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Got a relative (honest!) who's getting on, bit lonely and keeps getting involved in dodgy-looking dating scams. Profile pics that are obviously fake, fall head-over-heels with him immediately etc.
Latest one got him onto a Skype call and started going on about delivering $5000 worth of US 'American Eagle' coins to him she said she'd just inherited. WTF?
Are they just after the usual address, DOB, bank details etc. to clear out a bank account? Getting a bit concerned, not sure how I can protect him from himself...
My guess would be they will ask for some money for transportation/getting it through customs or similar.
Getting a bit concerned, not sure how I can protect him from himself
What site is he using? Maybe best bet would be to go for one of the "better" paid for sites since that tends to keep out the basic scammers.
Try and get power of attorney and also let their bank know to block any forex / large transactions.
Good point, I'll try and find out what sites he's using, suggest decent ones. Power of attorney is an ongoing discussion. Lives abroad which doesn't help. A worry, he's so convinced these people are real. I had to reverse image search the last one's profile pic to show him the same pic had been used multiple times on different sites for years.
Power of attorney is an ongoing discussion.
Make sure you understand what Power of Attorney is - yes its an important thing to do for all sorts of reasons but its not necessarily the tool you need in this instance. It doesn't give you the authority to stop people making bad decisions.
Agreed, he's still compos mentis so wouldn't help here. Had POA for my father in law, which was a godsend in his later years. All in place for my mum too.
I think the challenge is - because he's responding to these scam attempts even if he hasn't successfully been taken in they'll keep trying and they're learning something with each attempt. We all think scams, phishing etc is obvious and only idiots would fall for it - but we only generally encounter random attempts - not tailored to us. Once you start engaging, even if you think you're being clever about it, you're proving a profile for someone to work with.
If online dating is something he wants to continue doing the safest step is to just delete any existing profiles and start again from scratch - just don't be identifiably the same person in terms of username etc. That doesn't mean scams won't continue to be attempted but they'll be more random and less targeted.
How does it work?
They'll string him along, make him feel attached and start asking for gifts, monetary assistance, loans and....
They’ll string him along, make him feel attached and start asking for gifts, monetary assistance, loans and….
Can also be a bit more hands on - arrangements to meet, often somewhere abroad, but being greeted by a bunch of persuasive blokes rather than the girl of your dreams (she'll be here in a minute they'll keep telling you) when you get to the hotel.
Can also be a bit more hands on – arrangements to meet, often somewhere abroad, but being greeted by a bunch of persuasive blokes rather than the girl of your dreams (she’ll be here in a minute they’ll keep telling you) when you get to the hotel.
Or they often end up throwing money at the girl then when they've strung them along for long enough they tell them they'll fly over to meet them.
Cue some old bloke sending his "girlfriend" a stack of cash for her flight to come over and meet him but finding himself stood up at the airport wondering where the woman of his dreams is. This happens with alarming regularity!
Doesn't matter how 'smart' you are either:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-denise-milani-conspiracy-honey-trap-professor-gets-five-years-in-argentina-jail-8340525.html
So is that what the $5k in coins is all about, getting something dodgy into the country? Sounds like it was pretty well organised, he swears the women on Skype matched the profile pic, even though I've proved the same pic is used all over the place with different names. A gang behind the scenes I guess.
Dating scams? You go on a date, get on well, have sex, then wind up paying for everything and being told what you can and can't do for the next few decades...
Latest one got him onto a Skype call and started going on about delivering $5000 worth of US ‘American Eagle’ coins to him she said she’d just inherited. WTF?
Probably an advance fee scam. The next message will be how he needs to pay a $500 clearing fee up front to have the $5000 transferred to him.
You go on a date, get on well,
have sex,then wind up paying for everything and being told what youcan andcan’t do for the next few decades…
The TV show 90 day fiancé has a few dating scams on it, could be watched for research purposes.
You don't even need to be on a dating site for the rubbish. I use to get friend requests on Facebook that were clearly from a gang using a pretty picture. I now seems get them on Instagram
I'm going to close this. It's an 8-months stale thread recently bumped by a spammer. If anyone is still experiencing dating scams I'd suggest a new thread.