I only read snippets but i'm really sorry to hear this all happened. It sounds like you already treat is as a life lesson at this point and i hope you can find your peace in this whole thing one way or another. I'm not all for medieval treatments but this guy obviously deserves one.

Good luck.

Damn dude, what an *******!!! Can't believe how friendly you stayed the whole time, I would have probably kicked in his teeth in a long time ago.

I know this might come a bit late, but please, DON'T EVER mix money and friendship.

Just remember, in the end, it's only money...and you're good at poker, so I'm sure you'll recover. All he got was money, not the things that really count, your GF, dog, friends 'n family, and health (even though you might have gotten a gray hair because of the whole situation).

Hope you recover quickly.

Money and friendship is fine, but that's good advice to some, mainly people that end up with stories like this bc of it.

it's a pretty convincing scam when the guy has control over your AIM/email/etc

Its late and im tired so i read it.

I like to assume i wouldnt end up in ur position, but who knows.. at least by telling this many more people will learn from ur mistakes for free. I wasnt paying attention to the timeline/all the details, but i really hope ur still in France w ur gf and have rebuilt the roll.

It was to long to read everything, but I hope you can get your money back.

Forgot to ask: Did you speak to a lawyer about the whole thing? Or at least a friend who studied law?

I tried talking to my financial advisors who knows alot about law and can get in contact with some lawyers, so still in the process with that, so we'll see, but I dont know much about it or my options legally, so i've kinda been really lost

Very sorry to hear someone totally abused your kind/trusting nature, Im positive you learned your lesson here. Im a big believer in karma and it will catch up with a prick like this.

Well, I'm not a lawyer (only had 2 semesters of law as a side-course), but wouldn't give up if I were you. In most cases, a verbal agreement, such as agreeing to pay back loans, is legally binding.

You have proof that you transferred him money (at least for the sum you transferred online...obviously not for the cash you gave him), which basically is a loan unless you specifically state it's meant to be a gift. He AGREED to pay you back by saying so, and you might have SMS/emails saying the same. His partial repayment (I think you wrote he sent some money back on Stars), is another thing any court will take as a sign that the money you transferred was meant to be a loan.

So if you know his full name, address, and so on, I would definitely sue.

Get legal advice asap. The sum involved is well worth it!!

If I had a degree I'd help you out more, but unfortunately I don't have a full degree in law.

PS: If you really wanna **** him up, mention that at first, he said he'd pay you back more (1.5k instead of 1.09k is what you said I think) because you had to wait long. The court could see this as an agreement for interest, and take it into consideration given that he's been trying to scam you!!

thanks a ton Radeh, I already sent a follow up email to my Financial Advisors on my exact options and how to go about chasing him in court when I started this thread, so i'll expect a response by tomorrow or the next day, and see where I can go from there. I appreciate takin time to read/consider all of this, as im still kinda lost about all of it i'm really happy for any help I receive

(im back to my normal poker / daily routines, and kinda putting it all behind me, but the sum is HUGE, and I just kind of resigned myself to that fate, so if I have other options, im more than happy to follow up on them... because it's worth it)

Very sick & sad story, hope you'll recover well from this.

Why the hell are people such dishonest scumbags?

im gonna read one paragraph a day ill give my input in a month

Man you need a condensed summary version at the top. I read most of it and can only conclude that if I were you, once I heard back from Stars that he drained 10k from my account, I would not let him leave the hotel room until he had pettinho transfer it back. There would be violence otherwise.

I graduated from law school a few months back but never took international law and haven't taken the bar exam yet. It's a clear case of conversion/theft but the problem is all of the international law involved and jurisdictional issues. With all due respect to your financial advisers, you need to speak with an attorney who specializes in international law and has a lot of experience in it. No one else is going to be able to give you a real answer imo since this is a complex issue. The only problem whenever you involve an attorney is the money/time involved to get a resolution to the problem, and there's never any guarantee. That said, I'd at least get an initial consultation to see what they say. GL man.