I need help
I never thought I would come and ask for help but recently my mom has been scammed out of 200,000
My mom has an ongoing problem with trusting people too easily, and I believe she has been the victim of a long-term financial scam.
In 2024, she started talking to a man online. I am not sure where she originally met him, but they eventually began communicating through WhatsApp. At first, she was sending him gift cards. Later, he told her that his father was in the hospital and needed money for medical bills. He also told her stories about problems happening in Germany and claimed that someone had died. He said that the money she had already sent only covered part of the hospital expenses and that he needed her to send more.
After some time, he told her that he was going to sell one of his properties and send her $1 million, but claimed that she first needed to pay certain fees and open a bank account for him. He also sent her what appeared to be a fake photograph showing boxes supposedly containing $1 million in cash. He then claimed that the money had been seized or held by customs in San Francisco and that additional fees had to be paid before the money could be released.
My mom drove about an hour away to a bank to try to open an account or complete a transaction related to this. The bank employees told her directly that she was being scammed, but she refused to believe them.
She has continued sending money or making payments to this person. I do not know exactly how she is sending the money now. The situation has become extremely serious because she no longer has enough money to pay her own bills and has been repeatedly asking my grandparents for money. She has taken their life savings, and that money is now gone. She also used the money that had been saved for my college education.
My family has tried to stop this for a long time, but she continues to believe this person and send money. We have also contacted law enforcement, but so far we have not received the help we need. This has been going on for years and has caused severe financial harm to my mother, my grandparents, and me.
I need help figuring out what can be done to stop the financial exploitation, protect her remaining finances, and prevent this person from continuing to take money from her and my family.
(I have a lot more photos but i feel comfortable sharing to much photos also he is from the uk for sure his WhatsApp number starts with +44 and he is either black or faking to be black)