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Help Me Help my Friend who’s being scammed online

11 10 January 29, 2024 at 06:30 PM in Help
I have a friend who's a senior citizen and she's been scammed over and over and over. I think by the same person. Now this person has told her that he's going to have his close friend who's with the FBI contact her and they have now Skyped. All of her friends and family keep telling her he's not real but she doesn't believe it. I need to help her. The cops won't help.
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Joined Dec 2005
My # is bigger than yours
> bubble2 37,382 Posts
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SnakePlisken
02-06-2024 at 12:43 PM.
02-06-2024 at 12:43 PM.
old people make my ass twitch
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Joined Nov 2006
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> bubble2 8,339 Posts
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LC2
02-07-2024 at 05:12 AM.
02-07-2024 at 05:12 AM.
Quote from w3kn :
I work in cyber security and I sent my SC every article I could on 419 scams. Still wasn't convinced. The scammer convinced my SC that I was "hacking all their devices" and we were "out to get them". All the images sent by the scammer showing various "gifts" or "I'm having problems" were found using basic google image searches. The best was that he kept telling my person there was a "box" with "money, gold, silver" that was wrapped up somewhere. The location would change from time to time. Couldn't even keep the lies straight. He said it would arrive via a courier and the box contained a password to open. What do you think the password to the "box" was?

Password. Facepalm

The best was recently he sent an email to my SC saying they both were going to be arrested by the FBI if my SC didn't pay the scammer $1000 immediately. I informed SC to reply with "don't drop the soap". laugh out loud

I would also get a list of every medication that the SC is taking and do your own research about dosages and side effects. One of the meds my SC was prescribed would cause brain fog in higher doses. If you haven't done so, ask the SC if you can go to doctor's appointments with them, and discuss your concerns with the doctor.

As LC2 said above, getting the SC out and away from electronics may help as well.
Deductive reasoning just goes right out the window with many victims. The answer is to just get them to make more real life social connections. Senior centers, church groups, meet ups for people their age, etc...

People were worried when I first met my Russian friend online. I'm fortunate that it's an unorthodox but otherwise healthy friendship. He told me about his criminal record and never asks for money. Money should never be mentioned unless one person is offering it to the other without being asked. I think sometimes people who are lonely feel obligated to pay.
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