Humanity is at it again in all its awful glory! (I know, dramatic, but seriously. This story is heartbreaking.)

The Post and Courier reports on "adoption scammers" who are tricking people who desperately want babies into thinking they're going to help them adopt a baby, and then disappearing. However, as Jezebel points out, the weirdest thing is that some of these scammers aren't even doing it for money, but rather "for the sheer sport of breaking some stranger's heart."

So, that just sent a chill down my spine.

The heavily reported piece starts with the heartbreaking story of Melissa Carroll, a woman who had miscarried five infants in four years and had spent more than $40,000 of fertility treatments, and very much wanted a baby.

Carroll was texted by a woman named Avalyn, who said she found Carroll's info on an adoption website. Avalyn said she was a college student who was about to give birth and didn't want the baby.

Carroll started planning to bring the baby home — she called the adoption agency, told friends, spent $800 on various baby necessities.

But then, the text messages stopped. Why? Because there was never a baby to begin with.

"I fell for it hook, line and sinker," Carroll told the paper.

And she isn't the only person who's fell for this cruel and bizarre scam.

From The Post and Courier:

Experts believe about a dozen women across the country, including two in Upstate South Carolina, dupe prospective parents with make-believe babies. They troll popular adoption websites; pass along phony ultrasound images; spin convincing, although fake, sob stories; even pretend like they're writhing in labor, only to vanish when their lies fall apart or they grow tired of the game. Some of these women try to extort gifts and money from their victims, but many seem content to toy with their emotions, to exploit their vulnerabilities for the sheer sport of breaking some stranger's heart.

Lauren Sausser, the woman who reported the piece, says she identified two of the people doing this; a 21-year-old South Carolina woman named Kayla Roach and April Renee Lusk, 42, also of South Carolina. They both denied the Sausser's claims.

You should read the whole story here it's strange and sad and absolutely awful.

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Laura Beck Laura Beck is a Los Angeles-based TV writer and frequent contributor to Cosmopolitan.com — her work has appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Jezebel, and the Village Voice.

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