56-year-old Des Gregor went to Mali to look for the love of his life. Instead, he got kidnapped by gangsters at gunpoint – and blackmailed to pay $86000 to them. He was saved by the Canadian embassy. But the man fully deserved the ordeal he went through. Not only was a he a stupid sucker, he was also hellishly greedy and a pervert:

He had gone there expecting to marry a woman he had met over the internet, and pick up a US$86,000 (£43,000) dowry.

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The target of his affections was a woman purportedly called Natacha, a Liberian refugee in her twenties whom he had met and fallen in love with over the internet.

Why does a 56-year-old guy need to meet a 20-something chick? In a third world country? And expects to marry her for money? I mean, hello, McFly, anybody home?

From the sound of it, “Natacha” didn’t even exist.

I have met quite a few people I have known from “the Internets”. And I was never really worried about anything, because I knew the people fairly well. Even someone like Bahati, who lives in Nigeria, the land of the Internet scam, I would trust pretty much because I know she exists, I know she’s a real woman, and I am fairly certain she has no hidden motives. But still, I wouldn’t really want to go Nigeria alone. I’d at least take a friend along. Maybe Yunru.

So let Des Gregor’s experience be a lesson: Greed and depravity are not good motivations.