Crushed

We got an email from a second expectant mom, due in late July. How exciting, we could possibly adopt a baby due in late April then three months later another baby!!! Only something didn't feel right. The first mom, Annam shared lots of info and seemed very genuine. The second mom, Rachel, didn't communicate as frequently so we didn't know much about her.
Anna asked us early on if we would be willing to compromise on names, of course. Rachel asked us if we had a name and we shared the name. She then told us the names she liked-nothing remotely close to ours. That night I felt led to ask Anna what names she had in mind since she wanted to know if we would compromise. Yup, she named OUR name! HUGE RED FLAG! I tried to reason it away and make light if the "coincidence", however, it kept niggling at the back of my mind.
That night-Monday, I decided to do some online sleuthing. First I tried googling both names, nothing. So I went to trusty old Facebook (HAHA, trusty). I wasn't able to find Anna, but to my astonishment, I found Rachel-with Anna's picture and pictures of her son and it said she lives in Oklahoma. WHAT?!?!?!?!?
I asked Anna about it, but was vague, I never mentioned Rachel or Facebook. Anna explained that Rachel is her sister, and she must have contacted us because apparently she is pregnant and placing too. Hmmm, fishy, very very fishy! I accepted her answer though, but was very guarded.
The next day we contacted our CW for help, but of course she was out of the office.
Back to Facebook! I went to one of the adoption sites and mentioned that I felt like we were in a scammer situation. A fellow mom asked me for the names involved so she could research on a yahoo scam board. In the meantime another mom sent me the link to join the yahoo page as well. The first fellow mom emailed me quite quickly with the information she found-Anna and Rachel and the same person, and it is indeed a scam. I guess she was kicked off of the adoptimist web page several times but keeps changing her name to regain access.
I called Anna out on this new revelation, she replied with, "I'm glad you think I'm a liar". I didn't say that. Before I could respond, Rachel sent a message saying she was so sorry, she was just trying to sabotage Anna because she didn't want her to place her baby, and we shouldn't be mad at Anna. I replied to both messages stating that we would be happy to work through the agency if everything truly is legit.
We left a message for our CW right away.
I talked to our CW and explained everything, she said it definitely sounds like a scam and there had been some red flags on their end as well. She would keep me updated.
Wondering why she would scam us-she didn't ask for money. Accirding to our CW & people from the adoption community, scammers like the power and control and just enjoy causing emotional trauma. UGH!
Rather than be angry, we have decided that we will pray for Anna, or whatever her name is. We will use this as a learning experience and a tool to help us grow and stretch in our faith. It's definitely hard, but really what other choice do we have? Being angry and having animosity takes up so much more energy than I am willing to expel on this situation. Moving on....
Yeah, moving on, until I got an email from my CW. Apparently Anna contacted them again and said that someone contacted us using her picture and that her name is on a watch list but she still wants to match with us. First of all, nobody contacted us with her picture, I found that through my snoopy nature and second, I told her that she had to know that the adoption community was talking about her name-so she still wasn't honest with the pregnancy worker. The agency is proceeding with extreme caution. We will not be communicating with Anna or Rachel unless it is through the agency.