Scammed Pt2: How I Was Defrauded By One of Medium’s Most Prolific Writers — ‘Abena Talks’
Exposing Abena Talks aka. Abena Edina Brianna Jackson aka. Abena Yussuf’s aka. Abena Damoah’s Elaborate Remote Work Scam
This is an ongoing series on Abena Edina Brianna Jackson aka. Abena Yussuf aka. Abena Damoah, the woman who defrauded me of thousands of dollars and almost left me homeless.
(Read story for free here)
A Message That Seemed Like Divine Timing
One September morning, I woke up to a message from Abena that felt like a dream.
She wrote to me about an “amazing remote work opportunity” that seemed perfectly timed.
For context, I had been living off my savings for over a year and was starting to worry about money. During one of our lengthy catch-up calls with Abena just a week prior, I had confided in her about my financial situation and desire for steady side income.
Little did I know that by sharing my vulnerability, I was making myself a perfect target for one of her elaborate scams.
Her offer seemed divinely orchestrated — a miracle sent from above to ease my worries. I had no idea it was the devil in disguise.
The $500/Month Freelance Opportunity
Abena offered me a freelance gig that required just 3 hours of work per week, promising $500 per month, for six months.
She assured me over the phone —
“It’s so easy, even a child could do it!”
Like a salivating dog with a bone being dangled in its face, I was eager to sign up! But there was a catch —
Abena explained that I would need to pay a one-time $200 “commission fee” to access the job. According to her, the agency didn’t take a cut of salaries and instead required this upfront payment.
Although I found this setup quite unusual, I hesitated to question it because of how confidently Abena described her experience to me, and the trust I had for her.
She claimed she had worked with the agency for three years and earned up to $6,000 a month doing simple AI-based tasks.
“Wow. This is life changing money for me as a nomad/expat/immigrant living here in South America. This kind of money goes a long way here” — I thought to myself as my eyes widened with excitement.
I immediately began to fantasize about all my the different things I could do with that money.
Please sign me up!
In my mind, my friend was sharing this amazing opportunity with me because she cared about me and was looking out for me. She wanted to see all of us win.
LOL.
Agent Abena: The Manipulative Recruiter
In our phone conversation, Abena told me about how she had recently been appointed as an agent for the agency, giving her the authority to recruit others.
After I explained to her that we couldn’t afford it she graciously offered my husband and me, a $100 discount saying she’d cover part of our fee and deduct it from our first paycheck.
What an angel and a God-sent! My eyes watered in gratitude at the level of care and affection my friend was showing me.
At her request, I hurriedly downloaded Wise (a money transfer app) and sent $100. She claimed she preferred Wise over PayPal due to having major issues with latter.
Shortly after paying, I received an email from “Patricia” at the agency, complete with a Canva-made receipt for my transaction.
This email allowed me to further delude myself into thinking this was all a legitimate opportunity.
As soon as I received the email, I googled the agency name as it appeared on the receipt — “IAJ Agency”. Of course, no information came up!
And then, I googled “AI Consult Jackson”, the name that appeared in the agency’s email. Nothing came up as well!
Hmm!
Though I noticed red flags — like the agency’s nonexistent online presence — I brushed aside my doubts. After all, this was my friend, someone I trusted. Surely, she wouldn’t deceive me!
Maybe, the company just doesn’t have a digital footprint. Or maybe, they’re new! — My desperation continued to cloud my judgement!
I tried to drown the doubting voice in my head by feeding myself more lies.
Maybe, this is Abena’s new agency she’s low-key building and doesn’t want me to know it’s hers.
After all, she’s already given me a $100 discount and a job!
Why would I think my friend who was trying to help me out, was actually planning to leave me in financial ruin?!
At that time, I had no idea Abena was an actual PSYCHOPATH and A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR!
Here she is explaining to someone why she charges for the gig. I saw this recently—
A Tricky First Month On The Job
Abena was right! The work itself was ridiculously simple: generating book summaries using Perplexity AI based on prompts sent by the agency.
It was truly the easiest job I’d ever had in my life — I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to conduct these simple tasks!
Although, it felt too good to be true my anxieties began to subside.
“If it wasn’t real my husband and I wouldn’t be getting weekly assignments right?!”
— I would constantly reassure myself.
Besides, Abena was already making thousands of dollars doing it each month anyway!
Feeling more secure about the job, I thought to myself —
I’d be a fool not go all in on this kind of opportunity.
I could stack up some cash quickly!
I’d even be able to buy an international flight to Ghana to attend my Uncle’s funeral in January.
My husband and I convinced ourselves it was a good idea to go all in on this opportunity
In hindsight, I realize — my naiveté, coupled with my desperation for money made me the ultimate prey for Abena’s elaborate remote work scam.
Wanting to always see the good in people, blinded me from realizing that someone who called me “friend” and “sis” could set out to ruin me financially, mentally and emotionally.
I promise you — I did not foresee Abena defrauding me the way she did.
But I own up to my mistake — I trusted a stranger I met online who I thought I had become friends with.
We go all in investing in more accounts
After 2 weeks of doing the job, it had become even more real.
My husband and I joyfully calculated how much money we’d be making if we signed up for 5 accounts each.
Abena assured us that with 5 accounts each, we would FOR SURE EARN $5000 by the end of November (On Nov 30th to be precise).
All we had to do was sign up for extra accounts in mid — October (our first month on the job), in order to be eligible for work accounts scheduled to begin first week of November.
The prospect was so enticing, and Abena guaranteed payment on the last day of each month, and spaces were always limited!
We Fell For It
Abena insisted we pay for the extra accounts mid October in order to begin on the November accounts the first week of the month
When I asked for further explanation, she shared —
It takes a few weeks for the agency to assign work to our different accounts. So it’s best to pay early. And also before the spots fill up.
I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime!
I hurriedly borrowed the money from my cousin with the understanding that I would turn $1400 into $5,000 by the end of November and be able to pay him back.
At this point, I acknowledge my foolishness — I handed Abena all this money without having received payment for the first month of work.
October Pay Day & The Story that came with it!
My entire conversation with Abena that morning left me feeling uneasy.
It was the morning of October 31st (pay day) and when I reached out to Abena about our income and receipts, she was on her way to the Dubai Airport to board an international flight to Malaysia.
Was this woman really about to board a 7 hour + flight without settling payments with her workers on payday.
I found her behaviour unsettling.
When I asked about our payment, she claimed the agency had rejected much of the work submitted by freelancers. She said she’d have to pay us “out of pocket,” as a personal favor because I needed the money for rent.
After a short back and forth, she sent my husband and I $800 as payment for work done in October. $800 instead of $1000 because she had taken out her agency fees.
I let out a deep sigh of relief — we could pay rent for the month.
But, I couldn't get the story attached to the payment out of my head.
Abena claimed to be paying us $800 ‘out of pocket’ as a favor for work done.
“What if she tells me this story again next month. And then tells me she can no longer pay me out of pocket again due to more rejections”- I wondered to myself.
In my mind, the solution was simple —
I’ll just have to be very proactive about getting as much feedback as I could from her and the agency.
I needed to understand why the agency was not providing any feedback to writers and instead, waiting till the end on the month, when writers were expecting to be paid, to reject the work, leaving Abena in this challenging situation.
Something about the whole story didn’t feel right to me!
It just didn’t add up!
Abena Gives ! Abena Takes!
Right after Abena sent me $800 as payment for work done in October, she proceeded to to tell me about another “cheaper and simpler” work opportunity she had available.
For this opportunity, you had to pay Abena $70 for each freelance account to earn $400 guaranteed each month, for 3 months. They were all simple AI-based tasks.
Once again, my husband and I signed up for two accounts, paying her an additional $140.
This new project was scheduled to start on November 15th, making pay day for this account fall on December 15th.
At this point, we had paid Abena a total of $1,540 for extra accounts and opportunities.
FreshLight Agency is one Abena’s many business fronts.
The Agency Provides No Feedback and Start dates
In the days that followed, I constantly solicited feedback from Abena on the work we were doing weekly.
But there was always a reason why she couldn’t provide any. Although she initially said she’d provide some tutorials and feedback via. video.
Almost a month went by and Abena never created a video with feedback from the agency like she said she would.
Instead, she constantly made excuses and acted like I was bothering her every time I reached out to her regarding start dates on the extra accounts or feedback from the agency.
Bear in mind, at this point, we had paid Abena $1,540 for extra accounts.
Progressively, Abena went from being sure about start dates and incoming feedback, to being vague and unsure about anything I asked her for.
She was also slowly becoming harder and harder to reach.
Every time I reached out to her for more information, there was a story.
One time, when I asked for more information — her father was sick.
The next time I asked for more information— he was dead.
Here’s a conversation that ensued between Abena and I when I asked for feedback.
To be continued…in Part 3
In Part 3, I’ll dive deeper into how Abena manipulated me further and her unending lies that almost cost me a roof over my head.
My scammed series:
(Thank you to VS for sharing her almost identical story to mine in the comment section of Part 1 of this series )
If you’ve been scammed by Abena Edina Brianna Jackson, Here are a few things I’d encourage you to do —
Write an article about it with her full name in it (so that it ‘ll pop up on Google when people look her up). Include all her aliases and accounts you know.
Tracy Sutherland — Internet and Affiliate Marketer put “Abena Talks” in his headline, and this what helped me find me his article on Google.
I wish I had found it sooner before giving Abena close to $2000.
Let’s help prevent other people from falling prey to her antics.
Please don’t forget to leave thoughts/comments sharing your experiences with Abena on this article: good and bad. I want to hear it all!
Looking forward to reading more of your comments.
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