Have you ever known anyone involved in a possible romance scam? Did they actually get scammed or did they get out before they got scammed? Did you ever try to convince someone that they were involved in a romance scam? If so, did it convince them to get out of it?
Feel free to PM me if you want. Anything you say will be confidential between you and me. Serious responses only, please.
Thanks.
Yup. Many times. And they all had one thing in common: they never listened to advice
shareI've never known anyone who fell for a romance scam, however I did know someone who was falling for a "Nigerian Prince" type scam, and no one was able to convince him to stop corresponding with the scammer. It was very sad.
shareHaving lived in SE Asia and having spent quite some time there (my wife is Indonesian), I’ve seen and heard every romance scam you can think of.
shareI used to work in a financial institution and this poor man who worked his ass off at a garage kept adding to his house’s mortgage to send to his girlfriend in Africa. He never met her in person only had pictures of her ( She looked beautiful like a top model) and, to be polite, he didnt have enough teeth in his mouth to score a real nice girl. I was stuck in an awkward situation as for me to increase his mortgage I was making bonus money, and he qualified because he had a good credit but I still tried to explain to him that this was probably a scam, but there was no way to get through to him. When they say love is blind, it's sometimes really is. According to my calculations he must've sent her about $100,000 and she was always having problems like calling him to get her out of the police station or helping her because someone was sick and stuff like that. Sad story
share This is something I just heard about recently from a friend. She is really upset because her son (thirty years old) met someone on line and he is moving to England in December to be with "her".
Who knows if it is a her? He's never seen her picture, but she's said that she loves him. My friend is very worried for him. But he won't listen. Whoever this person is, she can't scam him for money because he doesn't have any. But it is a strange situation. I'd be worried too if it was my kid.
Sheesh, that's BRUTAL!
Well, at least your conscience is clear, you warned him despite it possibly affecting your bonus.
Had a buddy who got into an onlline relationship with a woman who led him to sharing sexy pics, something about online mutual mastrubation, if I recall correctly and once he sent his pics, she threatened to share them with his social media contacts to embarass him unless he gave her money.
He instead contacted the police. He told his friends about it, in case they ended up getting the pics sent to them.
My social media footprint is such that that was the last I heard of it.
No, never. I don't know anyone who personally has either.
shareIt sounds like all of you are saying that it's probably near impossible to get someone to believe they're being scammed.
shareAre you actually looking for advice? I can give you some tips about forestalling/testing (warning signs) if they involve face-to-face interaction. For example, girlfriend says, "Give me money to take a taxi home" then she takes a bus and pockets the difference. Simple defense: Call the taxi/Grab and pay it before she gets in. Watch her reaction: if frustrated, Watch Out!
Similar for relatives needing care: "My mother needs money to see the doctor." OK, spend 1/2 day and take her there. If she looks disappointed, that means it might have been a scam. Expect a lot more like that if you ever actually get married.