Shades of Deception

On Friday morning, Kamani went to the bank and wired two hundred thousand dollars into the seller's bank account. She was in such high spirits; one would have thought she won the million-dollar lottery.

After arriving home, she called her friends for a get-together at her place and told them she had great news to share. The gathering would take place next Friday evening at eight o'clock. She could not wait to brag about the new man in her life and their latest business venture.

It was Friday, and Kamani was on high octane. She prepared an elaborate buffet style dinner and had Sangria on ice. Her guests started to arrive; she greeted everyone with an immense hug and kiss. They all sat around, talked and were eager to hear what she had to say.

After dinner, everyone was patiently waiting for her to talk. Finally, Kamani revealed that she met and fell in love with a man named Landel, and he lived in Cape Verde. He helped her to purchase a factory that would print and distribute her designer t-shirts globally. She went on to discuss every aspect about the business, from start to finish, and this all took place on the World Wide Web.

For the very first time, her friends were speechless. Most of them never even heard of Cape Verde, much less knew where it was. It was not a place written about or mentioned repeatedly in the media.

They started to question among themselves, "How does an educated woman fall in love with a stranger and then buy a business from someone she met on the Internet?"

Continuing to talk uncontrollably, she felt like the main character in a soap opera and the center of attention for a change.

It did not take long for her friends to realize that Landel had swindled Kamani out of her money. Yet, no one had the heart to tell her; if they did, she would have become very defensive, because the love of her life would never deceive her in such a way. No matter what anyone thought, she made the right decision, end of story.

Later that evening, her party started to leave and thanked her for an enlightening evening. They all wished her well but knew the damage had already taken place.

It was just a matter of time before Kamani's world would come crashing down on her like a ton of bricks. All the same, her friends would be there to help pick up the pieces.

Six weeks went by, and Kamani had not heard from Landel regarding the title to the factory. She e-mailed him every day and still there was no word. At first, she thought he was traveling on business and planning to come to California.