Back in the winter of 2017, Ben Taylor checked Facebook and received an odd message.

“My name is Joel from Liberia, 
West Africa,” the message read. “I need some assistance from you. Business or financial assistance dat [sic] will help empower me.”

Ben, a 32-year-old marketer from Ogden, Utah, knew right away that this was a scam, but he decided to respond anyway.

“How can I help?” he asked.

“I wanted to see how this whole scam operation worked and how they bait people,” he explained. “I just wanted to go down this rabbit hole and see what are the tricks that they use to get people.”

Joel proposed a business partnership in which Ben would buy electronics and ship them to New Jersey, where they would be resold with the two of them splitting the profits. Ben, however, wasn’t buying it.

“I looked it up on Google Earth,” Ben said. “There were broken down cars all over the place.”

Ben decided to instead spin a lie of his own, claiming that he owned a photography business and asking Joel to send photos. Joel proceeded to snap a photo and sent it to Ben.

“I told him, ‘Hey, this is great,’” Ben said, which turned out to be another lie, as it wasn’t good at all.

Joel said that he could send better photos if he had a higher quality camera, so Ben bought the cheapest one he could find and shipped it to him, much to his family’s surprise.

“My family thinks I’m crazy because I’m interacting with this guy in Liberia,” he said.

Joel sent Ben 20 photos the next week, saying that he wanted to be a journalist.

“I’ve decided 2 really commit n devote myself 2 dis business, what other pictures you want me 2 take?” Joel wrote.

The photos still weren’t good, but Ben decided to document whatever was happening in YouTube videos anyway.

“Joel has to be the worst photographer on the planet,” he said in one video.

The next week, twenty more photos arrived showing life in Liberia. Ben was heartbroken when he saw the poverty that Joel was living in, but the quality of the images was getting better.

“When he put in the work, I thought, Oh no, now I’ve got to figure out a way to compensate Joel for these pictures, or I’m going to be the scammer,” Ben said.

Ben decided to turn the photos into a booklet called “By D Grace Of God,” which came directly from one of Joel’s messages. He started selling the booklet online, and people from all over the world began buying it.

“People from around the world and places that I’ve never even heard of were buying Joel’s book,” Ben said.

When they made $1,000 off of it, Ben gave Joel half, telling him that he could also have the other $500, but he had to give it to charity. This is more than half a year’s salary in Liberia, so Ben did not think that Joel would actually give the money away. When the next batch of photos arrived, however, Ben was stunned to see images of children with school supplies. It turns out that Joel had helped five schools with the $500!

“He came through,” Ben said.

This set aside any doubts Ben had about Joel’s character. Months later, Ben travelled all the way to Liberia to meet Joel face-to-face. By that point, the two had a very special bond.

“We were business partners. And we were friends,” Ben said.

Find out more about their incredible story in the video below.