I think my friend is being scammed.

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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:24 pm

I think my friend is being scammed by someone.

He sends money via Western Union to a woman that he has met online, and this woman is going to travel to Norway next week. They have never talked on the phone, only online - but they are both soooooo in love.

There is a lot of things that is telling me that this is a scam! When I try to talk to my friend, he just does not care about it.

But, I got the MTCN number he used to send money - but when I look online to check the status of the transfer, it only says that the money is picked up.

Is there some other way that I can find out which country the money was picked up? Can I contact WU?

I also got the Facebook ID of this lady.

Please, help Smile

I just need to find out if this is real or not.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 1:57 pm

Hi Quada,

Sorry to hear of your concerns for your friend.

You might like to show him a couple of pages from our sister site ScamWarners.

An introduction to love or dating scams:

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25

Are you falling for a love scammer?:

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3607

Also at ScamWarners, there is a forum called 'Help! Is this a scam?':

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

where you could receive some more advice.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:12 pm

If you can get a look at the headers of the email he has been receiving, depending on the provider, you may be able to show the true location. If it's a scammer, s/he probably is not in Norway. There will probably be some mishap that will require canceling the trip and sending more money.

If you aren't sure how to check headers, there's a good thread about it here.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:15 pm

Sorry!

I don't have access to my friends e-mail.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:20 pm

^^I wouldn't have thought so. Would he be willing to forward you a header? He has nothing to lose and much to gain, regardless of the outcome.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 3:47 pm

The problem is that I have discussed this with him, but he does not care. He his so in love, and don´t care what I say. It´s frustrating.

I have showed him the sites that were linked to, and everything. But no reaction...

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:00 pm

If you want to PM me whatever info you have on her, I can ask one of our more experienced romance baiters to have a look. It's a long shot, but someone might be able to find some evidence that may convince him.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:56 pm

The only thing I have is the MTCN number and her facebook ID.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 5:14 pm

^^Have you tried Googling her? You could also set up a fake facebook account and see if she'll fall for you too.

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:52 pm

Romance scam victims can be hard to convince I'm afraid. Suppose you predicted what will happen next week?
1) "She" will never arrive in Norway.
2) Something will happen on the way to the airport. Mugging or car accident that needs more money via WU.
3) The scammer may even email your friend posing a a doctor who needs money before he can treat her.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:21 am

I am pretty certain that I know what will happen next week.

I've still tried to convice my friend to check things more closely, and talk to her on the phone - but he does not want to check things closer. He is 100 % sure that she is coming.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:54 am

Quada wrote:

He is 100 % sure that she is coming.

Well, he will soon find out that he's wrong. With any luck he won't send any more money.
Nobody in this thread has said so explicitly, but the scammer is almost certainly male.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:40 am

I'm very sorry to hear about what's happened to your friend.

I've come to the conclusion that one of the biggest challenges of warning scam victims is the fact that they often desperately want to believe the scam and will deeply resent anyone trying to shatter their comforting illusions.

Yes, let your friend know that what's coming next is an accident/mugging on the way to the airport or other crisis requiring emergency funds to be wired. Does his new love have a child? Often these assholes use their fictional children to create a crisis. ("My seven year old daughter needs immediate surgery and the hospital is demanding $1,200 wired ASAP...")

Your friend will just resent you, but sometimes being a true friend means absorbing that resentment.

If you're familiar with safe baiting it is a fine idea to try to also "fall in love" with this particular West African dude. Your friend is going to hate you anyway, so why not have a little fling with his "girlfriend"?

The facebook account of this "girl" might be helpful if it has a lot of pictures. These scammers use the same photo sets over and over again, so at the very least you can establish that this sweet girl has an identical twin sister who has been very busy in the world of on-line romance.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:50 am

Sometimes, planting a seed of doubt is enough. Your friend may not seem like he is willing to consider what you have been telling him, but there is a good chance it's being processed in some dark corner of his brain.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:10 pm

Good luck, Quada!

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:12 pm

Sorry but I think that this has "romance scam" written all over it.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:19 pm

What an unpleasant situation for you, Quada.
Other baiters have given excellent advise, so I shan´t repeat what has been written.

However, if you´re interested in looking up the photos of your friend´s ladylove, here´s an interesting site which helps you trace the provenance of a given photo:
http://www.scamdigger.com/

All the best and keep us posted.

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:14 am

Thanks for the support, and help!

I will keep working on this during the weekend. I will keep y'all postet Smile

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:32 pm

Her sister is now in the hospital, and need to get an operation.

I tried again to speak to him - but he would not listen. She is the only one the sister have because the mother and father is dead - so she need to help and so on.. bla bla bla. I tried to ask if he has payed any money, but he did not answer.

I contacted WU to see if they could give me any info about the MTCN number, but I have not got an answer yet. I hope they can help!

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:44 pm

Quada wrote:

Her sister is now in the hospital, and need to get an operation.

I tried again to speak to him - but he would not listen. She is the only one the sister have because the mother and father is dead - so she need to help and so on.. bla bla bla. I tried to ask if he has payed any money, but he did not answer.

Oh... classics... I am very sorry for your friend.
The best idea here - Try to contact her, write with her and fall in love with her. Then show your friend.

Good luck

Master Baiter Joined: 24 Mar 2009 Posts: 128

Could you tell him that he should speak directly to the hospital?? Do NOT let scammer give him number to hospital!! Just get the name of hospital and let him get the number himself!! If the sister is really in the hospital then she must have some sort of Patient number , so all he would really need is the name of a real hospital, the sister's name and her pt number.
Then he can call the hospital and make a confirmation!! If "she" does not want to give out that information it should let him know something is not right??? Has he read any of these posts?? Mr. Tamberine Man must be a psychic!!! because he predicted exactly what was going to happen!!

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:52 pm

The more I read this thread the more sick I feel. Your friend has the scam victim's version of the "Stockholm Syndrome" and at this point is actively enabling this criminal. I don't know what else you can do - If you feel comfortable doing so it might be worth contacting any relatives you can reach to try to prevent your friend from clearing out his personal savings and any family funds he has access to. One thing is certain: this scammer will keep at him until there's no money left.

What country is this "sister" hospitalized in? I thought Norway had socialized medicine. I wasn't aware that any hospitals in that part of the world took payments via Western Union.

By the way, Western Union isn't going to give you any help at all.

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:05 pm

Ugh, this is like watching a soon-to-be car crash in slow motion that the victim is willingly driving into.

I have to ask though, has anyone from our sister site contacted this person yet? Give your friend's email addy to someone at scamwarners.com, hopefully maybe he will take some notice.

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:52 pm

bethc8 wrote:

Mr. Tamberine Man must be a psychic!!! because he predicted exactly what was going to happen!!

I wish! Only too predictable with this scam. Sad

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:25 pm

Just as a purely out-of-the-box idea, all this time we spend speaking Pidgin should be put to good use. Having the scammer's email address would enable someone to talk to him directly, lad to lad, and the conversations to be had would be as good as a confession. Too obvious? Worth a shot?

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