She stopped replying

He continued to demand money from her. He gave her several medical reasons which forced her to transfer money. He demanded money for doctor’s fees as well. Later, she came back to her senses and stopped replying him.  

The Revelation

After three weeks, he called Ms. Grette and told her the truth. “I said I already knew that. I asked him to tell me his true identity and he did,” Ms. Grette said. He told her that he was a 24-year-old Nigerian “419” scammer. He referred to himself as a “devil” who had wronged “a lovely lady.” He further stated that: “He said he had never met anyone like me before, that he had been fighting his feelings for me for a long time. He said his scamming mates had warned him about falling in love with a ‘client’, that he had ignored them because he trusted me and did not want to lose contact with me.”

Ms. Grette visits the guy in Nigeria

From this point onwards, their relationship took a magical turn. She expressed her will to meet him. But he told her that he was not able to come to Sweden because of some visa issues. Hence, Ms. Grette decided to go and meet him in Nigeria. She met him and his friends in Nigeria. 

A Woman with a mission

“I asked myself what I could do to prevent a situation where healthy, good young men fall into this trap,” she said. In 2011, she came across an article on a Nigerian news website about an art exhibition. Over the past six years, Ms. Grette has arranged many art exhibitions, workshops, and conferences for a number of African artists.  

No grudges against Johnny

Ms. Grette, now 69, lives in Norway and she is working to improve the lives of these young and talented artists. “Johnny has given me more than he took,” she said, “Without him, I would not have met Africa.”  “He is very dear to me,” she said. “He has asked me so many times to forgive him and I told him that the most important thing is to forgive himself.”