Meet Andres Mark john

This is a true story. This is supposedly his office somewhere in Gaza. He is a contractor to the IDF. 

He has a romantic need and goes to the internet to find a friend to talk to since there are few in his current position to pursue for conversation.

Below is also a picture of him (he likes to be comical for the girls, you understand), except he corrects his name to be John Mark Andres. He apologizes for the error. Now, come on here. 

He goes on to say that he is an American (that doesn't know the proper way to express his name) and he has two daughters that live in Utah and go to the Mormon academy. They are taken care of by a nanny. Starting to feel sympathy for this man so far away from home and missing his daughters? He states he is not interested in getting money from anyone, simply conversation. That turns out to be mostly true, but, the next bump in the road is nearly unbelievable. He decides to change his name, just for fun of course, to "Gracias." 

Yes, that is Spanish for thank you. Now, anyone should be wondering why he would be thankful, yes?

So the conversation goes on for a few more days and the couple is becoming cozy and comfortable. Mark states he goes out on patrol from time to time, but, primarily he is a statistician and composes daily reports for the military. 

And when Gracias believes the woman is enthralled with him, the picture below becomes the true face of Gracias and he is now asking for a gift card for $25.00.

This very true bait and switch scenario only begins to express the inherent danger to this game of internet relationships.

This case has already been reported to the State Authorities.

The problem as it presents itself here is that who is who? This is all conducted over the internet. Was there ever a John Mark Andres? Was Gracias, who's name no one knows, in control the entire time? Is there a conspiracy between the two men? Why Gaza? 

Regardless, a perfect stranger WITH A GOAL to obtain money from an American woman for his own purposes made an emotional connection and when he felt comfortable with that emotional attachment he began his game plan. This is nothing but dangerous. What if he has connections of some kind in the USA? How much danger is someone facing? Not only that but realizing there is a new person in the relationship is alarming. That itself can be intimidating.

People can laugh at those that get entangled with scammers and consider it a personality weakness, but, in all honesty don't Americans care a great deal about life as it presents itself? Don't they care about each other? 

September 11, 2001 brought a new reality to this country and there was a paradigm shift that sort of stated, "We are better together." What occurred was real heroes coming out of nowhere sometimes to rescue others. There was nothing wrong with that and they saved lives, but, Americans changed and now we have social media that brings strangers to our lives with seriously dangerous intent.

This case with Gracias is real. It happened. It was alarming and caused panic in a person's life. If this ever occurs in anyone's life, DO NOT BECOME PARALIZED and report the entire incident no matter how embarrassing it might be to the authorities. If the first authority one approaches might not be interested enough or think it a frivolous issue, go then to the next step up. Go from the cops, to the sheriff, to the state police, to the state bureau of investigation and on up to the feds.

It is a shame when monies are exchanged between strangers when the American believes they are helping those less fortunate then themselves, but, as seen in this case, there is a very real possibility there is real danger in that relationship that only reveals itself when it is too late.

Please have a better and more protected day. Americans are great people. We know that and we don't have to prove it to  anyone.