BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) — All Bernadette Maha Abdullah wanted was a baby.
Already the parent of several older children, Abdullah grew up with adopted siblings and always wanted to follow in his parents’ footsteps. So after experiencing her first miscarriage in July 2021, she was prepared to pay thousands of dollars to adopt her.
“When I lost my baby, I went back to social media to find support for things like miscarriage,” said Abdullah, who lives in Bardstown. “I found a really nice group, and the women were really nice, so one day I clicked on it and there was an adoption link, so I clicked on that and joined the group. ”
Abdullah and her husband wanted to adopt a child from India based on their nationality.
“I said to my husband, ‘There’s a guy over there. He runs an adoption agency, so let’s get in touch,'” she said.
Abdullah was given a photo of a baby in need of a home, said to be in an orphanage in India.
“His name was Said Younis,” she said. “We became like brothers and sisters. We shared everything about that day with each other. That was his way of seducing me and making me trust him.”
She said he claimed to work for a major adoption agency in India and was helping people with their paperwork. From there, she agreed to pay $10,000 to adopt a baby girl and a baby boy. The babies were said to have been born on the same day and Abdullah would have thought they were twins.
“He said the first deposit was $500,” she said. “I didn’t hesitate because I trusted him. I had friends in the same part of India where he was from and they were checking everything out about him as well.”
“He sent me legal documents showing that he had applied. Everything is ready. My friends said it was legal. I received the next $500 in two weeks. I made a deposit.”
Abdullah’s sister, Marissa Brown, of Louisville, was also interested in adopting. So the same man was helping her in that process as well.
“He contacted me and seemed like a legitimate person,” Brown said. “He was faithful to the babies. He said these babies needed a home.”
But something still didn’t seem right for Abdullah.
“I said, ‘Teacher, I want to see live video of my kids. I want to see it on a video call,'” she said.
She said the man made excuse after excuse as to why he couldn’t see his children. It lasted for months. Children were sick or a family member died, he said.
“By then the kids will be older and I know that and he sends me updated pictures but I never see them.” Abdullah said.
It turns out the whole thing was a scam.
“When I look at the photos, I feel empty,” Brown said. “That never happened and I gave up on that part, even the adoption here. I gave up on that.”
Abdullah later realized that the photos he had been sent were of the man’s own children.
“I looked into Facebook further and found his wife’s account,” she said. “And there were childhood photos of his children, and those were the photos he sent us.”
Whitney Adkins of the Better Business Bureau said, as with any scam, always make sure you know who you’re dealing with, and in this case try to check with the adoption agency.
“There’s a lot of emotion that goes into adoption. It’s going to be a little bit easier to scam because the victim is thinking in their mind. They just want to adopt a child,” Adkins said. “We’re seeing a lot of scams emerging or at least growing on social media, Facebook, Instagram, etc.”
Adkins said she should contact an attorney who specializes in adoption who can explain the legal adoption process.
Brown didn’t lose any money, but Abdullah donated a total of $1,275.
“Even though we are here in America, we can’t legally do anything against them,” Abdullah said. “And they know this. … I don’t even know how to monitor him because he changes IDs so often.”
Abdullah had known for some time that he had been scammed, but did not tell the man. Eventually, she said, he agreed to give her some money back. He sent her $250 via PayPal in October 2023, but the money was quickly canceled and refunded.
“This time I’m dealing with PayPal and I’m trying to tell them that he scammed me, and I’m also dealing with Western Union and I’m trying to tell them everything,” she said. “They say, ‘He used the ID card when he picked it up. There’s nothing we can do about it.'”
She said the man claimed to be of the same religion as her and used that to try to convince her that he was legitimate.
“He is saying, ‘I am your brother. I will never deceive you. I will never deceive you. You will get your money back,'” Abdullah said. “And he said, ‘I’ve already lost $10,000 on the adoption you want to cancel.'” He claims he paid them out of money I didn’t pay. ”
“He has hurt a lot of people and extorted a lot of money from people. “And a guy gave him $5,000.” “It was for my father’s truck. It was for another group that my father belonged to, a group of people who sell cars in his country. I learned that you are participating in.”
And while the whole process was going on, Abdullah miscarried again. She said not a day goes by that she doesn’t think about what happened.
“You took advantage of me when I lost two children. That was the worst thing you could do to someone grieving a child,” she said.
But out of heartache came blessings. Abdullah gave birth to a baby girl named Hasira, which means “heaven” in Arabic. Her baby is now a toddler.
Abdullah’s hope now is that others can learn from what she went through.
“He grabbed me at a very emotional time in my life. My head wasn’t level,” she said. “But it will never happen again. I learned a lot from this.”
WDRB investigators tried searching for the man on social media but were unable to find him. Abdullah said the scammer has now deleted his Facebook page and the group he belonged to. We found his email address but received no reply from him.
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