I met a guy at my best friend’s (girl) graduation last year. It was love at first sight for me. He kept asking my girl bestie for support and compelling her to ask me to accept him. I was not interested at that time and strictly said no.
After a year, he came to my mind when I was randomly looking at my photos. So, I asked my bestie about him and sent him a request on Instagram. We talked a bit and decided to meet. His place was on the way to my workplace, so I met him on my way to work. But he surprised me with a bouquet and chocolate. I was clearly impressed.
He had a broken phone and mentioned how hard it was for him, as he worked in sales and needed a phone. So, I surprised him with an iPhone 14, which cost 60k. I could only afford that much, even though I had a broken phone myself. But his was worse, so I gave it to him. It was on EMI, though.
The very next day, he took me to iPlanet and forced me to buy him an iPhone 16 pro max 512GB, which cost 1,84,900. I already had loans, so I told him I couldn’t afford it. He suggested selling the iPhone 14, but it only went for 37k. I told him I’d keep that phone for myself and he could get a new one when his parents gave him money. But he insisted on getting it the same day. He sold the phone, made me pay ₹70k using my credit card, and took a loan for the remaining amount.
He promised to repay the ₹70k before my credit card due date. But he missed the deadline and didn’t pay on time. I incurred a huge financial loss. My mom got sick, and I couldn’t pay the EMI either. I started asking him for the EMI, and he only gave me 5k. After repeated attempts, he finally said he wouldn’t pay the full amount. He claimed the 60k iPhone was a gift I gave him, and since he never asked for it, he would deduct that amount. Or he told me to send him 75k, take the phone, and run away.
It was torture. My mom had an upcoming eye surgery, and I couldn’t eat or sleep for days. When my friends called and confronted him, he started lying. I asked him for screenshots of chats or bank statements proving his claims that I had spoken badly about his family and that he had already paid my EMI. But he never shared anything-because I never said anything bad at all. He also mentioned that he was doing this intentionally so I wouldn’t do this to anyone else, as if I had betrayed him. He told me he wouldn’t give me a single paisa and would handle it legally.
So, I filed a complaint with the police. They called him for questioning. It was a female officer, but she supported him and spoke badly about me. She mocked me, saying, “Why did you buy a phone for a cheap person like him? Now you’re asking for it back?” They assassinated my character, and I felt horrible. But in the end, they at least asked him to return the phone’s value.
That was the worst day of my life. I went to the police station because he kept calling and texting me, asking for 75k in exchange for the phone. I didn’t want the phone because I couldn’t afford it. I was handling my loans and my mom’s health single-handedly without any help. And when I reached out to the police for help, they blamed me for giving in the first place.
I accepted that it was my mistake for buying him the phone, but he denied ever saying he would take the loss. As always, the victim is blamed and treated worse.
Moral of the story: Don’t help or buy expensive things for anyone. It will backfire. You can help people who truly need it, but not a fully grown man who has everything. He will only use you and leave you with nothing. And even if you go to the police, they will only help you after victim-blaming, harassing, and degrading you.
He sold the phone the very next day. I was working a night shift, and without sleep, I went with him. I was not in a clear state of mind. If he had waited, I would have realized why I shouldn’t have bought it for him-especially since he didn’t even value the first 60k phone. That’s exactly what the police said:
“60k is already a big amount, and he didn’t even value it. Why did you buy that cheap person a 2 lakh phone?” ~ Anonymous
Question:
What would you have done?
1. Go to the police
2. Lose the amount