David, the sad truth is that giving, self-sacrificing people like yourself will sooner or later encounter some amoral person who has no scruples about taking advantage of your generosity. This fellow you speak of sounds like such an individual. I don't know how you avoid them, but when you do a substantial amount of giving as you have, sooner of later you're going to run into some wanker (as Andy describes him), and there's just not much you can do except trust and absorb the loss when these creeps come around. What a shame we have to put up with such individuals. But I'd like to believe there are more of the kind of people you can trust who genuinely need help than the kind who just come to take advantage of you.
