Sad story from Finland

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Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 3:08 pm

A Finnish magazine, Seitsemän päivää (Seven days) or Seiska as it is commonly referenced here, had an article about a guy who has fallen for a scam. He had already sent EUR 35,000 to Ghana and was trying to raise another 35,000.

He originally contacted the magazine to make a story about terrible customer service in Finnish banks because his loan applications were refused! A scan of the original article here: http://www.cdxix-sites.info/spyrkes/of/seiska.pdf

I have translated most of the article for your convenience:

Quote:

They promised me a wife and lots of gold

This is a story about desire for a woman, glitter of gold, money and Finnish man who fell for them. The extraordinary story began 2009, when an estate maintenance professional Jarmo from Espoo was surfing internet dating sites.

- I found the divinely beautiful Fauzia, Jarmo remembers when holding a photo of a beautiful, lightly dressed blonde in her twenties. Shortly after that, Jarmo and Fauzia, who according to her words was living in Ghana, started to write intensively to each other. The conversation quickly advanced to personal level.

Fauzia told that she had inherited 328 kilograms of raw gold from her grandfather, who used to work at a goldmine. The problem was that to get this gold, worth of millions of dollars, Fauzia had to be married.

- So we arranged a wedding at the web. I even have a stamped certificate, says Jarmo and shows his certificate.

After that, money issues started. Raw gold can’t be sold prior to processing and Fauzia’s lawyer asked for 70,000 EUR to get the gold out of Ghana for processing. The gold would be worth more than 11 million.

- Did you ever think that this could be a scam that is commonly called “a Nigerian letter”?

- I know that suspicion is part of being a Finn, but I don’t believe that this is a scam. I have official documents for everything.

- It is quite easy to produce such documents using a computer…

- No, no, if anything is true, this is it.

I sent EUR 35,000

Next step in Jarmo’s story was that a lawyer from Ghana, introducing himself as “Ibrahim” sent an email and told that Fauzia’s relatives who were blinded by desire for money tried to steal the gold from her. However, the lawyer successfully managed to hide the gold in some rural bank in Ghana. He told that Fauzia’s life was in danger and later the lawyer was assaulted so badly that he had to be taken to hospital.

- I thought that I must get both gold and Fauzia out of the country quickly, Jarmo sums up.

In his messages, the lawyer repeatedly pushed the fact that arrangements require urgent funding, which Jarmo started to organize.

- I managed to raise 20,000EUR and I sent it to foreign bank account. Later, I managed to raise 15,000 more and I have now sent 35,000 to Ghana, but I still need 35,000 more to get the gold out of country for processing.

Next, the Finn headed for banks in order to get a loan.

They laughed at me in the bank

Jarmo contacted Seiska because he wanted us to make a story about rude customer service at Finnish banks. The story of gold and his internet wife was a total surprise for the reporter. Jarmo told that the loan officers at the banks refused to listen to his wild story. He has visited in several banks with all documents confirming that the gold really exists. He even had two photographs where a hand is pointing at trunkboxes full of golden, brick sized blocks.

- To be honest, first they laughed at me and the they asked me to wipe my ass with these documents. Intolerable behaviour!

- So you still believe that if you send another 35,000 EUR, you will get a the gold worth 11 million together with a young wife.

- Yes.

After the interview, the reporter contacted fraud unit of the police

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 3:43 pm

That is why we do what we do, Deuzer. I hate these lads & their scams. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:34 pm

Very sad story indeed. There must be a special place in Dante's Divine Comedy (hell/purgatory) for these slimy lads.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:23 pm

After investing 30.000 it will be very hard to persuade this guy that this isn't a scam. He is so emotionally involved and want to believe in this so much that in might prove impossible to make him see the truth of it.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:39 pm

^^^^^^

Sadly I have to agree, he is going to want it so bad, that trying to persuade him that it is a scam, would take some doing.... Crying or Very sad

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:59 pm

I hope that the police has contacted him and managed to persuade him to give up. Unfortunately, it seems that he is beyond the point where rational thinking stops. They laughed at his documents when he took them to banks and even that didn't wake him up.

I try to keep my eyes open to spot if there are any related news about him.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:20 pm

Sad story indeed and good as a reminder of why we do what we do. Hopefully one of us will be fortunate to run into this particular lad some day Twisted Evil

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:41 pm

^^^ Let me know and I will bring along my new Christmas present Laughing

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:47 pm

One of the most disturbing aspects of the story, to me, was the apparent failure of bank officials - - who clearly knew this was a scam -- to refer the victim to the appropriate authorities, rather than just laughing at him. This man clearly needs someone to sit down and take the time to show him what is going on and, regrettably, the banks seem to have been more interested in ridicule.

Bruin

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:57 pm

I was recently told about a t.v. show, a reality show, where one of the reality personages was being scammed by a Craigslist scammer. The woman actually "sold" her car to a person for a couple thousand over the asking price. The question remains is why did not the producers and the people filming this show, clue the victim into what was happening. They just let her proceed.

To me this sounds like a situation which could have been stopped by the producers, but no, they wanted the sensationalism at the expense of this young victim.

That sure would not have occurred if it were that guy from Dateline who has outed a scammer for a victim and the scammer was arrested and carted away.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:00 pm

^^^
Too true! Confused

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:01 pm

I don't think that they have actually laughed at him at the banks, it's not very Finnish way to deal with clients and I would be very surprised if it has really happened.

I think that the expression describes mostly how he felt at the situation when his applications were rejected. Also, we don't know what really happened in the banks as we only have his side of the story. They may have tried to advise him, but it's useless if he is too deep in the scam.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:58 pm

Nope not the Finnish way at all.
When i was in a Finnish airport i had to get my ticket. But as i needed one hand to hold my bag and the other look for the ticket i had no way of holding my passport. So i put the passport in my mouth in the meanwhile whereupon the Finnish airport employee stared with a blank expression on his face and said "don't eat your passport". I don't know if he was serious or if it was a Finnish joke and i will never know.

But my point is that it is not the Finnish way to laugh at someone. They are a quite serious people. Something my Finnish mother-in-law proves as well.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:08 pm

I wonder if there is such a thing as a Finnish joke book?

How many Finns does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Two: One to screw in the light bulb, the other to tell the nearby bystander than Finns are not Scandinavian!!

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:17 am

^^^
How many Finns does it take to change a light bulb?

Five. One to hold the bulb and four to drink enough Kosu (vodka) until the room starts spinning.

OR

(based on the fact that 'all' Finns are engineers) None. They fix the old one.

http://www.expat-finland.com/living_in_finland/finnish_jokes.html

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:23 am

So there is a widely spread belief that Finns are hard on the bottle at times after all. I always thought it was just us Scandinavians. My half Finnish girlfriend always gets mad when i mention that.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:31 am

I think a lot of it has to do with geographical location. Since winters in Scandanavia and Finland are dark and long (giggity) there is not much to do, depression sets in, so you hit the bottle. In the US, Alaska has the same problem, one of the highest drinking (and suicide rates) in the US. Heck look at Russia too.

What is this thread about anyway??

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:40 am

I met a guy from Finland in California and he mentioned going to work hung-over and ways to get rid of a hangover but I ended up quite hung-over the next day and he got rid of his. Laughing

Nice guy though.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:51 am

This thread is very helpful. I'm glad it got offtopic because it just answered a burning life question about myself. My drinking problem stems from my .05% Finish ancestry.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 1:01 am

Mine stems from being over 50% ethnic Russian (though my grasp of the language consists of Da, Nyet, and Vodka)

Allright I got a plan since I'm drinking now. Let's find this guy in Finland being scammed. Get him drunk, and try to reason with him that he is being scammed. We drink too, a lot. So that when we realize he won't listen to us, we don't care cause we are drunk.

And as an American I promise I will NOT smile at any locals!!

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 2:42 pm

This makes me wonder whether the chat-site lads are the ones doing the real damage and in some way we should focus on them.
Or at least the chat sites should be asked to post up warnings about scammers to their members.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 5:30 pm

^^^
Both Eater and Scamwarners have dating scam forums. But we can't save everyone.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 5:33 pm

Deuzer wrote:

...I think that the expression ("To be honest, first they laughed at me and the they asked me to wipe my ass with these documents.") describes mostly how he felt at the situation when his applications were rejected. Also, we don't know what really happened in the banks as we only have his side of the story. They may have tried to advise him, but it's useless if he is too deep in the scam.

I agree.
In the course of a massive on-going goldlad bait I've been sent literally dozens of documentations, some very convincing.
So convincing I had to be walked through the reasons the doccos were fakes, even knowing a priori their nature was fraudulent.
I can understand that the vic simply couldn't believe they were fakes.
Goldlads are docco masters, though my co-baiter and I have come up with some magnificent examples of fake doccos which have been posted up here.

What I found interesting is that the reprter was called in, not to publicise the scam, but to complain about the bank's refusal to give him the loan that would enable him to go deeper into the scam.

As for the lightbulb joke, thanks for participating but the correct answer to the question is-
None. Finns aren't afraid of the dark.

Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:48 pm

Ezio wrote:

This makes me wonder whether the chat-site lads are the ones doing the real damage and in some way we should focus on them.
Or at least the chat sites should be asked to post up warnings about scammers to their members.

There are warnings everywhere but people just don't believe (or read) them. I used to have my profile on a dating site and I got so many letters from the lads. Some of them were rather convincing even in my eyes although I know much more about the romance scam scene than an average dater. Nowadays I tend to turn all my baits to dating baits. It's easy and you don't have to remember any complicated stories, just talk nonsense on the phone for hours.

If you possibly have any interest, please do bait the love lads. They destroy their victims emotionally, socially and of course financially.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 4747

Tragic, warnings seem to work best when they are early. I think there is a point of no return, when the vic will listen to no one but the mugu.