No kidding, right?  Hopefully OP has learned the lesson not to trust impersonators, but I'd also add that you have to be very careful who you deal with even if they're who they say they are.  We've had trusted members of the forum scam people for relatively low amounts and then they just disappear. 

Bitcoin attracts scammers like you wouldn't believe, and there are a lot of them right here on bitcointalk (and scams aren't moderated, either).

BTW, Dire: how did you get that special "D" symbol in your name.  That's pretty cool.