I commented recently on one of your YouTube videos from September 2018 regarding Eric Thomas.
I was recently catfished by whoever stole poor Eric’s identity. Just thought you should know all the updated info this scammer is now using.
The bulk of my story is in the comment section of said video.
After reading so many comments regarding this scammer, I had a different experience. It makes me wonder if multiple scammers are using his profile.
He did ask for my bank account to file his taxes because his was frozen. I quickly said no, to which he said “don’t you trust me?” But that was it, he never got angry or tried to pressure me.
Yes there were red flags along the way that for whatever reason I ignored. He told me his wife had been killed in a car accident a few years ago, and no children. He contacted me most of the time twice daily.
As he told me a week after meeting he was being deployed to Africa. So the 8 hour difference made sense to when he could communicate. He knew a lot about Arizona where I live and he claimed to live.
Even providing a specific area and street name for where he lived in an apartment in town. He provided many pictures that fit the conversations at the time. Even two that showed him getting a haircut on base. Unfortunately it was the real Eric, not the fictional Nick Jake Thomas I was conversing with.
He even got to know my adult daughter, to whom he messaged separately to get to know her.
He proposed and he had me completely convinced he was going to marry me when he got back home. This charade went on for almost 5 months.
For the most part he was sweet, charming, very romantic, when he was communicating. Once he stopped messaging me and when he reemerged, said it was due to breaking his phone when he got out of a tank.
The other disappearance his excuse was he lost his wallet off base and was in trouble for losing his military i.d. Neither time did he ask me for money. That’s what now strikes me as strange.
As a catfish that would’ve been a good opportunity I suppose. He did ask for a Steam gift card to play video games while being deployed. I sent the card info to him and he told me it says it had always been used.
I was upset, but he never asked for another. About a month ago he said his friend Dave took care of him financially because of his frozen account, and it was becoming a burden on Dave.
Could I please send a little money to help with food?
So he asked me to send it to his CO through a cash app. I researched the app to make sure it was safe. In total I sent 140 dollars to the cash app and 100 on the Steam card.
Luckily, it was a relatively low monetary amount but it’s the emotional cost that kills me.
I guess I will never know why he did it so long to only gain 240 dollars. All the hard romance work for a small payout. One thing is he got real sloppy in the end by messaging an acquaintance of mine and attempting to flirt with her.
That’s how all this finally ended. I had the log in and password info to his Facebook because he asked me to create it. So on Monday my daughter and I checked it and the nightmare revealed itself.
There were many messages to other women but one conversation had almost verbatim messages that he had sent me. Last week he started calling me “buttercup” and “babycakes”. To which he had never called me. Those were the names he called this woman in Facebook messenger.
He did send pictures to me that were not face pictures, so therefore not poor Eric. If those pictures were truly the scammer his body is tan but on the lighter side. He did speak Spanish and have a slight Hispanic accent. He sent dozens of audio messages through WhatsApp.
When I asked why he had an accent he said where he grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota it was predominantly black.
Which struck me funny, as the accent is Hispanic sounding. Thank God for you guys because my daughter found his pictures with your watermark on Google. Then she discovered the beware video for Eric Thomas on YouTube.
I broke down after all that research and discovery not really knowing what to do. Yesterday I decided to post on that video to hopefully prevent anyone else from becoming a victim of this scammer.
I am heartbroken and embarrassed by this entire situation. I’m putting my life back together one day at a time, even though it just happened 3 days ago.
The hardest part is trying to make sense of all this. He gained so little by playing with my emotions to only get 240 bucks. What I felt for him was real, the fact that I’m stuck to deal with knowing it was all a lie is devastating.
But I have family that is supporting me so I will be ok. What about the next poor woman who doesn’t have anyone and takes her life. Playing with peoples lives is just disgusting. Thank you for helping bring these dirtbags down. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story.
https://www.facebook.com/SHUisteamwork/photos/a.302837103420567/1098933623810907/
Bitcoin wallet used: bc1q3sv3p8dn9wkdwlx84rt7wwlzhyssrd0q5v4qrp
“Ethen Eric Thomas”
(602)806-7884
Ericthomasethan69@gmail.com
Ethanericthomas86@gmail.com
Militarybasecamp885@gmail.com
Basemilitary40001@gmail.com
Ericthomas23456@gmail.com
Ericthomasethan@gmail.com
Thomasethaneric@gmail.com
