Thank you, Jay, for writing this, as it really hit home. I got caught in a very similar scam in August. My experience was very much like yours except that I had no family involved. I want to also write about this as I think it may help others. I was told that gift card scams are very popular and beware, but I had never heard of it. They are very polished and authentic sounding. I thought I was too smart to be scammed. Well, guess what? I lost around $6000, also. It will take time to recoup. Slow and costly. I filed a police report and contacted credit card companies, but there's nothing that can be done, even though I was verbally threatened with losing everything.

As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." It's an everyday occurrence in U.S.

When I stop feeling stupid over this, I will write about it. Recounting it is painful.

Take care.