I am being catfished right now!

[qualitychat]

I received a friend request on Facebook just now. This is definitely someone catfishing me. He comes from Austin, Texas but has pigeon English. He is a Marine Engineer living in Sweden. He does a very dangerous job. He is a nice looking man, he has sent me a photo. He tragically lost his wife 5 years ago due to medical negligence. Am I wrong in stringing him alone?

Part of me feels sorry for anyone desperate enough to do this, but then I think of the hurt they cause. I had a good friend who got caught up with this from a Malaysian scammer, who she sent all over KL to pick up non-existent Western Union transfers that were made up. She strung him along for ages and even wrote a blog about it.

When I was young and used to do penpals (remember that?) I had a few people who would feign interest for a couple of letters, then their mother would need to go to hospital, or their wood burning stove would need replacing. It was always the same form letter. I did get one useful tip from one Georgian who told me the best way to send money abroad was to slip it into the spine of a small hardback book.

I think they "other" us easily so they hardly feel a qualm. Even earning 40k a year living in a small terraced house they would see that as so rich that it's morally ok to scam us.

This could go on for ever 😂

That's really sad about your grandmother and scammy uncle, @Maerchentante. Glad he got caught eventually.

My claim for PTSD will be processed eventually. Honest.

Best ever AIBU 👏👏👏👏

I'm forever getting these friend requests , find it really annoying especially on the groups they pop up on, I would never entertain them as I just straightaway think minute I accept I will be conned, they just need to be reported. It had never occurred to me to string them along and have fun with it. I get that it could be fun but just too wary

😂😂

They can't 'con' you out of nowhere. They rely on building a rapport - it's sometimes quite cleverly done (mirroring etc) and building a relationship. They can't persuade you to part with money if you don't want to, their trick is to make you want to.

I've only toyed with one once. We were only a few messages in when he asked for money (so he must have been an amateur), whereupon I responded in very broken English that I needed him to send me money, if he loved me that much. Never heard from him again.

I'm fluent in Swedish. Ask me anything and I'll translate. Then see what he says!

Re being conned straightaway, guess you are right, good call to ask them for money lol like your style 👍 nothing like beating them at their own game

I had a FB request tonight. Widowed Orthopedic surgeon. But now he works for the UN.

Scam Interceptors. - BBC1

One of the main ones they try and disrupt is the Amazon gift card one.

Person scammer is trying to con is sent a voice message from 'Amazon' saying their annual £79.99 had been auto renewed. And to press 1 to stop the payment. But they then expect the called person to accept the the refund is by way of a bloody gift card! Scammer gets the target to download a program called Anydesk which gives the bastards full access to their phone. And people fall for this crap!

And one episode shows the actual call centre. Those callers don't look like they are being trafficked. One scammer even played Solitaire while on the phone to a target.

A good scam-baiting site is 418 eater, they can keep the scammers occupied for months.

Aww, I would have accepted and sent him some money if only he had a wee boy at boarding school. Shame.

I bet he had a dog and a rose bush in his pic ? 😂

Oh yes those bone doctors are mighty put upon in life. Widowed , skint and working for the UN. Who’d have thunk it

When they ring up about the “car accident I’ve recently been in" just ask them which one 😁

I say - " oh my god , am I ok ? "

I don't get the car accident scam. What is it actually about? I hang up on them but I always thought it's solicitors scouting for business to take a big chunk out of any compensation rather than an actual scam. Do they ask for money to take the "case"?

The stock answer to the ‘car accident’ scam call is “I’m soooo glad you called so quickly, only I panicked and put the bodies in the car boot and now they’re starting to smell…” said in a stressed voice.

Oh I had one ring up about an accident, I said I hadn't been in one , he was quite adamant I had , I think I would know if I'd been in an accident lol ,

My mom and I actually met a man in the airport once who started telling us a story that sounded rather familiar. Mom is friendly and we were in a long line with him. He told us he was from Nigeria, then began talking about how he had some vast sum of money skimmed off a contract that he needed to move out of the country. He also told her if she’d allow him
to marry me he’d buy her any kind of car she wanted. 🤣🤣🤣

I only saw one of a man in a surgeon looking getup and another of a man in a white suit behind a desk. Couldn’t even tell if they were the same person.

I noticed a lot of scammers target ppl posting on sites on every day topics. The I really like your posts, and think you are amazing. Add me to your fb friends blah. Its scary some ppl actually do.

These get EVERYWHERE. I've had them on Quora (where I only post to give advice on writing-related issues). The ones that make me laugh are the ones on X (Twitter), complimenting me on how lovely I look and how they just know they want to talk to me. My Twitter profile picture is a dinosaur.