Sometime back I posted an on craigslist, men looking for women. And was inundated with spam and scam in reply. One reply was from an amazingly hot-looking redhead in Russia. (or from someone with a lot of photos of said redhead.) Total scam, I figure.
Well, I play along. I express my suspicions. And even if legit, I express to her that I think it is unlikely that a real relationship could develop since there are various obstacles in addition to the distance. But we email back and forth for over a month. Her language rapidly became over the top. “Oh my dearest darling, i think of you night and day.”
Now she says she wants to come visit me. I figure she’s coming in for the kill, wanting me to finance the trip. I tell her plainly that while I’d love for all this to work out, until I am absolutely certain she’s for real, she’s not getting a penny out of me. I don’t care if she calls me from London saying she lost everything, she’s in jail, or the hospital. I’m going to tell her to call someone else.
She still says she’s coming. Soon.
There are suspicious details. She says that her apartment was burgled and she lost her computer, and is getting a forced vacation during which she can’t use the company comptuter, and so can’t email me for two months if she doesn’t come visit. I asked her for her phone number and she said she dropped her phone in water and hasn’t got a replacement yet.
Ok, so its a con. But I don’t get it. What am I being set up for? I’ve been so clear that I’m not giving her money she can’t expect to fool me.
Other possibles:
(1) Through my hospitality I am unwittingly assisting her to commit some other fraud or crime.
(2) she’s trying to get me in a corner and extort money from me. (but how?)
(3) she’s sincere … and a total nut.
I should just walk away but I’m too curious. And did I say she’s smoking hot?
These scams are usually some sort of advance fee fraud. So she’ll probably announce that she urgently needs some money at the point where you’re most committed.
Step back a sec.
[ol]
[li]Someone has been corresponding with you electronically.[/li][li]You have received images of a female redhead, with claims the someone and the person in the images is the same person.[/li][li]Someone is stating they are going to come visit you, but every attempt you make to more accurately identify the person (assuming to be a the same female redhead) has every excuse in the book when it comes to email, phone calls, etc.[/li][/ol]
Is that about it?
If it’s a scam, they are setting you up emotionally to extract from you what they seek (presumably money). On the other hand, it’s a double scam and that someone is a guy who lives in the next state and he’s playing with your mind in a twisted way.
Try this. Assuming “she” has told you where she lives, do some research online about her location. Find an image of an identifiable landmark and ask “her” to have her photo taken in front of it holding up a copy of Pravda, or some other regular publication you can find online or at a newsstand. For example, if “she” can’t send you a copy of “her” standing in front of Lenin’s Tomb, holding up a Pravda on a specific date, fish or cut bait.
That’s what I figured. I’ve made it has clear to her as can be I’m not falling for that though. But if that is the case, it amuses me to see just how far I can take this.
Here’s an idea. When “she” says she needs 700 dollars, send her a check for a thousand and have her send back the excess.
Of course, you don’t have any money in that account.
Score 300 dollars and you just scammed the scammer.
She could be that hot Russian spy, trying to get back to the United States. You could end up needing to marry her to provide her with her new cover.
I don’t know if you would be susceptible to blackmail, but that is definitely one angle. She could get you drunk or stoned on GHB and take pictures of you, her, two male friends, and a Great Dane. You might be willing to pay to suppress one or more of those pictures.
As was stated in a recent thread regarding helping a Canadian sex worker, it is also possible that you are being set up to pay for her “abortion”, which she will need to have before she can face her family.
Make sure you post an update after you meet her and get scammed. It is always interesting to discover which scams are still being used.
And hope s/he doesn’t know how to use Photoshop or Google streetview or image search or print out a copy of Pravda or some other regular publication you can find online…
I’m curious and amused by it. I figured that if I was clear and firm about not giving out money that she’d give up. all the others did, and fairly quickly when they saw they were wasting their time. But she hasn’t.
The scammer will ask you for money at some point, despite your declarations that none will be forthcoming. She’ll be this close to finally getting to you, but has just one little problem with her passport and needs your help with the fee to clear it up. Or something. A Doper since 2003 (hopefully) knows better, but she doesn’t know that. She’s probably quite skilled at making a convincing case, and knows that the closer a guy gets to having mind-blowing sex with a smoking-hot Russian redhead, the more prone he will be to think with his little head instead of his big one.
An alternate theory is that one of her e-mails will include an attachment that you will regret opening. If you proceed with this game, do so with caution.
Why not send her an email saying are emailing her from a public library terminal as you made a bad bet on the stock market or something and have lost everything. You had to sell all of your personal belongings (except for the clothes on your back) in order to rent a small room at the Motel 6 as you can no longer afford a real house. Give her the address of the Motel 6 as a meeting spot. Either way I wouldn’t give her my home address anyways. See what happens.
(If it were me I would delete the emails and cut off contact, but since your willing to take the risk for the entertainment value, I am curious to see what happens.)
With respect to the previous poster, there’s a much simpler and safer option than Motel 6: If you feel you positively must meet this person (who knows if it’s a woman), and he/she is actually coming to the States, arrange to meet in a public and crowded place. A Starbucks, say. This means nothing will happen besides a conversation, I suppose - but this is probably all to the good.
Still, though - the smartest thing would be to just give up this stupid game altogether. If it’s just that you want to be reassured that you’re smarter than this scammer, here you go: You’re smarter than this scammer. Now drop it before you get hurt.
