Infertile couple hurt after niece pranks them with bogus ‘I’m pregnant’ messages

A man has cancelled his niece’s college fund after finding out she was trolling him with anonymous bogus “I’m pregnant” texts and notes for more than two months.

Posting on Reddit, the man said he and his wife have struggled with infertility for years, and was left confused when he began receiving messages purportedly from his wife informing him she’s pregnant.

When he found out it was his 16-year-old niece, he took to the “Am I The A**hole” subreddit to gather opinions on whether or not he did the right thing by cutting his niece’s college fund in retaliation.

He explained that the teenager is like a daughter and a friend to him, and since he is financially secure he set up a college fund for her.

However, things took a dark turn. He explains: “I’ve been dealing with a series of unusual, un-explain-able events like receiving texts at work from someone pretending to be my wife informing me of some big news like her being pregnant. Or finding mysterious envelopes in my car when I’m at my parents’ and the envelopes contained letters from someone also pretending to be my wife and again telling me she was pregnant.

“My wife and I had no idea who’s been playing us like that. We knew it was someone close and had many that made our suspect list including my BIL [brother-in-law].”

He found out it was his niece after spending an evening at his brother’s house. He parked in their driveway, and his niece left the room for a few minutes.

After saying his goodbyes, he found a sign on the windshield that read “I’m pregnant” in large letters. He called his wife, who confirmed it wasn’t true.

When he took the sign back into his brother’s house, his sister-in-law noted the handwriting looked similar to his niece’s writing so they called her downstairs. At this point the brother tells her to stop, but he went ahead and called his niece downstairs.

She didn’t deny it was her who had been sending the letters and texts, but said she didn’t have ill intent and “just did it for laughs.”

He continued: “I blew up, telling her she was out of line to think mocking mine and my wife’s suffering and playing us for months was funny. I said I was mad, I was disappointed and won’t ever be looking at her the same.

“I informed her, my brother and SIL [sister-in-law] that I officially cancel the college fund I started for her due to her cruelty and disrespect for us. She broke down saying she meant no harm or disrespect and was just messing with/teasing me.

“My brother said I can’t actually make this decision based on small mistake my niece made. He said this is her future that I was giving up on and my decision will have a lasting impact.” [sic]

He cut the conversation there and said this wasn’t a punishment, just a realisation that she doesn’t “deserve [his] hard-earned money.”

He added: “She did apologize profoundly and said she regretted what she did but still insisted she didn’t do it out of hate or ill intention. She loves my wife and my wife loves her. I’m the closest to her in the whole family from when she was younger and she always says I’m like a second father to her.”

The top comment with over 45,000 upvotes ruled that he wasn’t the asshole in the situation, and suggested he should send her a few mysterious texts that say “you won a scholarship!” — “just for laughs”.

Another comment suggests maybe his brother is “more aware of what was happening than has been let on” due to his “immediate reaction of trying to shut down” the mom when she pointed out the similarities in the handwriting.

Another user suggested the situation “doesn’t sound like the entire truth”, adding: “At the very least I would wonder what your niece’s motivation would be. Very strange.”

Someone else commented asking for more information, writing: “Do you and your niece share a history of playing pranks on each other? If so, it’s possible she believed this was lighthearted and funny because she’s just too immature to understand how devastating infertility is.”

Whether or not this situation actually happened, jokes or pranks made at someone else’s expense on such a serious issue are never all that funny.