Guy Met an Internet Crook From Liberia and Completely Changed His Life

3 years ago

As many opportunities as the internet provides us with, not all of its aspects are good. There are a lot of crooks on the internet and they use many sneaky methods to try to get our money. But this story about an American man whose nickname is Pleasant Green and a guy from Liberia whose name is Joel started out as a simple fraud attempt and then turned into something completely unexpected.

Bright Side tells about a man who decided to respond to a message from a crook from Africa out of curiosity.

Here is what Pleasant Green himself tells on his YouTube channel: "Several months ago, I got a message on Facebook from a Liberian man named Joel. He said that he needed help and he asked me to send him some expensive devices. He promised that he would sell them in Liberia and split the revenue with me. I realized that he was an internet crook but I decided to play along and find out where this would get me. Because the more time he would spend on me, the fewer people he would be able to deceive.

"I wrote to him that I couldn't send him what he asked me and told him that I had a business offer that might interest him. I told him that I was a photographer and promised that if he took pictures of the place where he lived and sent them to me, I would pay for the ones that I liked. He agreed and sent me the pictures next morning. They were terrible. Probably, he took them using a very old phone."

"I was surprised that the man really decided to try. He wrote to me that he was waiting for God's help and he believed that I could help him. Then I decided to invest some money into this guy to figure out if it was a scam or if he really was trying to improve his life. I sent him a $40 camera and asked him to take more pictures. The photos were better but still very bad."

"I wrote to him that if Joel wanted to get the money for his photographs, he would have to learn to hold the camera still and take pictures when there is enough light. And he did it! Some of the pictures were unbelievably good and they really showed how difficult and beautiful the life in Liberia is!"

"I thought about how to pay for Joel's job. So, I made a photo album using the best of his pictures and founded a fundraising campaign. I was shocked by the way people reacted. People from all over the world were eager to help Joel and they bought his book. We sold 1000 copies in 40 countries."

"I promised Joel that we would split the revenue in half and my half would be used for charity: I would give the money to the poor people in Liberia. I also asked him how I could help the people from his country. He told me about the children in need whose parents were extremely poor. I asked him what I could do for them and he said kids needed things for schools like backpacks and chairs. For 100 children these things would cost $500. I thought that I could finally understand what kind of person Joel was. Would he spend the money on himself or on the children? I still had his money and I decided to find out what would happen next so I sent it to him."

"I was happy when I found out that Joel received the money. And what happened next can be called a miracle. Joel went to a store and bought notebooks, backpacks, and stationery for kids. He ordered a taxi to transport everything. I asked Joel to take a camera with him not only to prove what he did but also to show other people what you can achieve with just a little effort."

The American man decided to go to Liberia himself and not just to see Joel but also to meet the managers of different companies, share the experience with them, and find companies to invest in. Pleasant Green started raising money for a trip to Liberia but then a huge sponsor gave the money so all the raised money will be given to Liberian children.

At the end of February, Pleasant Green finally met the man who once wanted to scam him. The American man said, "When people are given a chance, they can act in the way you wouldn't expect them to."