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AIBU?

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To try and catch out this scammer

3 replies

VictoriaSponge987 · 10/04/2025 18:25

My elderly relative is being scammed. He believes that he has met a Hollywood actress who is his girlfriend. He has been very secretive but this seems to have been going on for a few months after he joined her fan club on Facebook. She has now convinced him that she has broken her leg whilst filming in the US and needs money to return home to the UK. She has to keep it all hush hush because of media attention and her funds have been frozen in the US because she has been done over by her manager. It’s all so clearly a load of nonsense (relative is in his 80s) but he appears to have been completely fooled. He has sent her money that he doesn’t have to pay for the flight. Any suggestions about how I can tackle this to try and stop her from getting cash out of any more vulnerable people. It’s really hard because he truly believes her so won’t call the police/hand over her phone number etc.

OP posts:
ChickenBananas · 10/04/2025 18:27

Watch some social catfish on YouTube. They're real good at this.

Hoppinggreen · 10/04/2025 18:30

All you can do is try and explain to him, if he won't listen to you see if The Police would consider speaking to him, our local PSCO came and spoke to my Mums Partner when he was getting involved in something equally daft. Or maybe his GP?
Get your relative to watch some videos etc on the subject and see if you can get some info inline about the actress so he can see that she isn't injured
If all that fails there isn't much you can do apart from alert Adult social Services

OhCalmTheFuckDownMargaret · 10/04/2025 18:32

If he is already invested in the scam and they already have his bank details and real life information, don't engage with them. Get some advice from people who deal with these sort of scams all the time and can offer advice to deal with this safely www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

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