. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt. I want to assume goodwill and all these people that I meet. Because why would I come out in a negative mindset?

But unfortunately, that led me to maybe not making the wisest choices. But I still think like, you never deserve this. You can make mistakes all day long. It doesn't mean you deserve to be scammed. Like, that's why we're constantly, you know, of course we get comments. and I'm sure you've gotten comments on your TikTok that are like, well, you shouldn't have done X, Y, Z. And it's like, yeah, we all shouldn't.

I should have made my bed this morning. But like, it's okay. You make mistakes. You learn from them, but you're not malicious. And this guy is. And that's where the line is so clear to me. 100%. And yeah, a lot of people did comment stuff like that.

They're like, you put yourself in this situation. What do you want us to do? And I'm like, I don't want anybody to do anything for me, besides maybe hit the repost button if you feel like this would help people that follow you. That's all I'm really asking for when I posted. I'm not asking for someone to pay me. I'm not asking for any of that. I'm just looking to spread awareness about him because like yeah, and I even said it in my video, I know I made mistakes. I know I didn't make the smartest choices. I know that there's things that in hindsight I would never do now, but yeah, we all make those mistakes

and I'm not looking for anyone to fix this for me at all. I'm going to figure it out on my own, but I'm going to try to help the next girl. Exactly, exactly. Because I do wish that one of those other girls had posted about it because I was frequently searching that group but I can't blame them either because now that I'm going through this I see how draining it is and I understand how daunting it is and even just like I don't care that people know this now because it's out there for the world but it was very anxiety inducing when it first started to go viral I'm not used to that and the thought of how many people saw what he did then that's great but also saw how silly my choices were like that does feel embarrassing and there is shame that goes with that but I'm just trying to

remind myself that the outcome of protecting other woman is so much more worth it than like the amount of shame that I might feel from the choices that I made. But we should never feel shame around feeling like we're doing something for someone else. You know what I mean? And that's the problem is that we all feel like like in the moment you're like, oh good, you kind of feel like you're helping someone and you're taking care of them or doing something for them. But then at the end, only when we realize they're taking advantage of us, do we feel bad for it? And so the shame should never be around what you did and we should never feel dumb for it, but we do. We really do. And that sucks. I know and it's so it's you're so right. Like it we shouldn't and I don't know how to like not

feel that feeling. I mean as time passes I feel less and less ashamed because I'd get more and more angry at the whole situation and I'm like no I didn't even I was just doing what anyone would do and believing someone who's feeding you so much sparkle that's not even really there. Right. And it's not like he wasn't paying for stuff. He wasn't a initially like, hey, can you pay for dinner? I'll pay you back. He was paying for dinner. And it is everything was paid for up front. Anytime I came to see him, he paid for me to get there. Every, everything was paid for. Every little thing. You want grapes. Grapes are on the way on DoorDash. Like everything. So I think a lot of people fail to put themselves into the shoes or at least try to before they speak.

And they think they wouldn't ever do that. But I also said the same thing. I have definitely watched people's story times online before. I'd been like, I would never do that. but I would and I did and everybody would and might fall for something stupid that they think they never would. Well, we always say the minute you start thinking that you couldn't fall for it is when you're the most vulnerable. It's when you're the most vulnerable, yep. Yeah. And it's true.

Looking back on that, so hindsight's 2020, as you've said, and you've already kind of mentioned this, but do you want to go through maybe some of the moments that in the moment felt so good? And now hindsight, you're able to be like, oh, that was this red flag. That was this red flag. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Just to help you help the next.

girl is what I'm trying to get to. I think if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Like, someone paying for every little thing like that. It can seem love bombing, right? And it can be really easy as I experienced to get caught up in it and accept all of it. But I think if it seems too good to be true and it seems like something that's so out of the ordinary like that where they're paying for every single, like paying for your friend's flight, I don't know.

That was a bit much in hindsight. It's a little far. I wouldn't typically let someone do that. That's not the type of people we usually, like I like, we like to pay for ourselves, do things for ourselves. I would have seen that as more of a red flag, but like, why are you, why are you so willing to spend all this money on somebody you just met? I think also this not, his apartment wasn't bad, but it wasn't the nicest and it was like,

again, pretty messy. And I think anyone who had that much money would probably live somewhere a little bit nicer if their revenue or stream of income was from a reliable source. they probably wouldn't have such a dodgy. I don't know, because it wasn't really that bad. But for the amount of money and spoiling he was doing, you would think he'd live somewhere a little bit nicer. So that was kind of maybe a red flag.

Obviously, the broken car and suspended license was a huge one that I should have looked at and taken more seriously. Also, the texting being not great is something I should have not tolerated, because I don't tolerate that with a lot of people. like my friends, if my friends don't text me back, I'm so quick to be like, bitch, what do you do? Yeah, that's a no. No, absolutely. But I do think that there's two sides to this. Like, I think we as women, not just women, but a lot of women are loud about how being a bad texter, quote, is BS now. But for a while, I really do think that we were made to feel either indirectly or directly like we were too needy, we were insecure, we were asking for too much. And that if we're the cool girl, then we're chill and we're not expecting them to text us back all the time. And we're not texting back all the time.

Exactly. You know. Where my mind was at during it too. Especially if he has a child or has multiple kids. I know me personally, I would be like, oh, he's an adult. I need to act like an adult so he knows that I'm mature too. It's like you were there. You're like taking it right.

Oh. I feel like I had that exact sentence said to my friends. I'm like, you know what? It's fine. I have to remember that he's got two kids. He's busy. Like I can't expect him to be like I don't have that. So I have more.

So, of course, I want more communication, but he's busy, he's a dad, he's doing this, and that, like, all the excuses. Well, I only know that you were feeling that way because it makes sense. It's not, you were not an idiot. You were a human. Thank you. I appreciate that. I just want to reshare your TikTok to everybody.

And also, I like, what is he up to now? Like, who's he scamming right now? Who's he buying a flight for right now? That's exactly what I'm wondering. I'm like, you're not texting me back. And I know it's not because you're at sports games. I know that now. So it's probably because you're actively.

And then even when he would talk to me, like, I'm working on it. I'm working on it. I'm like, I hate hearing that because to me, I hear I'm trying to get access to this girls after pay. Like, hold on. And I'm like, no, I can get a job and pay me back that way, please. But no. At this point, I think I, I'm just going to let go of getting the money from him because

I really truly don't want that to come from another woman. Like, I would rather not get paid back than get it from it. potentially being from another woman's wallet. Like I will be fine. I've made it this far without it. I am going to be okay. It sucks because it would be really, really nice to have that money back right about now.

But it is what it is. And at this point, I think, like, yeah, all I can really do is continue to spread awareness. And he might think that, like, oh, I posted my TikTok. I've blocked him and it's going to fizzle out. No. I will do as much as I can to keep talking about this. God damn Logan.

Oh, Logan. Did you, but I didn't think about, you know, I know many people come on and say I feel so stupid, but I didn't even think about the rental car thing. It's like, if I'm running a car, like, yeah, if you need to use it, like, whatever. She had at that point no real reason to be like, no, you cannot. You know what I mean? Like, she's trying to be to be nice and do the right thing. And it makes me so mad that that got taken advantage of. For anybody, like, it's not, she knows that that was a mistake. You know, she was obviously very open about feeling like, oh, I would never do that again. But it's important to remember that we're allowed

to make mistakes that does not mean we deserve to be abused and scammed and stolen from. It's just not her fault. So yes, great cautionary tale in terms of being extra protective of your money and sharing things. But he paid for everything. He was such a gentleman and it was early on and she felt bad and he had sons and he played the game really well. Like we were not in that conversation. And we don't know how charming that man was. And I imagine it's a lot. And also, once he did the thing of paying for all the things in the beginning, that sets the tone that he's not exactly broke.

Like he wouldn't, he's not someone who would take advantage. Like he already paid for us for stuff. So if he wants me to put something on like his driver's license situation, then why not? You know, so for me, that wouldn't give me pause. I was thinking about it as we were listening because I was like, obviously hearing it in this context, I know that something bad is going to happen. And he was kind of giving me the ick how much you wanted to pay for everything. Yeah, yeah.

But then I realized, of course, there's a bare minimum of expecting if you're in, I always think of it of like, who's pursuing who. So if you're in a gay relationship, there can still be somebody that's like pursuing if you're into that. And whatever it is, like there's usually somebody that you kind of are like, oh, they're pursuing me. They're paying for stuff. And at what point does it become an ick when they're insisting on paying for everything?

At some point, I kind of want to be like, no, I got it. Like I can pay. Yeah. Like what's your goal here? Like what's your motive? If somebody's too nice, I'm like, what's your motive? Yeah. I guess I'm kind of curious what people think.

Like if you went out with somebody that was just like, I never want you to pay for anything ever again. Would you instantly be like Princess Crown on Princess Mode activated? I love it. Or would your guard go up? Because I think my guard would go up and I hate that because I want to be spoiled. Damn this show. I know.

I know. The fact that he used his sons as an excuse all the time is always disgusting. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. Who's surprised that she found out he was not paying child support and barely involved? Not me. So yeah, the rental car thing was smart. I mean, he was like, oh, I'm going to put it back. I mean, it's hard to know what an end game is for these people, but I think she hit the nail on the head. he just wanted to keep dragging it out, keep wearing her down, and exhausting her until she gave up. Yeah. No, that's exactly what I was thinking while she was telling that story. I'm like,

he knows that there's no real recourse unless you go through the ringer. And he knows that. He's not stupid. And can we also talk about the Klarna and the afterpay? These, the finance, like, so the Klarna and afterpay, I'm sure you guys know what it is, but it's basically a way to buy something and you can pay it back. pay it back, you put it on finance and it's just like, you know, however many dollars a week for every two weeks or whatever. And it's, it's helpful if you really need it. But just like any credit, it can be a slippery slope. Yeah, I think the thing that people forget is the late fees stack up quick. It's, there are sneaky service fees. Yeah. And it's like phantom debt. Like you're not always on top of it. It's just like a really, I'm so wary of it.

but I mean you learn by doing it's definitely seems like a great idea until it's not so I guess he just yeah he just got people roped into he knew what he was doing he knew it paying for something well because it didn't come out of their pocket right away he knew that they wouldn't feel immediately impacted so he could get more bang for his book because it wasn't affecting them right away and by the time they did see it he's moved on to someone else who could who he could steal Yep, and they, yeah, are trying to get in contact with him. And obviously we know he was really good at avoiding that. And then they're left with it.

It's so frustrating. It's so frustrating. My anxiety is too much. Like if I know that I did somebody wrong and they're texting me, like my heart starts racing as soon as their name pops up and I'm like, oh, God. Like I get too, I get too many. I don't know how they do that. That's so much anxiety.

At least the benefit with afterpay stealing is that it doesn't, does it affect your credit? I don't know if it does. Only negatively, but I don't think it positively, like... No, it doesn't do anything to help you. Like, if you're going to buy something you don't have the money for, do it at least on a credit card that is going to help build your credit, but I don't think those

finance programs actually help. I don't think they, I do think that they affect your credit if you don't pay them back. Also, he was just running a Ponzi scheme with other women. Yeah. Like, he would just take your money to pay for her Vegas trip, and that was so frustrating.

and I said it in the episode, but I want to hear people's experience with, are we dating the same guy? Because it's wonderful until it kicks people out. Well, they're really strict because, of course, there's a lot of liability, right? And there's a lot of chatter around it. And so are we dating the same guy? The creators of those groups can get in a lot of trouble if they're not careful. And so because they can get sued for liable, slander.

And so it's really important. Like they have super strict rules about posting and things that get like taken down and all this stuff. So it is kind of tricky. But if it's, I mean, they've been, we've seen them be useful to other people. Remember that conference call with like 20 other girls? Yeah. In one episode. And it was crazy. But even though she got kicked off, it was useful. Like it's still about her connected. Sometimes I guess it's nice to have, but sometimes it can. The benefits outweigh the downsides, I think. I think so. I really do. And I think that although they have to be careful. Like it did not not help. You know what I mean? Totally. Totally. But yeah,

let us know what your experience has been with those. And if you have any dating dogfish diaries about, I'm trying to think of a de-alliteration word that has to do with money. Dollars. A dollar stealing dogfish. I don't know. But I want to hear because he's got this. He was so snake-like. He's so sneaky. Just be, oh, I'll pay for this. I'll pay for that. And no one actually could. But that's the thing is I think over time he started learning that it would take more effort on their part to come after him than you know what I mean?

And so I think he just, I think he totally took advantage of that. I'm proud of Rachel for sharing her story, even though she felt shame around some of the mistakes. She felt like she made. I hope we as an audience, I'm sure, will be supportive. And, you know, who among us has been perfect in the dating scene?

especially if someone's gorgeous, paying for everything, you know, sexy. And I sound, I don't know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. Can I just say that our audience is so cool. Like you guys are so supportive of our guests and that you've just created such a cool community and a great safe place for these people. So I really applaud our audience. We have the best audience.

Like you guys are so great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And that becomes more and more clear. the more I talk to people on Patreon and the more we meet them at live shows. So I really want to meet people at Orlando and Tampa show because Chicago was just perfect. Oh my God. It was and if you've never visited Chicago, 10 out of 10 recommend.

It was so it was probably my new favorite city. There was so much to do. It was so cool. So thank you to everybody who came to our show. Again, we are so grateful. And please come see us in Tampa and Orlando. We love y'all. Send us your stories, send us your comments and thoughts and support.

And as always, trust your fentuation.