help me help my mate

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Apr 2015 Posts: 1

Hi ; new here and looking for help. An old friend of mine is being scammed by 2 different scammers ( possibly same ones I guess). He refuses to listen or believe it could be a scam. The 2 scams are ; Rwanda colonel killed, left his fortune to daughter living in orphan camp ( she is 26 ,name is julian) she professes her love to him, wants to move to oz and marry him and have his babies. She recently attempted suicide requiring him to send more money. not sure how much money he has sent to her but think it is about 8-10K.
Other scam is deceased african women leaving him 14million , 10% must go to charity. This has been going on for over 7 years now and each time it is ready to release another hurdle "jumps up". Most recently the money has been transferred to Malaysia where it requires more certificates to release. He has "invested" over 80K so far including all his superfund, and more concerning to me, loans (or investments) from friends. He also owes close to 8K to cash converters in personal loans. I have tried calmly talking to him, showing him multiple sites of warnings. He has even been contacted by federal police and told not to send money to Africa. They have hooked him completely and I dont know what to do to help him. Can anyone send me links to similar scams or exactly same so I can open his eyes up. for the record I have not given him any money. My only idea is to destroy his phone and laptop, pretty cruel but i can't convince him he is a victim. Sure this sounds oh to familiar to many and appreciate any guidance anyone can provide. Thank you in advance

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 11:04 pm

Hello savemymate and welcome. First, check out the 419eater sister site scamwarners.com. Both of the scams you described are fairly common so, at the very least, you could show your friend several carbon copies of the original scam letters.

My other thought would be to ask him for the contact info of the scammers working him, then get a mentor and start baiting them, yourself. That way you can show him in real time how this stuff falls out. Just remember the cardinal rule to bait safe.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Welcome savemymate. I'm sorry to hear that your friend has been victim to these scams and that he's in so deep.
Both scam types are very common (orphan and dying widow).
As Thursten3rd said, our sister site is set up with information and free support (It's all volunteer run). http://ScamWarners.com

The forum there has overviews of different scam types, and a section where he could ask for help.

Here is the topic overview of Advance Fee Fraud, which describes both the scams you mentioned: https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3242

You may want to look around the forum there and arm yourself with some additional information, like the romance scams info, since the orphan scammer is using that component on your friend.

If you can get any of the emails or contact info the scammer is using, you can also ask for help on the forum there - support team members will help you research for evidence of the scammer using that name/info to get it listed on the forum.

You may need to try to get local professional help to convince him, perhaps trying law enforcement again.

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:00 am

welcome savemymate.
i agree with the above two posts. after 7 years, your friend is probably pretty "invested" in the story. destroying his property is a very bad idea, so please do not do that.
just go to scamwarners, get what you need, hopefully convince your friend. reading or some of the threads here might help too. i have been reading a 6 year bait for the last months. with a growing interest in baiting for myself. i think i'm off to eater university,and then i might just apply for a mentor again!

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:08 am

Agree with above - he has a lot of time and money invested in this. Reasoned arguement does not seem to work.

I like the idea of getting the scammers details - just an email address and setting up your own gmail account and replying to the bait yourself, just a simple email saying you have received an email from him and you were after more info and how to help. Within a week you will have several replies, all virtually identical to your friends, all asking for money.

You can then use this to show it is anyone who responds and not him they are interested in.

I would also ask him to look in depth at this site and scamwarners if he is so sure his interactions are legitimate. Tell him to spend a couple of hours with an open mind.

No offence but it sounds like he needs some professional conselling to help him out of this.