Internet Romance

Kamani has not been in a serious relationship with the opposite sex for several years. Burned so many times and almost giving up on finding true love and romance, she questioned if Mr. Right would ever come her way. Most of her female friends were happily married, and those who were not were forever complaining how hard it was to find eligible bachelors.
Always feeling out of place at functions where there were mostly couples, and never believing she had much in common with her married associates, she often envied them, because their lives and conversations perpetually centered on their husbands and children. For her, it was like looking at their existence through a window or having a minor role in a popular soap opera.
At age twenty-two, Kamani obtained a BA Degree in Graphic Arts Design and went on to complete her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from a well-known university in New York City.
She went back to California and got a job at a firm that designed and printed posters for large media outlets. After working at the company for over fifteen years, she left to start her own business.
Because of her on-the-job experiences and contacts, she decided to start a design and printing service out of her home; the house, she inherited from her parents. She would design and print greeting cards, posters, flyers, catalogs and brochures for small cottage industries, churches and non-profit organizations in the Oakland community. Since her major was in business, setting up the company was a breeze.
It took about two years for the business to get off the ground. Many of her clients came through word of mouth and from advertisements placed in community newspapers.
In its third year of operation, the business generated over $200,000.00 in sales. She expected revenues to double in two years. With all of her accomplishments, she was still lonely.
Finding a suitable man was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
She was not into the club or bar scene, and finding someone in church was not cutting it; most of the single male members were as old as Methuselah or had more health-related problems than one could count. This is not to say she was hard to please, but most of the men she encountered in the past were married, gay or bisexual, and the men she did date were either afraid to commit or just wanted to be friends with benefits.
This is not what she wanted out of life; she was searching for a man who shared the same interests and values as she did. He did not have to be rich, but had to be financially sound. Living with a man without the benefit of marriage was not an option for her.
During the fifth year of operation, sales from the company had tripled. Kamani was now ready to expand her business. She did not want to limit herself to just the Oakland area but possibly go nationwide.
Someone suggested the Internet. The concept of going on-line was a new phenomenon for her. She did not even have an e-mail account, because her business was local.
Most of her clients came to her office, or she would go to their place of business to discuss designing or printing needs. Nevertheless, after careful examination, she knew conducting business in cyberspace was the way to go if she were going to broaden her horizons and increase revenues.
Kamani’s computer came with a modem and an Internet Service Provider program. She opened an e-mail account and signed on for complete access to the World Wide Web.
While surfing the Internet, she found several sites on which to advertise her company. Soon, she received many inquiries and signed on three clients from the Greater East Bay area. For the next several months, her ads were pulling in orders from as far away as Australia.
In her spare time, Kamani would go on-line to seek out other business opportunities and noticed rotating banners advertising dating sites. She was amazed that so many of these services were on-line. She would see ads for dating and matchmaking services in printed newspapers and singles’ publications but never realized the Internet held so many possibilities for meeting someone. With numerous choices, she was baffled as to which sites to check.
She was like a kid in the candy store and thought, “If only I had known about these places years ago, I might have met a suitable mate right on the World Wide Web.” She made up her mind to start searching for love and romance and believed there was a reason why she went on-line in the first place: It was not to get more customers but to find a soul mate.
Kismet was working in her favor, she thought. After probing through a myriad of dating sites, she found a service, which targeted the forty plus singles. She put together a short profile and uploaded it along with her photo:

44-year-old single female is seeking a genuine, loving and caring single male who is interested in a committed relationship, leading to marriage. Age is unimportant. I operate a successful business, own my own home and enjoy shopping, attending yard sales, and dinning out, just to name a few. For more details, contact me.

For the next couple of weeks, Kamani was browsing through some of the men’s profiles, but none of the ads appealed to her. She knew it would take time to find that out-of-the-ordinary man. After all, it had been years since she was in a serious relationship. Therefore, there was no rush to meet anyone.
However, deep in her heart, she knew the likelihood of a 44-year-old woman finding someone becomes harder as one gets older and believed that most men in this age group were looking for younger women who could bear them offsprings; at this stage of her life, she was not interested in having children.
Since her parents were deceased, and she had no siblings, Kamani had no family obligations. Because most of her relatives were scattered throughout the country, she had very little contact with them.
She was a very attractive and petite woman, had a very youthful looking face and kept herself in good physical condition by walking and jogging.
When it came to her sense of style, she was very conservative and was not into name-brand designer clothes or flashy trinkets. She was definitely penny-pinching chic.
Her home was modestly furnished and decorated. Most of the paintings on her walls were copies or prints. She enjoyed searching for bargains and taking advantage of sales and specials on office equipment and add-ons for the house.
On the weekends, she loved shopping at the thrift shops and attending yard sales. To say she was a prudent person was no exaggeration. If she could buy anything below wholesale, she did.

Finally, Kamani received an e-mail with an attached photo from an interested suitor. His name was Landel. He came across her profile, was in awe of her beauty and described himself as a 50-year-old never-married man who was an executive at a bank in the Republic of Cape Verde.
His job was to set up and oversee business accounts for foreign corporations doing business in his country. One of his hopes and dreams was to meet a woman like her. He went on to write that he was a one-woman man who was also looking to marry, and her age was irrelevant. He enjoyed reading, traveling, listening to classical music and playing chess and the piano, was a loving and caring person and was seeking the same qualities in a woman.
He was planning to visit California on business and wanted to meet her.
After reading that e-mail and looking at his picture, Kamani fell completely for this man. He was drop-dead gorgeous.
She could not believe that such a refined and sexy looking middle-aged man was out there, and thought, “Sometimes you have to go the distance to find someone so beautiful.”
For her, it was love at first sight, and yet, she was about to be weaved into a web of make-believe, which would leave her devastated for years to come.
For the next two months, Landel and Kamani were e-mailing each other and chatting on-line. He would send sexy photos of himself, seductive notes and love verses from which she got great pleasure; in return, she would do the same.
Not only was he well bred, but extremely romantic. She would have fantasies about the two of them embracing each other in front of the fireplace, sipping wine in the nude, chasing each other around the house, ending up on the futon and making passionate love all night. She could not believe that such sensual thoughts were racing through her head.
This man really had a hold on her, and he definitely rocked her world.
Landel talked about his life growing up in Cape Verde, and the businesses that were investing in his country. He even suggested that there was a market for her service. While he was talking more about commerce, she was thinking about expanding her business, reaching a wider market and starting a line of t-shirts, silk-screened with her artwork and designs.
She came up with a proposal, sent it to him for feedback, and asked for his assistance in setting up this type of undertaking in his homeland.
Within a couple of days, Landel got back to Kamani, thought her proposition was excellent and advised her that starting a corporation of this type, in Cape Verde, would be beneficial. People are always looking for uniquely designed t-shirts due to their popularity, and merchants are willing to pay big bucks for high-end tees.
He told her there was a plant in the city of Paria that could print, and distribute her merchandise to various stores and outlets worldwide, for next to nothing. All she would have to do is provide the artwork, and the factory would take care of the rest. She would have to open a corporate account at his bank.
They could discuss this project in more details, because he was planning to visit California next month.
By now, Kamani’s impressions of Landel’s intellect in international trade rated him a high mark; she could not stop thinking about how caring and encouraging he was in helping her reach her goals. Each day, she was falling in love with this man and could not wait to see him.
His magnetic approach was quickly becoming her drug of choice and was pulling her deeper into a never-ending abyss.
While Kamani was on the Internet, she received an e-mail from Landel, informing her that the owner of the factory was looking to sell. The asking price was US$1,000,000.00, which included eight printing presses, t-shirts, dependable workers and a roster of buyers. She would only have to put down twenty percent, as a good faith payment, and with the intent to buy.
He told her there were several people interested in acquiring the plant, and if she wanted to buy the factory, he would have to hear from her within forty-eight hours.
She was eager and immediately e-mailed him and wrote, “I want to purchase the plant and will set up an account at your bank.”
He e-mailed her back and conveyed, “I will handle all of the particulars and get back to you shortly.”
Two days later, she received the following e-mail:

Dear Kamani:
The lawyer representing the factory you wish to buy has prepared a contract along with the necessary documents, which will transfer ownership of the business to you.
You agree to pay US$200,000.00, {20% deposit of the total asking price, US$1,000,000.00}, which will be deposited, into the seller’s bank account. You and the seller will determine subsequent payments of the remaining balance {US$800,000.00} later.
I will e-mail the contract to you shortly; please sign and return by fax, as soon as possible. To expedite this agreement, I have taken the liberty of contacting a lawyer who is an associate of mine; he specializes in business contracts and will be in your area for the next several days.
At my request, he will go over the contract, at no cost to you.
Please note that ownership of the company will be complete when the seller receives US$200,000.00 into his account.
Love and Smooches,
Landel