I am being catfished right now!

I can't remember where I saw or heard this, possibly Qi? Apparently there is an advantage to the scammers in being reasonably obvious from the start. It saves them spending a lot of time working on people who, once the request for money comes, will shut them right down. Better to select initially for those who are more likely to go the distance.

From that point of view I think there's actually a big difference between stringing them along Vs immediately blocking them. If everyone who recognises the catfisher immediately wasted a chunk of their time the enterprise becomes less profitable. If everyone immediately blocks and moves on they get to spend their time on victims likely to actually hand over money. What you're doing is a public service OP.

Scammer

There are thousands of them, op knows this.

Sorry OP but He sounds like the same one my colleague was in a relationship with two weeks ago. He dumped her very quickly when she got too keen which is a pity as she was going to ask him for money 😁

But these girls were young, beautiful, blonde, had friends, lives, homes, jobs et cetera, I guess their thinking was ''why wouldn't he be interested''

Exactly- they could have had anyone they wanted and they had supportive friends and families so it's not as if they were totally alone and desperate for company. I must admit, I did wonder at times what they saw in him, he came across as really slimy to me and yes, a lot of his communication had very little substance to it, it was all superficial BS like "I miss you baby" etc

I was cheering for the woman who got revenge at the end by selling all his designer clothes under the pretence of sending him the money and then kept it for herself. Bloody good for her!

Oh that’s so sad

I had a Instagram request last night from a total stranger. A quick google lens upload sent me to the scam diggers website. If vulnerable friends or families are being hooked by this scam, it may be worth showing them the website scamdigger.com
Oh, my guy has now changed his name 😉

@swayingpalmtree oh yeh, the tinder swindler, it made me think that being decidedly average protected me from the belief that a pilot / international business man of mystery from a rich family (he implied that and used their surname despite being no relation) would ever be interested in me. But these girls were young, beautiful, blonde, had friends, lives, homes, jobs et cetera, I guess their thinking was ''why wouldn't he be interested''. I think the communication through second language is key. I read the conversations and thought, how boring, but it was through both of their second language. I think you lose sight of how boring a conversation is when it's in your second language. I know I'd be quicker to get bored in English than I would in Spanish.

They didn't engage with it. He hacked them and got all their details, family details, friends' numbers, friends' fathers' numbers. I watched that programmed too and my take was that the laws need to change quicker, not that women are to blame for engaging.

Oh there are plenty of opportunities. Next time you get a call from Microsoft or your bank saying your details have been compromised, just play along. Get sillier and sillier.

This need to start claiming racism etc off the back of these kinds of threads is tedious.

So We’re not supposed to talk about the fact that most of these romance scammers are based in Africa then? And predominantly Nigeria because it’s a shitty attitude to have? Never mind that it’s a fact and Nigeria is well known for being the home of multiple scams.

It must be horrible for the genuine Nigerians who live there, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s true.

Similarly the fact that India is home to multiple scam call centres as is Pakistan.

So maybe we should just say nothing then. Don’t mention where most of them come from because that’s racist and has a shitty vibe.

Don’t toy with them because they might have been trafficked.

How long will it be before someone comes on here and says that maybe some of these people genuinely are lonely and to toy with them is just cruel.

We get enough of the do gooders come out on the threads where OP’s have had a message from a tour guide or taxi driver they met in Srilanca/morocco/<insert country of choice> ten years ago telling their sob story, and posters jump on it saying that he obviously felt OP had no-one else to turn to.

These people are scum. Every last one of them.

Maybe if the governments of these countries clamped down harder on them the countries wouldn’t earn the reputations they have.

Different setup but same results. Not some vulnerable, lonely woman!

https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html

But this simply isnt true. It probably feels like it to you because thats the client group you work with and of course that client group are certainly vulnerable to exploitation of course, but if you ask the police, they will tell you that people from all walks of life get scammed.

Watch the Tinder Swindler (I think it's on netflix). He got literally hundreds of women in multiple different countries to give him money and none of them had cognitive deficits. They were all highly educated, very attractive, young, intelligent women with professional jobs- thats the exact type of woman he targeted. He was a narcissist and very good at sniffing out people's emotional weaknesses (which all of us have) and then exploiting that to the max. Expert manipulators don't jump in immediately with requests for money, they do it slowly over time using the art of persuasion and seduction and it's the whole boiling frog analogy thats at play. People didnt even realise they were being conned because he eased them into it so convincingly. In fact, some of them couldn't even believe it at first even when presented it with the evidence as he was that convincing.

I ask them for money before they play that card, its a fine line of time - but strangely when I give them my sob story - which I work up to slowly, they disappear - they never ever fall for it....

but it keeps them busy for about a week

OMG hubby had that pic too. Most are very pretty girls. One sent a vid of her topless doing her morning exercises. LOL. She was Texan but working in a top secret military job in Ireland so could easily pop over to see him.

@Lassiata please don’t turn this isn’t something it isn’t.

Some posters are just pointing out where these people say they are from, and I do get the point you’re trying to make but it’s not happening here.

Thousands of British women DO fall for these cons, there's a daytime BBC programme called something like "Not for love or money" and it's all about the people who have been scammed. Every case is a middle aged/elderly woman being romanced by an American who is currently in Saudi/Syria/Africa who has to raise funds for tax/customs duties/new tools for his oil rig. The amount of money these women lose is staggering and even when the hosts of the show confront them with hard evidence like stolen pictures, or even a video call with the person whose idfentity has been faked, they won't believe it.

Don't feel sorry for these scammers at all.

My dsis’s poor autistic step son has been well and truly shafted by these type of scammers.
His dad only found out a few months ago.
This is the profile pic they used. As a shy 28 year old with learning disabilities he thought his luck was well and truly in.
Sadly, it transpires that over the last few years he has sent over £20k to these people.
Even though all his friends and family keep telling him it’s a major scam he refuses to believe them, he still thinks she will come over from the States (where she is apparently based, poor and lonely!) and come visit him. He even went to our local airport to wait for her one weekend.

This profile pic is apparently of some well know adult industry ‘star’ but they continue to use it to suck vulnerable people in.

I bloody hate these people.

Hubby gets them on Fb from America. He's so handsome they say. She's a widow and then comes a pic in messenger of these massive boobs."All yours soon honey" "Always wanted to visit London" LOL. . Then he blocks her but not straight away. We have a laugh and I type some replies....

There's a man on YT that scams the scammers over the phone.he hacks into their computer while they think they're in his bank account.look it up its funny.

I feel bad for the real Swedish oil engineer widows. Must be bloody impossible to get a date!

I love getting a scammer. It's quite entertaining. It's always the same story.

Working somewhere but live somewhere else. A widow. Dangerous job. A couple of phones kids. Never any chase just a straight oh your so beautiful, I want to marry you blah blah blah.

They think we are stupid.

And they are everywhere. I have had them on Instagram, tik tok, even words with friends which is a scrabble game! I have had loads on that actually.

I’m starting to feel deprived that I never get any of these!

I love stringing along those guys who ring saying your PC is knackered and they will fix it for a fee. Had one on 45 min then said "hope you know I've just trolled you" As someone said, they have less time to call others then. "Is windows open" "Just one and can feel a draft" Keep them on whilst you go to the loo or make a coffee.