My mom has a friend who I think is getting date scammed

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** SUSPENDED ** Joined: 12 Jan 2010 Posts: 2

A friend of my mom has been "courting" somebody from Africa (she doesn't know which country) over the Internet for the past year or so. When she described the relationship to me alarm bells went off and I immediately thought this guy was getting scammed.

Signs:

- She's sending naked pictures of herself.
- She keeps asking for money. One time he sent her money for a trip and she mysteriously lost the plane ticket.
- All interactions have been kept to internet or phone.

This is all she told me but to me this screams scam. My mom has been saying the same thing to him but he's blind. He just doesn't believe it.
He's now talking about going overthere and personally check things out. I mentioned to her that this was a very, very bad idea!

My question is:

What information can I print out so I can give to my mom so she can give to her friend? I need something that will be as convincing as possible.

Thanks,

Jorge

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:37 pm

Do you have any of "her" e-mails, IMs, phone number(s) or pictures for further analysis? Also, scamwarners.com might be worth a visit. You'll find lots of info on various types of scams and individual scammers.

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:38 pm

Welcome Betio,

From what you have described, this is definitely a scam. You can direct your mom's friend to www.scamwarners.com more specifically the "Romance Scams" section.

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:03 pm

As mentionned, try to direct him to scamwarners.
The best way for him to realize what's happening is to witness it by himself.
It will work 100 times better than someone trying to convince him if he doesn't want to hear what you tell him.

** SUSPENDED ** Joined: 12 Jan 2010 Posts: 2

Bankster wrote:

Do you have any of "her" e-mails, IMs, phone number(s) or pictures for further analysis? Also, scamwarners.com might be worth a visit. You'll find lots of info on various types of scams and individual scammers.

I'm afraid I won't be able to get the emails but I'll give the scamwarners.com site a visit. I think news articles of people going overthere under the same circumstances would be helpful as well. Hopefully they have something like that at the site.

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:53 am

Fortunately we dont get too many storys of people visiting Africa to see their love interests" the storys we do hear about that are certainly not happy ending.

I would presume that his "girlfriend" will make an excuse as to why he shouldn't travel.

This scamwarners thread should help http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3607
It describes the many warning signs of a romance scammer and I am sure much of it will be similiar in this case.

If you could get him to visit Scamwarners himself that would be great, if not, you could request a Scamwarners member contact him, there are some very experienced people there who deal mainly with the romance scams that have been through this many times and they will be able to help.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Hello and welcome, Betio. Please do visit ScamWarners for more information and help. Additionally, there are some victims' stories linked here, which may help with trying to convince him not to travel: http://www.scam-info-links.info/scam_victim_news.html

Master Baiter Joined: 31 Oct 2009 Posts: 159

Betio, by any means DO NOT LET HIM TRAVEL TO AFRICA
There are people that are held hostage, and then there are people that are killed there. This is not a joke, prank or game - people are really dying.
Please point your mom's friend to the forementioned sites, or even to this thread here. Hell, if he is OK with it, PM me his phone number and I'll call him ( if he speaks English )

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:43 pm

That's a nice offer, Haban1336, but warning a victim/potential victim is not something that is easily done nor should it be undertaken by someone who is inexperienced in communicating with scam victims. Romance scam victims, in particular, are typically more difficult to deal with because emotions over-rule logic 99% of the time.

Betio, if you do decide to have someone place a call to your mothers friend for the purpose of warning, please either PM the number to any moderator here or at scamwarners and they will get an experienced warner to communicate with him. Smile

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:20 pm

Sometimes I helps to insert a minor chink into the fantasy the victim is wallowing in.

Tell him he needs to demand to see her face LIVE on webcam.

They'll come up with all sorts of excuses...no cam where they are, etc.

You can maybe also find the source of the stolen pictures at tineye.com

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