Hi, my name is Halima. I’m 36 years old and have two children. I’m in a difficult situation;

I fell victim to an online investment scam; I lost €12,000, €8,000 of which I had simply borrowed to release the other money I’d already paid in. Now I’m penniless and in debt for 8,000. I’m in a terrible situation where most of the time I can think of nothing but suicide just to make it all go away. I’m exhausted, I can’t sleep and I feel absolutely awful. Neither reporting it to the police nor disputing the transactions has helped. I need a helping hand to carry on, to survive... I’m so scared right now; I can’t see any solutions and I have no family members who can help me. I’m alone, and my pay cheque barely covers a couple of days’ expenses. I’m behind on many school meal payments and utility bills. Please help me. I never thought I’d fall into a trap; I thought I’d be able to make a bit of money to give my children a better life.

My only goal was my children; I prayed and begged the scammers in every way possible, pleading, crying and explaining my difficult family situation and the fact that I only have a part-time job and don’t earn much. I really tried everything to convince them to give me back at least some of the money, but nothing...

There was no way to make them budge, not even by reporting them to the police; they kept asking me for another payment to get all the funds back.

My children are the light of my life and I wish I could give them everything they deserve. I often notice that their classmates feel left out, and I’d love to do more for them... with hindsight, I should never have started that investment, but now, unfortunately, we find ourselves in a worse situation than we were in before... please give us a hand, I beg you