Jordan: Everyone is rightly suspicious of things on the internet that seem too good to be true. You know what they are. Princes in Nigeria that have millions of bucks and they’ll share some of it with you. Or beautiful people who pop up in your Facebook messages just wanting to get to know you. Or pictures on dating sites that aren’t what they appear to be. Or products that look nothing like their packaging. People that you meet on the internet and things you buy on the internet generally are not to be trusted until you see them in real life. It is funny though, for all the scams in the digital world. And for all our watchfulness for them, a con artist that’s operating in the most tangible, physical and emotional parts of our lives, can still sometimes take us for a ride. And if he’s good enough, he can do it again and again and again to different people all across Canada and each time disappear before he’s caught. And he can get away with it. But not forever. This is the story of one of those con artists. Actually, no, it’s not. This is the story of how one woman finally figured him out, and what happened next? I’m Jordan Heath Rawlings. This is The Big Story. Andréa Speranza is a firefighter and on the East coast in Halifax, and she found herself pulled into a very strange story. Hi, Andréa.
Andréa: Hi.
Jordan: Why don’t you start just by telling me about meeting the man that you knew as March. How did that happen?
Andréa: Well, I had met him several times while I was exercising in Shubie park. I always go there to run, bike, paddle and stuff, and I never, I just said hi. And then one day I seen him, I was sitting with a friend and Tim Hortons after exercising, getting a drink, and then he was with another friend. And that’s how the very first time we ever really talked.
Jordan: Tell me what he was like, what did he look like? What did you think of him? How was he?
Andréa: You know, when I first met him, I wasn’t even slightly interested in him. I think my friend was more interested in him and she had most, the majority of the conversation, you know, he said he was visiting his, uh, step-mom helping her with the campground cause the maintenance person had to go away on family business and he could do that because he worked on the rigs and worked so many months on and so many months off and he wanted to purchase the lease at the camp ground, and how he purchased 300 acres to create a youth at risk facility. And then my friend got really interested because she knew my, at least 15 year dream, 649 dream was to create what I called an adventure retreat. But it was very similar to what he was describing as he what he had done. So she kept talking and the only thing I was really interested in was the why.So really the only question I asked was, well, why would you create a youth at risk facility? And he said, because he had such a hard upbringing, that his parents had addiction issues and that, you know, somehow he found his way to become a successful businessman, and now he wants to pay it forward and help other people so that they too can have that success. So even after knowing that, you know, my interest was somewhat peaked, but I wasn’t interested enough to ask for a phone number or anything. And he left and my friend was like, are you kidding me? This guy is your come around. Why have you not asked for his phone number? And you know, I really wasn’t looking to date. I was really busy. I had a full life. So I didn’t ask and I wasn’t, you know, I just by coincidence, uh, seen him again in the park and he asked if I’d go for a walk with them. And you know, our, our walk was like a few hours long and you know, he had told me more about himself, you know, then I dated him for a few months.
Jordan: How did the first few months go? I mean, uh, there were no alarm bells going off in your head? It was a fairy tale romance or just sort of happened?
Andréa: He took me to the camp ground to meet a step mom, and everybody at the campground loved him. And, you know, they all were very happy to see him. And, you know, he went to all my charity events with me and all my friends liked him. So, you know, and he was, it was a pretty good relationship. You know, he, uh. You know, basically he asked me information to see what I liked most, and he was that person. So, um, you know, he gave lots of compliments and, you know, was very interested in everything I did and said, and he wined and dined me and, uh, was, you know, really interested in my charity. And he sent like love notes and notes of encouragement. And I described him, and my friends described him too, as like somebody who’s really thoughtful, caring, you know, helpful, trustworthy, honest. He was intelligent and very agreeable and charming. He was like the best talker ever. The smooth talker with anyone. I didn’t really see any signs, neither did any of my friends. You know, I review, I review all the conversations in my head over and over again, and it’s just amazing. And you know, I attribute, I guess my blindedness to the default truth. Uh, Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in his new book called Talking to Strangers. And that’s about people having the bias to truth. So how we default to what our truth is. So, you know, if we’re good people, we believe other people are going to be good people too. And so this is when you have the choice between two options. The first option is likely that this person’s awesome, but the other option then is that absolutely everything they said is a lie, and they’re like a bad person. Um, you know, and he discusses this in his book and, and talks about why, uh, Nassar the gymnastics doctor, and Jerry Sandusky, the football coach, were able to continue on for so long. You know, people not only didn’t want to believe that this was happening, they just couldn’t believe because they were blinded by their own personality and their own characteristics.
Jordan: So walk me through as the relationship developed, how long had you been dating when he first asked you for money and what was that conversation about?
Andréa: So, uh, I did them for about five months. And he doesn’t overtly ask you for anything originally, so he, he fishes and collects information. So I think he tried three scams on me. The first scam was, he implied that it would be a good investment for me to get into the youth at risk facility with him. And I’m guessing he wanted like a hundred thousand or more for that. The only thing is I have my own nonprofit and I get funding from different sources. So I said, well, there’s no need of that. You can go to Crime Prevention Canada and they’ll fund a good portion of the program. So then all of a sudden he changed his direction because maybe now he thought I was disinterested, so he’s like, no, no, I’ve got lots of money. I just thought you wanted in on it. And, uh, and I wasn’t interested in that. So then the second time I think he tried to create another opportunity to take more money, would be he asked me a lot of questions about my past relationships and how my living arrangements were and financial arrangements that were just inadvertently through different conversations, not all at once. I’m very strong about, yeah, I don’t want to live with anybody. My last relationship, I had a cohabitation agreement and I’m never sharing any accounts or passwords or credit cards. And that was shut right down. And then the last scam, I believe was an illness scam. And that’s the one I fell for.
Jordan: What does that look like?
Andréa: So from day one, he had told me he had severe Crohn’s. And, uh, showed me pictures of how, you know, his weight fluctuated and how at different times in his life it was very, uh, difficult. And this was another reason why I wasn’t so interested in him because my past two relationships, both men had life altering accidents, one at work and one with his friends motorcycle riding. And I spent a good portion of my life taking care of somebody and I totally was not interested in doing that again, and he had said he had severe crones. Anyway, he had told me this over and over throughout the relationship, and he had told me that there’s this one medication that fixes them right up. So then I’m at work one day and he calls me and he says, I’m in the hospital. I had a severe Crohn’s attack. I’m really, really sick. Preceeding that he had told me that his, a knapsack with all his ID got stolen at the campground, which I thought could happen. It’s a camp ground. And preceeding that he told me his mentor that was like his only family that he liked, um, was in the hospital getting a triple bypass and that his best friend was in another country doing work, had a work contract.
Jordan: So you were all he had.
Andréa: I was all he had. And, uh. Just temporarily for two days till he got his ID back, and then he could have access to all his stuff and money and accounts. So he said, ah, I just need $1,500 for the medication. And so I said, okay, I can get you $1,500 and then he called back and he said, well, it’s Nova Scotia. It’s going to cost $2000. And I thought, well, you know what? A lot of things cost more in Nova Scotia. So, and I’ve heard that Crohn’s medication is very expensive and not covered by plans. So I said, okay, well it’s $2000 I know I seen his fancy trailer he showed me he had a fancy trailer, and then another one who’s fixing up, and a big black truck. And he showed me pictures of his house and you know, a bunch of toys he had.
Jordan: Right, he’s good for it.
Andréa: I figured he’s good for it. Everybody liked him at the camp ground and knew him, his stepmom and everything, right? So I gave him the $2000 he said, Oh, it didn’t really work. I’m still really sick. Sometimes it takes two, two times to do that with the medication. So I gave him $2,000 more and then he’s better. And the next day he says, and early on in our relationship, he said, you know, the only thing that really matters to him is his dog. And his ex has his dog and he wanted his dog. But that’s cause I have a dog. And, um, anyway, so the next day after he’s out of the hospital, he says, um my ex is coming through Toronto with my dog. Can you help me get to get my dog? So I get him to Toronto and then he gets there and he says, her flight’s delayed. He has to stay over night. He needs me to book him a hotel. So I book him a hotel and he sends me an email with the last name Vautour. And I know him as Hebert. So I ask what’s up with this? And he said, Oh, this is my business partner’s email and mine, we share it. So he had March Vautour on it when I knew him as March Hebert. And that was the first indication that I had been had.
Jordan: What did you do?
Andréa: Well, uh, before I had dated him, I researched him online, but I couldn’t find any documentation on him, but I didn’t have the right name. So now that it had this new name, I researched the name. So he ghosted me after that. So I never heard again from him after that conversation. And I researched him online and then I seen a Facebook account for him. And I was like, Oh my God, there’s actually a Facebook account. So I look, and then I, my stomach sunk very deep as I seen one word, and it said, BEWARE. And it was a picture he had shown of him, so I knew it was his account. I sent a message to this person, and I wasn’t good at using Facebook at that time, and I didn’t even know what messenger was. But, uh, now I know how to use it, but, uh, I send a message and a person gets back to me and they actually come up on my screen, a picture of them, which I’ve never had that happen before, and they didn’t actually know that they were on my screen. They want it to be left anonymous. But for some reason they came on my screen and she told me how she was taken for more than twice as much money as I was taken. And she was very upset because she truly loved him and that, you know, my money was taken and I was mad, but I wasn’t in love. And like her face was so upset and so I was impacted by her reaction. And I’m a firefighter, so I see a lot of death and destruction and stuff like that. So then another person comes online, it’s another lady who’s even more devastated and she lost around $45,000 and she was, you know, beside herself and just their faces and their reactions. And it just made me really think, how dare he do this to one person, much less more people. And then I thought, I bet you he’s doing this all over the place. I’m going to start a campaign.
Jordan: And this is where, uh, the tables start to kind of turn. So tell me what you did, uh, with the help of these other women who were also victimized by him.
Andréa: At the very beginning I wanted everyone to make sure they filed their police reports, you know, and a lot of times, because it’s, he said, she said that police are kind of, you know, they don’t really have too many laws that you can pin a criminal activity on him if you, if you gave him money. So, but we still want the information filed so that, you know, when we have 15 or 20 people saying the same thing, then that’s not a, he said-she said that is planned, coordinated, con-artist. So we filed with Crime Prevention Canada, Crime Stoppers Canada, Valour Canada. Then we started the media campaign. So we had a big media blitz with TV, newspaper, radio, Chatelaine Magazine just did a very nice lengthy professional article just last week. You know, we’re going to continue on to try and keep this in the media. We have, did an entire social media campaign. And we have an automated form to collect information from the victims.
Jordan: How many have you been in contact with so far?
Andréa: Uh, at least a dozen.
Jordan: A dozen?
Andréa: Yeah. With the last Chatelaine article we got two. So it’s not just women, it’s not just romance scam. We had some gentlemen that were offered courses to get onto the oil rigs, to work on the oil rigs, and he left with their money. There’s two immigrants in different provinces. So the tricky part is, he has victims in multiple provinces. So it’s hard for people to be connected, and different languages as well. So the website I created is bilingual and, uh, that was difficult cause I’m not French, but hopefully it’s good enough. So another scam is, he has, um people that speak English as a second language, or really don’t even speak English very well, he befriends them, offers them an employment contract, and then goes to the bank and says he’s going to get them on his company credit card and his company bank line of credit. And instead he goes on there and then he charges up their accounts, and before they know it, they don’t even know where the mail is going. They don’t even know that this has happened until it’s far too late and everything is overdrafted.
Jordan: So with a dozen victims, um, some romance scams, as you mentioned, but also job and bank scams, um–
Andréa: Investment scams too. He wrote a $45,000 check to somebody for an investment.
Jordan: Huh. And have we found him? Where is he? Is he on the run?
Andréa: So we found him in Ontario after the media campaign. So the media has been outstanding. They have supported us since last March when we decided to take action, you know, to, uh, go from victims to survivors. So we found them in Ontario and we’d called the police, but the police said they could not arrest him in Ontario because his warrants are for Quebec and Winnipeg.
Jordan: Wow.
Andréa: And we just thought if he had a warrant in Canada that it would be good for all of Canada, but it is not the case. Um, so we have to catch him in a province he has a warrant. So that makes it a little more trickier cause he moves around.
Jordan: So do you know like where he is right now, but nothing can be done? Is that what’s going on?
Andréa: Um, no, we don’t 100% know where he is. Um, we found him again in the summer and we found him in BC and on our website, uh, stopthemarchmadness.com we have a video clipping of our encounter with him. Um, it wasn’t a planned encounter. Um, so it didn’t go as we, as we would have liked it to go, but–
Jordan: Tell me about that.
Andréa: So, uh, one of the girls just ran into him, just walking through a door and, uh, you know, she asked him, you know, where her money was and everything, and he was at the Salvation Army in BC, and, uh, he worked there. So they, they allowed him to go inside and kept her outside in between the double doors. So by the time the police got there and everything got straightened out, he had escaped out the second story window out the back of the, uh, Salvation Army, and got away.
Jordan: That’s crazy.
Andréa: Yes, it is crazy. You know, I had told, uh. The ladies, if they go around and look for him, you better bring all the copies of the warrants that you have because people will just think you’re a woman scorned, right? Rather than a somebody who’s really been taken advantage of. And that’s why it took so long to straighten everything out. It’s unfortunate, but, uh. You know, we think we have a lead on them now. We’re not going to talk about it cause we have a plan, so we’re not done yet. We have a couple of plans. Hopefully the media will let us know if they see him anywhere. You know, he always goes to Tim Horton’s. We have pictures and videos of him on our website, stopthemarchmadness.com, and hopefully they share the stories with their family and friends because the next victim could be somebody they know.
Jordan: Well we will share your story and the website, and you’ll have to let us know if you get any leads and manage to find him in the right province.
Andréa: I know. Well, yes. So we need to change the law, right? The law needs to, you know, if it’s somebody who’s had multiple offenses, then the law, there needs to be a law for that, and there isn’t. And the police can’t just, you know, make up something and arrest people. So, yeah.
Jordan: Well, thank you for sharing your story with us, Andréa.
Andréa: You’re welcome.
Jordan: That was Andréa Speranza and of course that was The Big Story. If you would like more, we keep them all locked in our digital box at thebigstorypodcast.ca. The box is not actually locked. It’s free for anybody. You can also talk to us on Twitter at @thebigstoryFPN. You can also @thebigstoryFPN when anyone asks you for a podcast recommendation, just like Florida Lloyd did. Thank you, Florida, great name. You can also find us in every single podcast application you could ever want to use. As always, give us a rating. Give us a review. Give us five stars. Fight back against the trolls. Thanks for listening. I’m Jordan Heath Rawlings. We’ll talk tomorrow.
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