In August 2024, we published the story of Wannapa Suprasert, a 29-year-old Thai woman living in San Francisco, who lost $300,000 of her own savings and her family’s money in a three-month-long government impersonation scam involving what she thought were multiple law enforcement agencies, a criminal syndicate, check-ins four times a day, and a vow of secrecy.

The scam left her struggling to distinguish between reality and the fictional world the scammers constructed for her. She fabricated stories to convince her family back home in Thailand to send her money, which she forwarded on to the scammers. “I feel like I’m the scammer because I scammed my family, in a sense, by lying to them,” she told me after she realized the truth. “The guilt will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Two years after the scam took over her life, I caught up with Suprasert. She answered my call while on one of her daily morning walks, something she’s taken to doing as she moves forward with her life.

The ordeal left her with $10,800 in credit card debt, which she quickly paid off with loans from friends. She continues to work in the same data analyst role she’s had since before the scam began, which allowed her to pay back her friends. She still carries strong feelings of guilt, especially in relation to her aunt, whose retirement funds were largely drained. Though she plans to repay her, she hasn’t been able to yet.

The following as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Suprasert and has been edited for length and clarity.

For months after the scam, I went to war with my past self — for being naive, for not seeing it coming, for trusting the wrong people.

My mind was still racing in an endless, vicious negative feedback loop where I was thinking, What if I didn’t pick up the phone? What if I didn’t go to the bank? There were so many things that could’ve prevented everything from going down.

But no matter how many times I replayed it or how many doors I knocked on asking for help, I couldn’t change a thing. No one was coming to save me.

Therapy helped me put a pause on this unhealthy loop and helped me process the grief and loss. After my Business Insider article was published, more people in my life reached out to me, which also helped.

I had to learn to ask for help

I set up a GoFundMe, which felt like putting myself out there. It raised almost $6,000, and the donations really helped kick-start things.

Rent was always a big portion of my expenses, so to cut costs, I sublet my room for about a month and a half and crashed in friends’ living rooms or apartments while they were on vacation. A few friends let me borrow a couple of thousand dollars to pay off my debt. I’m super grateful for having trusting friends who offered a hand during that time.

Another way I tried to save up was by doing bake sales. I got to do something I like — baking — while also making some money. A few strangers who asked about my story were touched and helped me out by covering groceries for that week. I’m grateful for their acts of kindness.

I finished paying off my bank debt at the end of June 2024, and I finished paying back all of my friends in October 2024. Being out of debt is a huge mental relief.

I also definitely feel obligated to repay my family, but I haven’t quite worked out any plan with them yet.

Knowing I’m not alone has helped a lot

While I read some cruel comments online, there was no negative feedback among my friends and family; talking to them has really helped.

A few of my coworkers also checked in with me, especially in the beginning. One would take me out to a bar to grab a drink, to be sure I had company and didn’t spiral.

There were days that got dark, and knowing that I’m not alone and that there are people who still care deeply about me and my well-being has really helped. It reminded me that I’m not alone in this. It could’ve gone a lot worse.

I don’t know how to move past the guilt I feel toward my aunt

I don’t feel any tension with my dad and my brother. I feel like I can talk to them about anything, and they check on me quite often.

With my aunt, though, it’s a whole different dynamic.

I went back to Thailand last year for about two weeks to see family. It was difficult because I didn’t feel like I could talk to my aunt or look her in the eye.

The majority of the money I lost was her retirement fund, which she’d been saving up her whole life. In some ways, I feel like I scammed her, and I think maybe she thinks of it that way, too, at least partially. I wouldn’t blame her for thinking that.

I tried to apologize. She didn’t want to show it, but I think deep down, she was angry and had lingering thoughts like, Why did you do this to me? I don’t know how to break the weird family tension that we have now.

It’s a guilt that I’m still living with. I think about it less now, but it’s there. It’s like a jacket that you don’t wear. Sometimes you forget about it, and then you open your closet, and there it is.

Focusing on my hobbies has helped with my physical and mental health

Lately, I’ve been going for 3- or 4-mile daily morning walks and doing more outdoor activities, because that’s where I really find my serenity and community. I got more into backpacking and camping.

I also moved apartments last year. My expenses increased, but my dad and brother told me, “It’s OK because your mental health comes first — whatever it is that you need to do to be whole again.” I’m grateful that they’re allowing me time and space to do that, before repaying my family.

I also got into cooking and have been making my own yogurt. These small things really help physically and emotionally — being kind to myself, exploring new hobbies and interests.

The level of trust I have in other people has taken a 180-degree turn. I tense up when anyone approaches me, especially online. In person, over time, I got out of the belief that people were going to come and physically hurt me — which is what the scammers had told me — but online is really tricky.

I still find it very difficult to use Line, the platform that I used to communicate with the criminals. I still have an account because it’s what most Thai people use, but I ignore most of the app’s notifications and try not to go on the platform too often. I’ve asked my family to use other apps like Facebook Messenger to communicate with me.

I’ve learned to pick myself back up and move forward

I keep thinking of something my brother told me, about how you can’t always focus on what you lost. No matter what happened, your life moves on. Quite frankly, the world doesn’t care too much about what happened to you, in both sad and positive ways.

It sucks; now what? There aren’t that many choices. You either sink in and give up, or you endure the pain, the discomfort — whatever it is that makes you feel like you want to fall apart any minute — and tell yourself you can’t. Pick yourself back up, look for the best, gather your resources, and ask for help.

I’ve been interviewed a few times, including speaking with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and done some podcasts. It was definitely difficult to keep talking about what happened, but I’m glad I can help spread awareness. I don’t want anyone to have to experience what I did.

My advice for other scam victims: It might feel like your whole world is collapsing, but it’s in these moments that you see another side of humanity and allow yourself to experience kindness, whether from strangers or from your friends and family who care about and love you.

It’s hard to get out of that victim mindset and thinking, Why did it happen to me? What did I do so wrong to deserve all that?

However, there’s more to life than this mess I got myself into. There are more things to experience and to look forward to. I’m just trying to be happy in my daily life and take care of myself. I’m on an upward trajectory.

Do you have a story to share about being scammed? Contact this reporter at janezhang@businessinsider.com.