We’ve seen the same story played out plenty of times these days – someone gets an email from an obvious scam-artist, claiming to hail from Nigeria or somewhere similar and be in dire need of money, and decides to string them along for a few laughs

When this happened to YouTuber PleasantGreen, however, the story took an unexpectedly heart-warming turn that he could never have predicted.

PleasantGreen, also known as Ben, first received a message few months ago from a man identifying himself only as Joel from Liberia, asking for money that he could use to sell “premium electronics” and split the profits.
Ben decided to play along, but with a twist, and instead offered Joel a business proposition – playing the part of someone in the photography business, he asked Joel to take pictures of his home, and said that he would pay him for ones he liked.

To his surprise, Ben did receive a few pictures back, albeit ones that looked to have been taken on a flip phone. He decided to persevere, however, forking out some of his own money to buy Joel a cheap compact.

And then the pictures started to get better. Ben started to see slices of Joel’s life, unfolding in ways he couldn’t have predicted.

Before he knew it, Ben found himself heading a crowdfunding campaign to produce a photobook of Joel’s work, the profits from which were used to buy new school supplies for the children in Joel’s hometown.

You can watch the videos above to see the story’s conclusion. Find out more about the project at its website.