Scammed

I believe that I am a survivor of a scam (I don’t like the word “victim”).

I looked up some rental apartments in London and paid up and then the company didn’t give me further instructions or return my emails.

Here's the apartment I had booked

Then I looked up some forums and newspaper articles online about such scams. They

- ask you to wire money over and credit card is not accepted

- have great looking apartments at incredibly low prices

- have apartments which are available readily, even last minute

So I have now accepted the loss of my money.

Be careful so you can protect yourself.

It’s funny…I just was listening to Stephen and Ondrea Levine reiterate many of my beliefs on the power of forgiveness on Levine Talks and did a forgiveness process  two days ago and then got this opportunity to forgive.

The loss of the money does hurt. But I forgive the people involved, and hope they will be transformed by love and truth.

Now that I’m a strengths practitioner, I’m drawn to looking at people’s beauty even more than before…and everyone has strengths, even the people who have taken my money. May we build a world where we teach our children to use their strengths for a higher purpose…Do log on to the VIA Institute on Character and Realise2 to learn more about using your strengths…There’s a free version of the VIA Character strengths survey too.

Anyway, here’s my email to the person who took my reservation and stopped communicating with me when I asked for details about the apartment. I felt a strange, expansive beautiful and light feeling after I sent it.

Forgiveness and using people as mirrors so we can grow from such incidents feels very freeing.

Learn more about the power of love and forgiveness from The Fetzer Institute.

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Dear Pedro or whatever your name is,

It looks like you have taken my money without having any real apartments to rent to me so I write this letter from my heart. (If I am wrong, please correct me.)

I forgive you.

I don’t condone your actions but I forgive YOU.

You have your reasons for what you do and you are trying to meet your needs in the way you know to be best. There is a story behind why you do what you do and I wish I could hear it.

I can see your strengths in being able to appreciate beauty (through the beautiful pictures of the apartments), in seizing opportunities etc. Perhaps you could learn more about your strengths or simply watch this inspiring video, “Re-building your life through character strengths“.

Imagine how life would be if you used these strengths for a higher purpose where you served people and brought them happiness…

I hope you experience Truth/Conscience/Higher Power/God/Love, whatever makes sense to you that has the power to touch you with the transformative and healing power of love.

You have also helped me look at myself. Where have I said something and done something else? Where have I wrongly led people (or myself) on, whether intentionally or not? Those are for me to investigate and forgive myself for and not do again to the best of my ability.

I hope you will return my money. I am trying to do good with it through a project to bring people greater happiness. Oddly that’s what I am coming to London for – to learn about peace in everyday life and creating systems where people are happier.

Your actions, if they indeed are what I think they are, could be hurting many people.

May you be blessed one day with the amazing peace and joy that comes from bringing happiness to others…

Vadivu