Played for A SUCKER

Kerre let her guard down when a 'friend' was in need

- KERRE WOODHAM

I never thought it could happen to me. I’ve read stories about online scams. I’ve interviewed experts about how to avoid being scammed. We’ve had discussions on my talk-back show about people who have lost their life savings due to scams. But when a scammer set his sights on me, I fell for him hook, line and sinker.

I’d opened up my computer at work and there, in the messages on my Facebook page, was a cry for help from Erasto, my guide in Tanzania when I visited that extraordinary country with a tour group eight years ago. He was a beautiful human. He absolutely made the experience and after it, we stayed in touch.

When he started his own safari company, I proofread his marketing pamphlets. Despite the pandemic, his company continued to grow and he, his wife and sons flourished. So it was with absolute horror that I read there had been an electrical fault at his house and his youngest son had been badly burned.