In article , "Simon"
wrote:
> You sound very sure that this is a scam. Have you been through a similar
> situation yourself or do you know of anyone who has ?
Used to happen to business associates who traveled to Eastern
Europe quite often. Usually, just to rub a little more pain into
it, the money was also going to a deadbeat boyfriend.
One guy did what your brother is thinking about. He flew
out there, unannounced, and found her living with her
boyfriend's family. To top it off, this guy KNEW the
boyfriend. She had passed him off before as her "cousin."
Typically, it's that the girl can't get into the embassy,
needs airfare, has a sick mother, etc.
> I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts/comments/experience on this
> subject as I am very concerned for Jim........it is pulling him down, he is
> quite depressed and he can't concentrate on his work.
When someone's that deep in ANY kind of scam, it takes a lot
of evidence to get them to stop suspending the window of
disbelief. When it finally dawns on him, you really need to
be there more than even now. Finding out that you've been
taken like this is extremely humiliating and people have done
some really stupid things out of shame. He's not alone. The
people who told me were very successful people, usually,
but were only able to joke about it a long time later. |