Romance Scam Story

A reddit report about a romance scam that cost someone Amount not specified. Learn how to avoid falling victim.

Hi, I’m not sure if this post is allowed here but I have exhausted every option so this is kind of a last resort. A close family member of mine has been involved in a romance / companionship scam for a long time (probably 2-3 years). Whenever I attempt to convince this person they are involved with scammers they become extremely defensive, threaten to leave and becomes very upset which makes it difficult to approach them on the matter. I have tried various ways of communicating this, sharing documentaries about romance scams, sharing peoples experiences, showing inconsistencies in stories and more but nothing works whatsoever. The scammers use various ways to obtain money such as paying for a funeral, paying for medical care, paying for legal expenses are a few but there is always a new reason. Currently, they have convinced this person that there named in someone’s will and will receive hundreds of thousands of pounds but they need to pay legal fees. Furthermore, they have created an elaborate scheme in which an account, or person, managed to hack details from this person and blackmailed, extorted etc. and they have introduced them to a lawyer and they are able to sue for millions, which of course requires payments. This is causing a lot of instability within the family as this person is the only one who can’t realise they are being scammed. As they are fairly old, they don’t have the IT literacy to understand fake accounts and all of the ways scammers can use convincing AI to support their schemes. We aren’t a family with significant amounts of income, however this family member continually finds a way to give money to them. I guess I would like to know if people have similar experiences and if so, what can I do to ā€˜break the spell’ and support my family member in seeing sense. I am trying to remain empathetic but the damage this is causing my family is really making me want to distance myself from this family member, but equally if I did this will just be a never ending cycle. Thank you

šŸ›”ļø How to Protect Yourself

1

Report suspicious online dating profiles

2

Tell friends or family about your online relationships

3

Research the person's background and social media

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