I WAS SCAMMED BY MY BEST FRIEND
美国《读者文摘》：最亲密朋友把我骗惨，我通过司法途径夺回公道
By Johnathan Walton 作者：乔纳森﹒沃尔顿
中文导语：这是一部美国现实版的《猫鼠游戏》，只不过剧情更复杂些。受害人先被自己相处多年的"闺蜜"诈骗了9.2万美元，生活也被彻底毁掉了。之后剧情反转，受害人在报案未果的情况下，愤然发起自卫反击，将对方送进监狱。这场骗局中，正常"三观"被完全颠覆，充分说明了人心叵测、世事难料。其实，之前身为刑警的我，也曾差点被冒名同学的骗子蒙蔽，这并不能说职业骗术有多么高明，而是人的思维容易出现"管道效应"，在管道里，完全被黑暗笼罩，一根筋往前走，八头大牛都拉不回头，等到了管道口，回头看时，方才恍然大悟。因为文章较长，译者时间精力有限，只能分为两部分为大家刊登。上半部分介绍了受害人上当受骗的过程。下半部分将在下周刊登，届时揭开谜底。敬请期待。
《猫鼠游戏》海报
Part I
上
I fell hard for one of the oldest cons in the book. But this scheme wasn't cooked up by some fictional Nigerian prince soliciting me through a sketchy e-mail. I fell under the spell of an immensely lovable woman who inserted herself into my life and became my best friend. She was also an international con artist on the run.
我栽在了一个书本记载的最古老骗局中，但并非像某个虚构的尼日利亚公主写了封东拼西凑的电邮来引诱我，而是被一个我非常喜欢的女人施了诡计和魔咒。这个女人闯入了我的生活，成为了我最亲密的朋友，她也是一名在逃的国际骗术大师。
She snared me in an age-old con called the Inheritance Scam, ultimately bilking me out of nearly $100,000. She simultaneously destroyed my sense of self and darkened my once joyful outlook. As she was ruining my life, she was also scamming dozens of others around the world by impersonating psychics, mortgage brokers, psychologists, lawyers, and travel agents and even pretending to be a cancer victim.
她设下了一个叫做"遗产欺诈"的长达数年之久的骗局，最终骗了我将近10万美元。同时，她破坏了我对自己的认知感，我曾经的光明前途也因此变得黯淡无光。她一边在毁掉我的生活，一边把自己包装成别的身份，欺骗着数以十计的其他被害人。她用过的身份包括：通灵师、抵押经纪人、心理学者、律师、旅行代理，甚至假装成癌症患者。
She was a true queen of the con, using disguises and plastic surgery to alter her appearance. I was a reality TV producer, working on shows such as American Ninja Warrior and Shark Tank, and I never saw through her masterful performances. She might have gotten away with cheating many more people if she hadn't turned me into a vigilante. I started my own investigation, uncovered other victims, and helped bring her to justice.
她通过伪装和做整形外科手术来改变外貌，是名副其实的骗术女王。我则是电视真人秀制片人，出品《美国忍者》（译者按：实为《美国忍者勇士》，是一档闯关真人秀节目）和《创智赢家》（译者按：美国ABC电视台系列发明真人秀节目，为发明创业者展示发明和获取主持嘉宾投资赞助提供平台），然而我始终未能看穿她大师级的表演。如果她从未把我变成一名"义务警员"，也许会诈骗更多人，然后消失。我开始自主调查这个案件，发现了其他受害者，帮助将她依法予以严惩。
Today, she's in jail, probably wondering how on earth she became the victim of one of her own victims.
今天她还被关在监狱里，可能正在琢磨，她到底怎么被自己的一名受害者送进了监狱。
梅尔和乔纳森
Allow me to explain.
容我细细道来。
She introduced herself to me as Mair Smyth in May 2013, when she joined a group of angry neighbors in my living room to discuss what to do about losing access to our building's swimming pool because of a legal spat with a neighboring building.
2013年5月，我俩相识，她介绍自己叫梅尔·史密斯。当时，她和一群气愤的邻居们在我的起居室里开会。因为和相邻楼房的一起法律纠纷，我们不能去自己楼房的游泳池了，大家在一起想个应对办法。
"I can help," she told us. "My boyfriend is a lawyer who can get the pool back!"
梅尔对我们说："我能帮忙。我男朋友是律师，能把泳池要回来。"
I liked her immediately. We all did. She was brash. Funny. Intelligent and outspoken. Ironically, for someone who turned out to be a liar and a con artist, she came across as a woman who would always "tell it like it is."
我们大家都立刻喜欢上了她。她是个急脾气，有趣、聪明、坦率。具有讽刺意味的是，虽然她后来被发现是个骗子、骗术大师，但是她给别人留下的印象却是一个总是"实话实说"的女人。
She also came across as extremely wealthy. She wore expensive Jimmy Choo shoes and once showed me her closet filled with more than 250 pairs. I later discovered they were all fake.
她还给人留下非常富有的印象。她穿着昂贵的周仰杰牌的鞋子，有一次，她给我展示了装着250多双同样品牌鞋子的鞋柜。后来，我发现那些鞋都是冒牌货。
After our initial meeting in my apartment that night, Mair invited my husband, Pablito, and me to dinner. Over the next year, she frequently wined and dined us at fancy restaurants and always insisted on picking up the bill. "I have a lot of money—let me pay!" she'd plead convincingly.
那晚在我家里开了第一次会议后，梅尔邀请我丈夫帕瓦利托和我共进晚餐。第二年，她经常请我们到阔气的餐馆里喝红酒、吃饭，而且一直坚持买单。她会不容置疑地请求道："我有的是钱，让我付账吧！"
梅尔和乔纳森夫妇
We'd hang out almost every evening in our barbecue area, exchanging intimacies under the cool Los Angeles sky. Mair told us she was originally from Ireland. One night she pointed to a framed document hanging in her living room. "This is the Irish Constitution," she said. "See that signature at the bottom? That's my great uncle's." I had no idea that, like her shoes, that tale was fake.
几乎每天晚上，我们都去我们的烧烤区，在凉爽的洛杉矶天空下谈论着各自的私密事。梅尔告诉我们，她出生在爱尔兰。有天晚上，她指着悬挂在起居室里的一份镶在框里的文件说："这是爱尔兰宪法。看到底部的签名了吗？那是我伟大的叔叔留下的。"当时，就像她的鞋子一样，我根本不知道这个故事是编造的。
Mair brought me Irish tea and pastries and regaled me with stories of how when she was a young girl, her grandmother, who was supposedly in the Irish Republican Army, would take her to the top of a bridge and teach her how to hurl Molotov cocktails down on British soldiers. I was captivated and horrified.
梅尔送给我爱尔兰茶和点心，还给我讲故事解闷。说她还是小姑娘的时候，她的奶奶（身份应该是爱尔兰共和军）带她到了一座桥梁顶部，教她向英国士兵投掷燃烧弹。这个故事让我又惊恐又着迷。
When I tearfully confided in her that part of my family had disowned me for being gay, she pounced. "My family disowned me, too!" she said as she fought back tears. "They're trying to get me disinherited."
当我泪眼汪汪地向她吐露，我的一些家庭成员因为我是同性恋而和我断绝了关系时，她冲上来，强忍泪水喊道："我的家庭也和我断绝了关系！他们要剥夺我的继承权。"
Mair told me that an uncle, the patriarch of her family, had recently died, and her cousins were dividing up an estate worth 25 million euros (about $32 million). She said she was supposed to receive 5 million euros as her share of the inheritance and showed me angry text messages and e-mails from her cousins threatening that she wouldn't get a dime.
梅尔告诉我，她做家族族长的一个叔叔最近过世了。梅尔的表亲们正在分价值2500万欧元（约合3200万美元）的遗产。她说她应该继承500万欧元。她给我看她表亲们怒火冲天的短信息和电子邮件，他们威胁梅尔说，她一分钱遗产都得不到。
Mair told me she had taken a lot of family money with her when she left Ireland many years ago, so she never needed to work. But she claimed she enjoyed working, so she got hired at a travel agency where her family did a lot of business.
梅尔告诉我，多年前离开爱尔兰的时候，她从家族里拿了一大笔钱，因此她永远不需要工作。但是她声称自己喜欢工作，因此她去了一家旅行社上班，她的家族和那家旅行社作了很多生意。
Fourteen months into our friendship, Mair and I were like sister and brother, even ending our phone calls with "I love you." She told me that her barristers (I had to look up the word to learn that it means "lawyers") were having trouble trying to secure her inheritance and that they had warned her about a clause in her uncle's will stating that if any family member were convicted of a felony, the person would forfeit his or her share.
在我们14个月的朋友交往期间，梅尔和我就像兄妹，我们在电话挂断时甚至要说"我爱你"。她告诉我，她的律师们（译者按：梅尔用了一个偏僻的词，作者查过字典后才知道是"律师"）在保全她的继承权时遇到了麻烦，警告她，在梅尔叔叔的遗嘱里有个条款，内容是如果任何家族成员被判重罪，就会丧失其继承权。
"You'd better be careful!" I cautioned her. "One of your disgruntled cousins might try and set you up!" Many of her family members certainly appeared to hate her. Why wouldn't they set her up? I thought.
我提醒她："你最好小心点！你那些心怀不满的表亲们中的某一位可能会试图陷害你！"我当时想，那么多家庭成员肯定都在恨她，为什么不会陷害她呢？
On July 8, 2014, my phone rang.
2014年7月8日，我的电话响了。
"You have a collect call from an inmate at the Century Regional Detention Facility. Press one to accept," the computerized voice instructed me.
电话里的电脑语音在下指令："你收到了中央地区拘留所的对方付费电话，按1接听。"
It was Mair. I quickly pressed one.
那是梅尔打来的，我迅速按了1键。
"You were right!" she sobbed. "I was arrested today. My family set me up to make it look like I stole $200,000 from my job."
她抽泣着说："你是对的！今天我被逮捕了。我的家族陷害我，我现在看上去是从工作的地方偷了20万美元。"
"I told you this would happen!" I yelled. I was distraught. I found a bail bondsman and paid him $4,200 to get her out of jail. That's when I first learned that her legal name was Marianne Smyth, not Mair Smyth. But she paid me back the next day, when she was released from jail. Or, rather, the married man she was dating at the time paid me back. Little did I (or he) know she was scamming him too.
我大喊："我警告过你这种事情会发生的！"我心烦意乱，找了一名保释代理人，给了他4200美元，把梅尔保释出狱。那是我第一次知道，她的真名叫"玛丽安娜﹒史密斯"，而不是梅尔﹒史密斯。但是她出狱的第二天就把钱还给了我。或者，与其说是那段时间她在约会的已婚男人还了钱。我和那个男人都不知道梅尔也在欺骗他。
As the months passed, Mair showed me e-mails from her lawyers assuring her that the case against her was falling apart. I had no idea those e-mails were from fake accounts she had created herself, just like the messages she claimed were from her cousins.
几个月后，梅尔给我看了她的律师们的邮件，律师们向她保证，针对她的拿起案件没有成立。我压根不知道那些邮件来自她自己虚构的账户，包括那些她声称的表亲们发来的手机信息也是假的。
Then, almost three years into our friendship, she told me that the district attorney prosecuting her case had frozen her bank accounts. So I started lending her money. She had immediately paid back the $4,200 I used to bail her out of jail, so I felt confident she'd pay me back any other money I loaned her.
后来，我们的朋友关系持续了将近3年的时候，梅尔告诉我，起诉她的地方检察官冻结了她的银行账户。就这样我开始借给她钱。因为她立马还了我保释她出狱的4200美元，因此我相信她会把我再次借给她的钱还回来。
But that's the thing: The term con artist is short for confidence artist because these individuals are skilled at gaining your confidence and then using it to scam you out of your money.
但是问题在于："骗术大师"这个词其实是"获取对方信任的大师"的缩写，因为那些骗子精通于获取你的信任，然后借机把你的钱骗光。
Over the course of several months, I lent Mair nearly $15,000. You'd think I'd be worried about giving her that much money, but I wasn't. Not only was she my best friend, but she also claimed she was about to inherit millions of dollars. I never even considered that anything sinister could be taking place.
在几个月的时间内，我借给梅尔将近1.5万美元。你可能会想我会为给她那么多钱而担心，但是我并没有。不仅因为她是我最亲密的朋友，而且她也说过会继承上百万美元的遗产。我甚至从没有想过，会有什么不祥的事情发生。
One day, Mair called me and said the DA was demanding $50,000 to dismiss the case against her. I didn't have $50,000 in cash. But I did have an 840 credit score. So I let her charge the $50,000 on my credit cards to get the criminal case against her dropped.
一天，梅尔打电话说，地方检察官索要5万美元来了结那桩官司。我当时没有5万美元现金，但是我的确有840个信用积分，因此我让她从我的信用卡上提现5万美元，以了结那起刑事案件。
A few months later, Mair was arrested again. She said the judge had charged her with money laundering, something to do with her using my credit cards, and punished her with 30 days in jail—a "slap on the wrist." She assured me, once again, that as soon as she got out and received her inheritance, she would pay me back.
几个月后，梅尔又被逮捕了。这次她说，法官控告她涉嫌使用我的信用卡洗钱，判她入狱，羁押30天—一个象征性的惩罚。她又一次向我保证说，一旦出狱，拿到遗产后，就把钱还我。
Mair called me collect from jail every day. When I said I wanted to come visit her, she begged me not to. "I don't want you to see me like this," she said. But I insisted. So I logged on to the jail's website to schedule a visit. That's when the true devastation she had wrought on my life started to reveal itself.
(To be continued)
梅尔每天都从监狱给我打对方付费电话。当我提出要去监狱探望她时，她祈求我不要去："我不想让你看到我现在这个样子。"但是我坚持要去。于是，我登录了那座监狱的官网，去预定探监日期。这时，她给我的生活造成的真实灾难，便开始暴露出来。
（未完待续）
重点词语解读
问：本文标题"I was scammed by my best friend"中的"scam"，应当如何理解？
答：Scam，在《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》中的解释："If someone scams a person or organization, they deceive them in order to get something valuable from them, especially money."即"欺诈、骗"。例句： When I told them they were being scammed, they couldn't believe it. 在原文中，梅尔骗乔纳森的套路可谓工于心计、苦心经营。长达3年时间里，梅尔先以热心肠示人，后经常请客吃饭送东西，在逐渐和受害人建立起朋友关系后，仍不急于下手，而是把她的爱尔兰遗产故事抓住点滴机会慢慢讲出来，做足铺垫。更"难能可贵"的是，在乔纳森为把梅尔保释出狱花了4200美元后，梅尔马上还了钱。这真的是放长线钓大鱼。最令人毛骨悚然的，是梅尔在欺骗乔纳森的同时，还在以其他身份欺骗着别人，包括她的同居男友。这个人如果不是骗术大师，肯定是老戏骨，每场戏都惟妙惟肖、倾情表演，最终，她也不搞不清，哪个角色才是真正的自己了。
（翻译&主播：向东）
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声明：本篇英文内容摘选自美国原版杂志《读者文摘》2020年6月刊（Reader's Digest: June 2020），仅供个人学习交流使用。微信公众号“E外刊”（ID: DONG_Talks）同步刊登，更多精彩，欢迎关注。 |
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