Please help; I don't know where to start!

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 4

My mother has been talking on the Internet to men for the last 5 or 6 years now. She's already fallen victim to the Nigerian Love Scam once, back in 2007.
I have tried to contact her for 3 days with no response. No calls back, no answers to my texts, nothing. I called my sister to ask if she knew where Mom is and I just found out she hopped a plane to Tunisia to meet up with a man she calls Chawki. The only two people she told about this trip are my sister and my cousin, whom she also instructed not to give out any information about where she is.
I am insanely worried... I have looked at her Facebook page and can't find a man by this name, only one named ChikChouk, who has no other friends but my mother. Upon Googling, my husband found several profiles with this man's name and picture, but the info on all the pages is different. One says his job is an artist; another says he's in construction.
Who can I contact? I feel the urge to file a missing person's report immediately! Please help me!

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Hi and welcome. I'm sorry that the circumstances that have brought you here are so frightening. It does sound like the person on facebook is a scammer but you can't be certain that that's who your mom has travelled to see. Regardless, she has travelled to meet someone, which is very scary.
I recommend finding information for your local federal law enforcement office and contacting them. You can also try contacting the US embassy in Tunisia and asking them for advice: http://tunisia.usembassy.gov/contact-us.html

If you can get any other information about this person your mother has been in touch with, we can help you do research.

You may want to visit our sister site, www.ScamWarners.com, which is dedicated to victim support and more geared to helping you with this.

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:05 pm

britdaw, you and your family must be sick with worry. Sad

Hope you find her soon.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 4

Thank you so much for the info. I'll start there, for sure... I'm sure you guys can understand how scared I am. the most frustrating thing for me right now is that out of the 2 people my mother gave info to, one of them refuses to tell me anything because she "promised not to tell".

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:16 am

If you, your sister or cousin have access to your mothers computer please check it for info that may help.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 4

I am 3 hours away from her house, but my sister may be able to get in... I'll contact her to ask her to do that.

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 4:35 pm

Quote:

the most frustrating thing for me right now is that out of the 2 people my mother gave info to, one of them refuses to tell me anything because she "promised not to tell"

Forgive my bluntness but this person needs to grow up. This isn't some adolescent prank gone wrong. You mother is heading into a potentially dangerous situation. If this person who refuses to tell cares about your mother's safety, they need to tell you what they know immediately.

Best of luck. I hope this all works out OK for you and your Mom.

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 6:57 pm

Oh my goodness! This is really horrifiying. Perhaps two or three of the really experienced baiters who know how to get the maximum of info out of a lad could open a fake account on Facebook and check this guy out. Not that the lad would tell the truth, but usually there's a tiny amount of truth regarding the location. The lad's typo could give clues regarding his origin and maybe, just maybe, he'll drop some info about a specific town (e.g. certain local customs, a unique kind of building or whatever or something to at least pinpoint a region).

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:28 pm

Ookay, this is scary. I can't really offer much besides remote assistance in securing evidence on her PC, but I shall keep my fingers crossed for mom to return home soon.

Also, I'm with Raga Man. Tell that person you'll personally hold her accountable if anything bad happens because she refused to help you.

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:10 am

also with Raga and Bankster. If Law Enforcement gets involved soon, and they should, your Mom's safety is at risk. A person withholding info. can be charged with impeding an investigation. "Obstruction of Justice."

It will not be an empty threat.

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:38 pm

^^^I fourth that.
Embassy, FO, airlines.
Email photos and details of your mum to hotels, airports in Tunisia.
BBC?
Please keep us up-dated.

edited. I googled ChikChouk and found this, the sort of page you´d expect a young girl to post up on. En français.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 4

So far I've been told that there is nothing I can do at this point. I've spoken to my mother, who says she's having an absolute wonderful time and that I have no reason to worry. Even though I have evidence that this man is nothing but a liar, at the very least, no one will help me because my mother is an adult who is not being held against her will; she's there of her own accord and there are "no grounds for investigation". *sigh*
I'm absolutely sick with worry right now. And yes, I did tell my cousin that if anything horrible happens to my mom, I will hold her partially responsible. Even HER mother and sister have tried to get her to tell what she knows and she refuses. This is an absolute mess.
Mom's supposed to be home on Tuesday, the 13th. I just hope to God she gets home safely. All I can do at this point is pray.

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:33 pm

We will be praying along with you britdaw. I'm hoping that at best he
only wanted to sweet-talk her out of a few dollars. Let us know, of course,
if she returns safely on the 13th.

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