Just about everyone gets those scam emails, whether it’s a Nigerian prince promising you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you just send him money first or someone asking you to click a link to claim a prize you didn’t actually win. The scams are intricate and sophisticated, often savvy enough to fool someone who has grown up with the internet. But not every email in your spam folder is from someone attempting to scam you.
At least that’s what one man discovered. Ben Taylor decided to dig a little deeper into a suspected scammer that contacted him, but instead of just doing a Google search, Taylor responded to the man. After some back and forth, Taylor learned the man, Joel, did in fact live in Liberia and was reaching out to people for help with business advice.
Now, Taylor didn’t just hand over money to a previously thought-to-be scammer. He did something even more unexpected. Taylor helped Joel make a booklet about his life and sold it online so his new friend could make his own money.
Eventually, Taylor went to visit Joel in Liberia after the booklet earned enough money for the man to put a new roof on his home. But Joel wasn’t the only person Taylor helped.
A few years after meeting Joel and being inundated with help requests, the inquisitive helper responded to another email that had been declared a scam years ago. Once again, the “scam” turned out to not be a scam at all, and Taylor was once again on a mission to help a stranger. Watch the remarkable story below.