Distant friend saying she will get a CCJ if I don't help her.

Just seen the update, good on you op. Forget about it now

Just ignore it; probably a scam

unless you are quite happy never to see your £2500 again that is

You've done the right thing...her debt is her responsibility and if you bail her out you're unlikely to ever see that money again. Time to set some boundaries.....

Ive not rtft. Youve said no. I'd just block her now. Youve done nothing wrong, its not your responsibility, dont get involved.

My dh had a sort of similar message from a friend. He did help them and they did go on to ask for more. The girl ended up going to prison for fraud. She’d done it to a lot of people, she was in an abusive relationship and he was the one getting her to do it.
when she came out, she apologised and paid DH back.
I really felt for her.

This doesn’t help you @seasonsintherain I know. Just perhaps a different side to the story.

Might be mental health issue or drugs? Either way, you are doing the right thing by not sending any money

I have one of these.

He's one of those "anything for a friend" types - which is lovely if it's for a genuine friend with a genuine need, but he needs a fucking leash on him when it comes to randoms or people who've barely spoken to us for years.

(His "best man" failed to organise a stag do and then claimed that he had been scammed out of £1000 for a booking the other groomsmen and guests had never heard about. He had to be forcibly restrained from refunding him for it!)

You've made the right choice.
If she's after nagging someone she's not spoken to in years that means she's taken off everyone in her life and nobody will help her any more.

Her issue not yours. Given the circumstances, her problem not yours. Very naughty to apply such pressure. Block and ignore.

Just block her on a ll channels, and never ever lend her money.

Any updates @seasonsintherain

Even if it isn’t a third party scam, it definitely sounds like she’s trying to scam you. How odd. I’d stay well clear.

CCJs aren’t THAT bad. She’ll get a plan and pay her creditors and have to wait a few years for it to drop off the credit file. It’s not a prison sentence. May do her some good. It’s not like being blacklisted for a mortgage for life either. She’ll be fine.

I was scammned by text, ostensibly from a friend, all very plausible, asking for help, £200 quid for a very reasonable thing and of course i gave it to her.
More fool me, of course it wasn’t her. I am wiser now, it was a valuable lesson .
I should gave phoned her and of course would do so in future under similar circumstances.

This sounds like scammers to me .

Sounds like a scam however I’d point into to Step-change and block, you haven’t spoken to her in over 3 years, their is a reason for this.

DO NOT, under any circumstances, send her even a penny.

Her debts are not your problem. And if you did send it to her, would she be making excuses to not pay it back?

Not worth risking it!

but she said she was going to get a CCJ if this debt (which she claims is 'wrong') doesn't get paid.

Safe to say that's pretty much what happens if you don't pay your debts, but that's not for you to solve.

For all you know you're just one in a line of people that's she's asked/have paid previous debts off for for her.

These type never learn, it's never their fault.

If she is resorting to asking people she hasn’t spoke. To for years then she most likely has bled dry or run out of close friends and family who are still willing to help her. You would never see the money again. In these circumstances I would block any further discussion.

What a CF! That gets a block.

If the debt is "wrong" as I think you put it then she can challenge it. If she hasn't got the CCJ yet then she can presumably put in a defence to the claim. If she hadn't got the CCJ yet she has probably received a claim form that she may respond to.

Whether she gets a CJJ or not and whether you can help or not it's not your problem. She can't pay you back as she can't pay it in the first place and it sounds like she's not a real friend. I can understand you might feel guilty or your DH may have made you second guess yourself but you don't have to give your money away.

If you really want to, respond to say that you're sorry she's in this position and she should look into challenging the claim if she doesn't believe be there is a valid claim against her. She can do this is a litigant in person in what it is likely to be the small claims process.

DH said he spoke to her ex (who he is friends with) and it seemed like she had no concept of budgeting/money management

So since you've confirmed this isn't a scam, and if you ever wanted to reply at all, I'd simply link some money management courses to her

She won't like it of course, but lending money in such circumstances would be ridiculous

I had a very very plausible one from what claimed to be one of my kids. It even used their language that made me really think it was them. It was a scam I realised when the sum they asked for was around £10k there’s no way the kids would have asked for that . Well not by text .

So what if she gets a CCJ? Why is that your problem?