In a bizarre story out of Spain, a man is on trial for allegedly convincing an elderly woman to give him over $300,000 by pretending that he was God. The strange case reportedly began back in 2013 when the unnamed suspect called the victim, identified as Esperanza, and informed her that she was speaking to the Supreme Being. While most people would simply hang up the phone, the woman actually thought that it was God on the line as she had previously had a profound experience wherein she believes that she had been made a saint by the Virgin Mary. Esperanza’s tale was apparently so well-known in her community that it led to the call from the faux deity, who sought to take advantage of what Spanish media described as the woman’s “religious mystical delusions.”

Posing as God, the man told Esperanza that her money would be in safer hands if she gave it to him so that he could deposit it in a checking account at the ‘Bank of Heaven.’ By moving her funds into the divine institution, he claimed, she would have “more profitability” which would ultimately allow her to build a home in heaven when the time was right. Sadly, the dubious pitch worked to perfection and, over the next several years, Esperanza delivered envelopes of money to a store owned by the fraudster. In an effort to ensure that no one knew about the ongoing scam, the con artist even went so far as to warn the woman that ‘God’ would kill her children if she ever told them about their heavenly financial arrangement.

However, the sinister swindler’s house of cards came tumbling down when Esperanza ran out of money and began asking her family for loans, which led to them discovering the elaborate ruse that had befallen her. All told, it is believed that the unfortunate woman gave over $300,000 to the proverbial devil in disguise. Now on trial for the cruel scheme, the alleged swindler insists that he is innocent, however prosecutors say that part of the evidence that will be presented against him are recordings of phone calls wherein he posed as God to the unsuspecting Esperanza. If convicted, the man could face up to eight years in prison for the dastardly divine impersonation.