Im Alive!!

I never thought I’d be the type of person to be sucked into a scam. True, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I’ve always considered myself to have good intuition, especially under these circumstances. However I have proven myself to be the young naïve girl from California who has found herself in an absolute mess. Where to begin….

It all started two weeks ago, after feeling discouraged when my flat hunt was starting to seem like a “what dump am I looking at next” hunt. But then I came across an ad on Gumtree (craigslist of the UK) for a girl looking for flatmates to join the search with her. Now at this point I had come across a few hoaxes, and I believed I had become quite good at spotting them. There were all the telltale signs... my favorite was the classic, “wire you money to this account and the place is yours!” I’d laugh to myself when I received those replies thinking, what idiot would be so stupid as to fall for that?!

Wanda (I have decided not to use her real name as we are in the middle of legal proceeding, so I have given her a name that I don’t really care for) was different. Her ad wasn’t trying to sell me on anything, just another twenty something girl looking for a reasonably priced place to live in London. Well I could relate to that! I sent her a reply immediately saying that I would be delighted to join her search. Well the next day she emailed me saying that her and a couple other girls had found a place and they would love me to come by and take a look. Seeing as I was in the middle of nowhere with no transportation made this task somewhat difficult so I asked her to send me details and pictures and If I liked what I saw she could count me in and I would arrange to come by the next weekend to meet her as well as look at the flat.

The moment I turned the corner to walk down the street I felt like I was in a movie. The streets were lined with classic Victorian houses, the autumn leaves falling from the trees. It was a quiet street, but just around the corner were endless bars, shops and anything else I might need to keep me entertained. The flat was even better; it was enormous compared to the shoeboxes I had looked at before. Wanda was there waiting to give me a tour, after she showed me the flat we sat and chatted about our jobs, families, hopes and dreams. My other flatmate who she scammed as well took her to see Mark Ronson the first night she moved in (I just love how everytime we tell someone our story she says “I even took that bitch to see Mark Ronson!!) haha. Apparently Wanda promised the room to three different people without the landlords consent.. I moved in the next week and Wanda was gone to LA, with my money… and my pride.

Fast forward two weeks and I am officially homeless… sleeping on the cold harsh streets of London and giving hand jobs for sandwiches. Haha JUST KIDDING. However the last two weeks have been the most stressful of my life. Being in a huge city alone not knowing if I am ever going to see my money again and not wanting to tell anyone because I felt like such a fool. Let’s just say I am extremely sleep deprived and a little on edge. Long story short, after pressing charges, little Wanda realized it was a good possibility she would end up in jail and decided to pay up.

I think the only thing that has made the last few weeks bearable have been the new friends I have made. They have reminded me why I came to London, this city is like nothing I have ever experienced and I have no intention in throwing in the towel over some “little misunderstanding”, or at least that’s what Wanda calls it. I do hope that my next update is a little more upbeat and contains loads of funny anecdotes about my adventures in London. Until then….



Xoxo



Danielle