QUEERTY ASKS, YOU ANSWER — The European press dubbed swindler Helg Sgarbi “The Swiss Gigolo” for his attempt to bilk Germany’s richest woman, BMW heiress Susanne Klatten, out of millions by threatening to release footage of their, ahem, “intimate relations” to the public. This, on top of the roughly $9 million she already extended to what she thought was her caring boyfriend, but who turned out to be an adept con man. (Who, it turns out, might have been working for another man who actually called the shots.) It wasn’t Sgarbi’s first smooth talking stab at exploiting wealthy women; he’s got a number of prominent names he nabbed, blackmailing them with the same gimmick. Fitting, then, that a German court just sentenced Sgarbi to six years in jail. And while hopefully you’ve never been the victim of such an egregious blackmailing (it does take a certain net worth, after all), we’d guess a number of Queerty readers have a notch or two when it comes to gold-digging boyfriends and girlfriends. Herewith, we invite you to share your most sordid stories of that deadbeat ex who, it turns out, didn’t need $1,000 to pay for his ailing grandmother’s cancer medication, nor did he need your gold card to pay for college courses so he could finish his degree. Were you swindled by someone you thought loved you back? Tell us — and feel free to post under another screenname if you’re looking for anonymity. The more sickening details of distrust, well, the better.
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Sebbe
@David Hauslaib – “The more sickening details of distrust, well, the better.” – LOL
Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice shame on me.
nope
I had too good of taste in my boyfriends to have ever been swindled by them. They were uniformly lovely people. On the other hand, I was ripped off by a really hot hustler once. I considered it a bargain overall. He got a camera and I got a taste of some pretty sweet… you know.
Definitely
Typically, I’d like to think that I have a pretty good judge of character, but I briefly (thank god) dated this guy, Michael, who not only stole (but paid back) over $5000 from a gay men’s chorus for which he was the artistic director, but he also intentionally misled me (and others, come to find out) regarding his HIV status, which led to a few weeks of panic on my part. He dated somebody I met later, and I learned that crashed this guy’s car and he bounced several checks to him and never actually paid him the deductible he agreed to. Word got out about him pretty quickly, and he had to move to Austin, TX, from San Francisco. Austinians, beware!! =)
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Nothing has ever happened to me, simply because I’m far too untrusting of people. However, an older friend of mine fell for a younger trick and let the boy move into his house after knowing him for only two weeks. One evening he came home from work to find his house cleaned out with nothing but the carpets left. The hustler even cleaned out the fridge and wine cellar.
peter fortune
I once swindled my exboyfriend. Does that count for something?? He lived in Brooklyn Heights and was cheating on me. He had a nice little brownstone (he had a chain of electronic stores). One weekend, when I knew our relationship was at an end, he told me he was going upstate for the weekend. He asked me to watch his dog. I went there with a UHAUL and STOLE EVERYTHING that was not nailed down, well actually I took the Murano chandelier that was nailed down, so yah, I stole everything and fenced what I could and kept the rest. Of course I moved. Bastard was surprised when he came in to find a shitty floor, and nothing else.
drresol
A guy stole a little fountain out of my apartment one time. Of all things…some shitty little fountain that cost 10 bucks from Target! Both my wallet and my laptop were nearby, but he takes the fountain. To be honest, the experience was too bizzare to even really get upset over.
boricua.chick
Is this a trick question? LOL. Here’s a short list of things I have forked over $$$ to my exes for: plane tickets, stuff in storage, rent money, new furniture, effing huge home gas bill…oh wait, I guess it’s not swindling if you were head over heels in love and glad to fork over the $$$ at the time. LOL.
Phoenix (The Anarchist Left-Wing Nancy-Boy One)
Nope, never been swindled. I’ve had a couple of guys try to hustle me, but my belief is nobody is too pretty to work for a living.
Have I ever cheated anyone? I was once in the same position Peter Fortune was in: Guy who dumped me asked me to pet sit. I didn’t steal his stuff, I stole the pet. (To be perfectly fair, we’d gotten it together and it liked me more…and I didn’t want to share custody.)