Recently divorced friend being scammed

Factual Questions
1

I don’t know what the scam is but I have a recently divorced middle aged friend I know is being scammed. He is on some kind of dating web site where girls from Central and South America are contacting him. All of these women are outrageously beautiful with bodies that would put playboy models to shame.

  He has an answer for everything. He tells me that he has one line in his profile that is just melting these girls hearts and they are falling in love with him. I wish I knew how the scam worked so I could explain it to him. He claims all the women in these parts look like this because they grew up playing soccer and stay in shape. Being in shape does not describe these women, They are all 38-23-36 types. Please help me explain how these scams work, I am afraid he is about to get ripped off big time.
2

I’d make him promise not to send money, credit card data or anything of the sort.

I met my wife on a legitimate dating site here in the US. Why don’t you send him in that direction?

3

The scam is that they will soon ask for money for a plane ticket to come visit him. Then there’s a problem with the visa, so they need a little more money to take care of that. Then a little more money for their sick mother…

4

That’s exactly what it is. I’ve heard of this scam from russian websites, bu I am sure it is all over the place.

My brother decided to get involved in one of the russian sites some years back. One of the big price tags was the “translation services”.

5

The girls that he attracts are not pretty enough for him, he is about 5’7" with a 52" waistline.

6

Another friend similar to the first friend lost his entire life savings to a Russian scammer. He married her, funded her frequent vacations alone to Russia, jewelry, I could go on and on. It took her two years to get everything.

7

You’re not suggesting the OP’s friend hook up with your wife, are you?:eek:

8

I might be worth trying a search to see if you can find where the photographs come from. The girls in those pictures are certainly not the ones he is corresponding with - they were probably stolen from a model directory or something similar.

9

Is there a way to search the photos? They look like model portfolio type photos.

10

Google image search. You can click the camera icon and give it a link to the photo to search for.

11

Google Image Search is your friend.

12

They’re going to charm him, then they’re going to ask for money. These scammers are very good at what they do, and he’s vulnerable because of the divorce.

Tell him to concentrate on women he can meet in person without paying for their plane ticket.

13

Not that that’ll really save him all that much money. :slight_smile:

14

Although it’s likely just some photos off the web, those could be actual women in on the scam. Some guy is doing all the communication with your friend behind the scenes, but he could be splitting the money with the women. So even if he asked for a custom pic (e.g. write my name on your arm), they might be able to provide it.

Google dating scam and you’ll get tons of results. Good luck in trying to get your friend to believe it. You’ll also see many stories in those results of friends and family who are helpless to stop someone they care about from getting hooked. It only seems to end when the dupe runs out of money, and even then they still feel like the they’re in love with the person.

15

He ignores any kind of logical reasons why he should know this is a scam. I think I am going to have to have proof. He is convinced his smoothly written profile just reels them right in. His eyes glaze over when you start talking scam, he doesn’t hear a word I am saying.

16

And make him do it in writing, so later, when he’s about to send money, you can show him what he wrote. Probably still won’t help, but seeing his own words in writing will be just a little harder for him to dismiss.

17

Maybe you should post a fake profile and make some money off of him.

18
  1. Sit him down and make him promise to listen to you.
  2. Explain A) that it’s a scam; and B) how it works (as described in this thread).
  3. Write down Item #2 and make two copies. Give him one, and keep the other. Seal your copy in an envelope, and write the date.
  4. Once he loses all of his money, present him with the sealed envelope.
19

You can shove cold hard proof under his nose and he won’t believe you. I would do your best to get him involved with meeting women in the community. Other than that, if someone is going to be stupid, all you can do is get out of their way so the debris doesn’t hit you.

20

“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.” – Benjamin Franklin

Although I think Ol’ Ben was an optimist, because I’ve seen a lot of washouts from the School of Hard Knocks who took the entire very expensive course and still didn’t get the diploma, because they didn’t learn a damned thing. OP, I hope your friend isn’t one of those, but self-delusion is a hard thing to break.