To think some romance scam victims are simply stupid?

Exactly! They’re doing this waiting for the big payout! They do it because they’ve been cooped into believing the returns will be worth it. That’s the whole scam…

Yeah makes you wonder how they ever get a good job when they are clearly so stupid. I feel sad for some of the lonely ones but nothing for idiots with no common sense..

burnt red like a lobster.

Yes, the one I saw too was burnt to a crisp!

I'd not watched till this thread. Is frightening

even when banks and the police have tried to intervene they’ve still gone ahead and sent them hundreds of thousands of money

I do believe as other posters have said it's greed and or lust that have unfortunately lost them all this money

I’m sure there are plenty. But perhaps not stunningly beautiful, size 6 models in their 20s with two university degrees.

Because that’s the common thread in all these programmes that I have watched. All the scammers are pretending to be very good looking people who are at least 20 years younger than their victim. Oh yes and they are all richer than their victims, they are just temporarily short of money.

So yes these victims are usually vulnerable. But they are also foolish, deluded and greedy.

The surgeon was basically autistic. Had no idea how to deal with wonen.

This is it really, isn't it?

Nobody likes to be told they are wrong about anything, especially not when they have been fooled. They can't admit it to themselves, let alone anyone else.

But why?! I don't understand. Was there no woman in the UK who wanted to date a successful surgeon?

Not just stupid people fall for this scam. I know of a successful surgeon in his 50's who sent $750,000 to a woman (man?) he never met in China on the promise of marriage.

Me too. This is why I take such an interest in these scams. Because I am very well aware that I could be a target, and that the scams evolve and develop and they are very very clever at how they suck you in. One minute you're chatting to someone in the same line of business as you, exchanging tips and having a laugh, the next minute you're sending money 'just this once' to help out a friend who's in deep trouble.

I like to think I would never fall for it. But I've been lonely, looking for company, so I can see how it happens. Only my utter disdain for men and desire never to have to get close to one ever again saves me sometimes, I feel. Plus I'm hideous and even 'Johnny Depp' would struggle to keep a straight face and tell me I'm gorgeous.

I could be Doris and I’m very well aware that my main attraction is “own house and car” even to 70 year old Bill, never mind a 25 year old ( not that I’d be interested in either of them anyway).

This is why I am always telling DM not to engage with cold callers, don't forward on urban myth emails etc. Put down the phone, delete. Don't get on a mugs list.

I haven't seen this particular one, but honestly I think the same.

See it all the time on these types of programmes,
Woman in her 60s, very overweight, plain looking woman.
Goes on holiday, and all of a sudden, a man who's 20 odd, looks like he spends a lot of time in the gym...and his head is turned by this woman who's often not only much, much older, overweight, but is also dressed poorly, and burnt red like a lobster.

They come home truly believing that the young man has fallen deeply in love with her....but doesn't really wonder why the men back home have never had the same interest?

She doesn't start to realise when he's asking for money?

The penny doesn't drop until they're living in the UK together, she's in serious debt and he's disappeared.

I know some very smart, academic people who have no common sense or life skills. My siblings included. Went to uni, have good jobs but drive me crazy as they are just idiots. No sense at all.

Dont mix intelligence with lack of common sense lol she stupid n gave him the cadh voluntarily lol

I know someone who was taken in by something like this. It wasn't for money though, he was gay and needed a 'beard'.

He courted her on- line, proposed on line before they had even met! The first time they met he gave her an engagement ring. She was telling her friends how much in love they were, he was special bla bla bla. We all warned her that this was a scam, but she wouldn't have it.

When we met him it was just so obvious he was gay. He lived in Dubai where homosexuality is illegal, having a wife would throw the authorities off the scent. He wanted her to buy a house with him in Dubai, give up her career. She had actually transferred the deposit for the house to him when the scales fell from her eyes. She had met him a grand total of twice and was about to throw her whole life away for him. He had started to grow very distant as soon as he had the house sorted out. He told her he would be 'away with work' most of the time so she really needed to make some friends in Dubai quickly so she wouldn't be lonely!

She is the most senior person in her field in the UK, I say this to show she is not vulnerable or stupid. So I think people have to watch out for scams, not just obvious financial ones.

This may have been quoted already on this thread:

It’s Easier To Fool People Than To Convince Them That They’ve Been Fooled – Quote Investigator®

"An energetic liar can confuse, mislead, and deceive people. Yet, in many cases, that same liar is unable to reverse the deception. Hoodwinked people embrace their misperceptions. Here is a pertinent adage:

It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."

It does get me with these 'selfless' narratives about the caring and kind being targeted is they aren't people who are actively going out volunteering or helping charities on a regular basis (if they were they wouldn't be as isolated and vulnerable in the same way) and they don't afford generosity to their family.

Yes, I've often thought this too!

I’m assuming you didn’t turn into Brigitte Bardot circa 1960 on the plane over??

😂

It comes over that that on watching them talk afterwards

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER totally agree. I'm sorry these ladies saw ££££s in their eyes. Rich guy, flash lifestyle, and they wanted some of it - I doubt very much they would have reacted the same to Antonio who lived in a very ordinary flat and worked down the council offices. They chose to ignore the red flags because they wanted it to be true and the fact they were attractive , intelligent and youthful and not Doris from Wigan made it likely that it was a perfectly possible scenario

I watched Tinder Swindler some time ago and (never mind the rest of it) was frankly aghast at a presumably intelligent, reasonably well educated woman, going off in a private plane with someone she’d only just met.

IMO she was ‘lucky’ that she didn’t meet with an infinitely worse fate - the old term ‘white slave traders’ comes to mind.

Another thing worth pointing out is anyone who shares the lost dog/missing grandad type posts on SM. The ones that always say ‘bump this post’

They're used as a test by scammers to see who’s gullible enough to fall for sharing them and you’ll be on the list as potential future targets.

Re non-romance scams, I found out after our neighbour was a victim that there are so-called ‘suckers’ lists’, that are passed around, or rather sold on.

I’m convinced that our neighbour was targeted because she was addicted to those Wordsearch ‘competitions’, where you very conveniently phone in all your details at around £7 a minute.

Anyone spending a lot on those (as she undoubtedly did) was going to be seen as a likely ‘sucker’, for sure.

So anyone with a relative keen on them, please be aware!