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overseas scams

pipsy
Community Member
Hi there.  Pipsy here.  Just been hit with a scam from somewhere overseas.  Just after new year I received on fb, a lovely post from a guy (he said he was from Brooklyn U.S.A), claiming he'd seen my 'beautiful' face and wanted to 'get to know me'.  The amount of rubbish that followed was unbelievable.  We chatted for a while via fb, he asked for my email, which I (foolishly) let him have.  He's never contacted me via email.  anyway, after chatting for a couple of hours, next time he contacted me, there was a proposal.  he claimed to be a minister with a Pentecostal church.  I'm separated and I know from a friend of mine that widows are allowed to remarry, but divorcees are not, under Pentecostal.  He informed me he was going to Amsterdam for a 'huge' work project, then retiring.  Then came the 'bite', on reaching Amsterdam (supposedly), I get an 'urgent' message via fb, 'in trouble, financially, can you send money?'.  I had already told this person, I had no money, he initially said, 'money isn't everything, I love you regardless'.  He pushed and pushed for money, even told me how I could send money via money gram.  Then I get another 'urgent' message, 'been kicked out of hotel because I couldn't pay'.  He claimed he'd told the hotel management his 'wife', me was going to send money.  He claims he's now back in the states and blames me for not being willing to help him.  I had a 'go' at him, told him if he knew he was going to Amsterdam as claimed, the money should've been sorted before he left the states.  He's abused me, told me I was selfish, told me I'd never find true' love etc.  I actually find the whole thing quite amusing, but my point is, there are people out there who are lonely, vulnerable, depressed.  If you are contacted like I was - ignore, please.  These people are heartless, they tell you what you think you want to hear, particularly if you're coming out of a separation/divorce, feeling low because spouse has left you.  Or you could be widowed, feeling lonely.  They are schooled to make you feel guilty if you don't send money.  The more you send, the more they want.  When you're 'bled dry', you'll never hear from or 'see' them again.  Because of the pressure from this 'so-called' lover, I actually finished up in hospital suffering high blood pressure.  I live alone, on Centrelink Newstart.  I had told him right from the start I had no money. 
12 Replies 12

pipsy
Community Member
Thanks Starwolf.   I just hope and pray it never happens again.  One thing I have learnt, if I'm ever contacted again, I'll ignore with a capital I.  I know I'll get over him and I will forget.  I hope others reading this will also learn not to trust these nasties.  How he came to contact me is still a mystery.  It's great to know I have the people here to support me on this journey of self discovery.  I guess one other thing I've learnt is how vulnerable everyone is when it comes to being scammed.  There's so many different types of scams, you really have to keep your wits about you.  It does make you strong though once you realize it is a scam.  Once you accept it as a scam, you wise up pretty fast.

Starwolf
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member

Quite right Pipsy...

There's a lot of predators in the human jungle and a huge variety of them too. The worst ones are of course the cleverest. They have the deviousness required to weave the strongest webs of deceit.

Falling prey to any of those makes the victim feel violated. Sorry you had to go through this but you seem well on the way to recovering and shelving it. Well done.

Kind thoughts and a cyber hug.

Healing heart
Community Member
Scammers kept on calling home phone finally had to disconnect it. One was particularly bad when they declare from organisation and started screaming and screaming. When job hunting I was careful due to a lot of scams to pick up job hunters who are vulnerable. Recently - scamming by gas companies - no longer speaking to gas - one is particularly scamming.