to think this is not genuine?

[ValerieCupcake]

Tried to do a reverse google search for this. Nothing coming up.

I don't get this. It doesnt look like its associated with a prestigious competition so why is it unbelievable that some ordinary bloke has it?

Thank you one and all for your posts. I'm putting together a plan of action. I have learned a lot in one evening.

@babywalker56 I think you are trying to bait. Would you like your aunt, mum or gran to be involved in this? No.

@ WhatsTheEffingPoint She likes crime novels so this is a good opener. I shall try that. Thank you.

@lemongreentea because it is obvious. ~They’re on a football pitch. The tiger is in front of them. It’s also on grass. Different colour and texture grass. Stevie Wonder could see it was Photoshopped.

@ForensicAccountant @CuddlyCactus she is vulnerable through bereavement, depression and anxiety about leaving her house.

@HouseofGamers I tried to add him to see what happened, but Facebook wouldn’t allow me. All my friends are hidden. Not even mutual friends would have come up. I would have liked to do this. To check his full profile.

@fridgepants I didn’t have much luck with Google Lens. I tried it on my phone. It didn’t pick up anything sadly.

@Dancer47 yes she has her photo on her profile. Several others too all linked to an online game called OMG. I have only just become aware of this. It is another concern and is probably the reason she was targeted. Another conversation topic.

@Regularsizedrudy because the medal picture was the first alert to me that something was up. I had to start somewhere.

OP, my DM was defrauded in a Nigerian romance scam. Sadly your relative probably won't listen to your warnings. DM was spun a load of quite frankly, unbelievable stories which resulted in her sending £11k in total to the scammer. Very luckily, the police got involved in DM's case and the scammers, there were two operating together both students based in the UK, were arrested and now reside at Her Majesty's Pleasure. However it is rare for scammers to get caught usually, especially if they are overseas committing the fraud.

Action Fraud have a lot in info on romance scams - do have a look.

@BlanketsBanned

How did the contact between them happen in the first place, is she being asked to s3nd him money. Is there a reason she is on his fb page.

He probably sent her a friend request. I was sent one recently from a much younger African man but I didn’t accept it. I’m not racist just thought it screamed romance scam.

@ValerieCupcake I already said ofc you have every right to be concerned about a family member as you know them and know what it is out of character for them. I’m talking about the people that have seen he’s from Nigeria and straight away have assumed he’s 1) poor and 2) a scammer. Not everyone in Nigeria lives in huts and villages with animals walking alongside them. Very ignorant to suggest oh he MUST be poor and MUST be a scammer.

This comment I don't get this. It doesnt look like its associated with a prestigious competition so why is it unbelievable that some ordinary bloke has it? is exactly my point. It seems to be that this guy isn’t pretending to be in Nigeria’s version of the Premiere League so why are posters doubting the sincerity solely based on that…

• Premier league

This is really concerning for a vulnerable older person. A lot of these contacts can occur first on online games. If you've ever played Words with Friends you will have received loads of chat requests from people who aren't there to play scrabble at all but just trolling for vulnerable older ladies with money.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it OP.

@ValerieCupcake - I really hope you can get to the bottom of this and protect your aunt. I'd hate for anything similar to happen to mine, who is also experiencing grief and is vulnerable.

Perhaps you can try and warn/scare him off in other ways by responding to things on her fb with links to romance scams and police etc. If she does not listen?

This is my last day at work for around 10 days. I plan to visit her during my time off for a chat. Will let you know how it goes. Thank you all for your interest and suggestions.

She is a smart woman, or was. I don't understand why she would want anything to do with a 20-something. smh

[quote WhatsTheEffingPoint]@ValerieCupcake you say you want to mention scams etc to her but want to do it in a subtle way...... your post made me think of a book i recent read, it's all about Nigerian Internet Scams and how the peope found out etc.

www.panmacmillan.com/authors/peter-james/dead-at-first-sight/9781509816415

Could you do a 'Oh I'm reading this great book, you should read it' type thing ?

Sorry this is happening to your Aunt, there really are some shitty people in the world.[/quote]
This is currently showing in theatres as a play staring Adam Woodward from Eastenders (Ian Beale).

Genuine in what way? Medals and trophies are generally plastic tat. It's not made if gold if that's what you're asking 😂

Does she have widow as her relationship status? Scammers target widows all the time, they join FB groups for widows to get their contact details and send friend requests.

I don’t think the medal is really relevant here. It sounds like your family member is being scammed by someone who isn’t who they say they are. The medal is a real medal but it may not be there’s, no one on here can conform that for you. You gut instinct is probably right. Loads of women are scammed by younger men from foreign countries such as Africa. I can’t understand how stupid some woman (and men) can be to trust a complete stranger.

It’s odd that the ‘medal’ says 3rd Edition, so it’s more like a participation things handed out to anyone there. And what kind of football competition calls itself ‘Edition’??

Can’t read the print, is it in English?

Someone couldn’t even cut out straight! That’s mocked up!

Have her watch Twitter Swindler

I take notice of what you are saying that you don't want to let your Aunt know that you were looking at her FB page - but seriously, you need to speak to her right now. No reason why you shouldn't have been looking at her FB page after all.

As many others have said, this is almost certainly a scam - but you need to speak to her, find out how she knows him and tell her what your fears are. Particularly that if he asks for money she does not give him any. Don't beat around the bush or drop hints. If you want to protect her, you need to be completely upfront about your concerns. Find information online about the kind of scams that happen all the time, print them out and let her see them. She may refuse to listen, but at least you are doing what you can to stop her being robbed blind.

I take it she has no children? If she has, you need to speak to them too. The picture of the medal is totally irrelevant, other than she mentioned the words 'someone special' when posting it

Please don't delay. Your instincts are sound.

OP my mentally vulnerable cousin went to see her FB 'friend' in Nigeria, while she was there they got married , unbeknown to any of the family, she returned home alone and told us all . They are trying to get him over here as her husband , he has a child by another woman and wants to bring the child with him. I just hope it is genuine but l am not banking on it .

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9102525/amp/African-internet-scammers-target-lonely-locked-Brits-romance-fraud-hits-7-000-cases-2020.html

@ValerieCupcake

This is my last day at work for around 10 days. I plan to visit her during my time off for a chat. Will let you know how it goes. Thank you all for your interest and suggestions.

She is a smart woman, or was. I don't understand why she would want anything to do with a 20-something. smh

I have a friend who fell for it, luckily eventually she asked me for my advice, showed me the messages they had exchanged (she’s sent him photos of her children and grandchildren) and I told her it wasn’t real, managed to do a reverse google image search on his photos to prove to her they were photos used to create many accounts under different names. She felt really silly afterwards. He claimed to be ex navy officer who was working in Nigeria.

Good luck, Op. You sound like a brilliant niece.

confronting a person who is getting drawn in by these type of scammers may be counter-productive.
and let's not victim blame by calling them stupid.
it is that attitude that woks against them confiding in relatives. they don't want to be labelled stupid.
i think it's better to try to raise awareness, speak of others' difficulties.

People much older than others especially impoverished young people, should be ashamed of themselves. Massive power imbalance. It's wrong. I'm sick of the taking advantage as being seen as the other way round.

Went through the scamming thing on fb with my dad. Was a nightmare, pretty much has ended with me cutting him out, you can only do so much, and even when showed tons of proof that the '19 year old model' was actually a porn star with a website warning people not to fall for fb scams, he said that this porn star had stolen his new 'friends' details!!!
They bury themselves completely in their fantasy world. Can you message this bloke, and ask him how he met your Aunt? Might be enough to scare him off? Or you might get a reasonable reason??