Woman scammed of £113,000

[Blueberrywhirl320]

I read this article in the paper today about a 50 year old British woman who's been scammed out of £113,000 from an online love from Ukraine, someone who she never met.
How is it possible for people still to fall for scams like this in 2021 when there's been numerous of programmes on the TV about it, newspaper reports. I honestly don't get how you can send a stranger who you've never met money or your bank details.

I wish people would stop blaming the victims though.

If you just look at the way the criminals are described on this thread: clever, patient, persuasive. And the victims: desperate, lonely, stupid. Anyone would think the criminals were the good people, but they're the one actually committing crimes.

@Doona

If you just look at the way the criminals are described on this thread: clever, patient, persuasive. And the victims: desperate, lonely, stupid. Anyone would think the criminals were the good people, but they're the one actually committing crimes.

Do you consider loneliness to be a negative character trait then? Or persuasiveness to automatically be a positive one?

Lots of crime - especially fraud type crime - depends on the victims being vulnerable or distracted. That’s not a slur on the victim. It’s just how the criminals target their marks and then manipulate them.

I know someone who got scammed recently. It’s such an awful thing to happen. She was just busy, running late and was going through some personal problems and didn’t think it through. I really feel so bad for her. The guy who scammed her is a scumbag though, but the police and bank and totally I interested in what happened.

Uninterested in what happened

You can't rely on poor spelling and grammar as a red flag - I'd say more than half the posts on this thread have terrible SPAG errors, but are probably written by perfectly honest people! And young people fall for financial scams all the time, the national newspaper I read has frequent reports.

Scammers will latch onto vulnerable people.
Those who "would never fall for it"... just don't I suppose.
People vulnerable will be sucked in and exploited.

@Doona

I wish people would stop blaming the victims though.

I don't think it's blaming the victims to point out they are vulnerable (for whatever reason). These scammers will pounce once they find the perfect victim to exploit. They are experts at it.

The scammers are scumbags. The victims are nearly always very vulnerable people.

@Blueberrywhirl320

These people are professional. It’s hard to explain u til you know about it. My father has lost £190,000 plus. Not romance but the boiler house scam. He is 89 and this was going on for at least 7 years. He is not stupid but it is amazing how this people get into their victims head.

I hate the fraudsters. They are utter scum.

I think bank scams are different and can happen to anyone.
But Brad Pitt talking to you through Twitter or FB and asking to send money should send your siren blazing.No one should fall for that.

Professional thieves and scammers know what they are doing. They arent some chancer stealing from a shop. Little risk of being caught and you can run this scam simultaneously with other targets.