r/Romancescam

My mom shared with me she has been on a dating website talking to someone called Javier who claims to be a pilot living in Chicago. He is good looking and seems to be great except they haven’t spoken on the phone or done a video chat so I feel like he’s not real. What should I do? She is very unresponsive and gets angry if I bring up that I think he isn’t real.

Please take some time to read this and understand that we are up against multinational corporations who are exploiting AI and our weak laws to make it easy for scammers to target us and cause all this grief. It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault. We need to advocate for better laws that will protect us and our loved ones.

My father is in the midst of a romance scam and my sister and I are trying to cover our bases with helping him appropriately. This has escalated in the last 24 hours, which isn't great timing with the holiday weekend. Looking for any additional thoughts or recommendations on our situation.

He is in the process of being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, which can cause cognitive issues. He had neuropsych testing with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. He has had a noticeable decline in the last few weeks (cognitively and physically) to the point that his employer has reached out to us and his PT reached out to his neurologist, which prompted them moving up the timeline for his testing and follow up appointments.

So far this is what we know:

• He has purchased an expensive laptop for her but has not shipped it yet
• He opened a new bank account with plans to give her access to the account though he initially denied giving her any access.
• My brother in law has access to his phone and found text conversations where my father provided his password, photos of his license, emails for multiple password resets, and a wire transfer for a substantial amount of money that was flagged by the bank. We don't know if he has sent her any other money.
• He speaks with her often and has photos and videos of her that are clearly AI generated

The steps we have taken so far include:

• Speaking with him directly. He was initially receptive when my brother-in-law showed him evidence that the photos were AI generated. They focused on limiting the financial involvement with this woman while still trying to allow him to maintain a "relationship" with her. He is no longer receptive to this kind of conversation.
• Contacted his local bank (they put a note in his account that he is involved in a romance scam but are unable to do anything without legal involvement)
• Contacted the national bank where he opened the new account (unable to acknowledge he has an account with them without his permission)
• The local bank suggested contacting the fraud department at the police department to do a wellness check. The police took a report from my sister but when they visited our father, he declined assistance. This resulted in our father threatening to cut contact with my sister and her husband.
• Contacted the AARP fraud program, waiting for a call back.

Our plans moving forward:

• I am the "neutral party". I have not been in direct contact with him since this escalated so I am the least hated of everyone right now. I will try to stay in his good graces in order to maintain contact with him as long as he is willing.
• Contacting an elder law practice on Monday to see if there are any options. He will not agree to a Power of Attorney and we're not sure he is "bad enough" to warrant any sort of conservatorship or guardianship. We are aware that even if he is "bad enough", it would be a drawn out and expensive process and may not be worthwhile.
• Contacting his neurologist and the social worker for the neurologist's office for any guidance they are able to provide (closed today for the holiday)
• Contacting the local Elder Services group (this was also suggested by his local bank but Elder Services is closed today for the holiday)

TL;DR: Father in cognitive decline falling for a romance scam. We have spoken with him directly, contacted his banks and the AARP fraud program, and had the police speak with him. We plan to contact an elder law lawyer, his medical team, and elder services on Monday. Any other advice or recommendations?

Many scammers and extortionists are on Tinder they pretend to be single and are looking for victims! I became a victim of a blackmail 23.6.26! And was also a cryptocurrency scammer a lot! Scammers and blackmail are coming from Asia !I blackmail from the Philippin.

Hello,
I have a family member that is in a romance scam. Because of this going on she has put her family in financial ruins. Due to the major financial chaos that she has caused, we do not have the funds to go through any of these groups or companies to uncover everything so that we can get her to stop. Even though we confronted her months ago and showed her how she was being scammed she is still doing it.

The saddest part is that she is 74 years old and is married to my father in law who is 82 years old.

I am trying to validate some information to see if anyone else has heard of these. From what we can tell these may be associated with the states on the east coast of the United States. I am coming up with information using the internet but maybe we could all help each other by sharing our findings.

I am looking for any information being used recently(2026)

-Robert Williams
-David Passmore
-Denise Alderette
-Sancia Beckford

-General Stephen Townsend

I am also looking to see if anyone had heard of a jewelry store in New York City by the name of Launch Jewelry?

Does anyone recognize any of these addresses as being associated with any type of romance scam?

85 Reade Street New York, New York

2900 NW 112th Ave Dorsal FL 33172

3460 NW 50th Ave Lauderdale Lakes FL 33319

If you don't feel comfortable sharing information openly, please feel free to send me a private message.

UPDATE
I appreciate all of your comments and candor.
The family has decided that we are going to do a “Intervention” we are going to lay everything out to her and simply tell her that she needs to stop what she is doing or we will invite her to pack her bags and leave. It is a very hard approach but we feel like we have to protect everyone else.

I’m dealing with my MIL being in a scam. At first when the family found out about it we thought it was the typical oil rig engineer stuck at sea romance scam. A few months later we found out that her bf was sending her a safe and it was stuck at the Canadian customs office. All of a sudden my MIL finds a YouTube celebrity online that will give “blessings” he tells her she won a blessing and that he’ll get the box for her and as a bonus he’s giving her a new gmc truck. The catch was she had to pay traffifs for it to cross state lines, we tried to explain it to her and she wouldn’t listen so she ended up paying almost $3,000 to get her truck and BFs box. After dealing with these 2 scams I then find out she is talking to another YouTube celebrity that is known for giving “blessings” and she has been sending him money to help him take care of his family even though we’ve kept her up to date on the real persons videos and net worth. Now we’ve found out she is talking with 2 different “IRS” agents about paying taxes for one of the YouTube celebrities and the other is for things to do with the truck. For my peace of mind and my husbands we’ve been trying to figure out what kind of scam this is. We realize it’s all connected every story leads back to the BF which is why I’m wondering if this started off as a romance scam that lead into a pig butchering scam or is it a hybrid of the two? TIA

Hi all, I'm not Filipino, and I think this is the closest subreddit I can find? I've been dating this Filipina for 4 months tomorrow, and known her for 8 months. It's quite a long story so I'll just pick some points. Basically I met her on Sugarbook (yes yes, I know, not a good place to find a girlfriend, not intentional either). And for 4 months, I've never met her but I gave her money for content. Then she fell in a coma due to hypoglycemia, for nearly a month. Her best friend apparently has all her logins so for a month, her best friend has been talking to me while she was in a coma.

I have video chat with my girlfriend once up till then, and talked on the phone once. Because she said she was busy, and I've never video chat with her friend before. Or even voice chat. Long story short, her friend fed me stories that made me fell in love with her, and she showed me a note on my girlfriend's phone when she was in a coma that basically confessed how she felt. Her best friend and I had an argument because I said it felt like a scam. And she stopped talking to me because she had to go to Hong Kong in a few days. Miraculously, my girlfriend woke up and I asked her to be my girlfriend.

Fast forward to today, we've been arguing because I said she was scamming me because she sent me a photo of her best friend shopping in Vietnam, but the store in the photo does not exist outside of the US. I've been paying for her loan and tuition, and then her mom's loan, and then suddenly her younger step bother's ipad is broken and needs to pay for school last year and this year.

Say what you want, I admit I am stupid. I did

• See her in May for 1 day despite being in the Philippines for 3 days.
• I investigated (shall not say how in case she's here) and found she's not where she said she was at the day she sent photos
• When she sends proof, it's generic, eg a school bill, but without her name shown
• I did contact the hospital she was at and the hospital replied there was no such patient, at the time she was in a coma. Her best friend said she could only take a picture of her through the door. Though using AI and common sense, it doesn't make sense to put an ICU patient in a coma in a room without windows.
• She said her iphone 15 is at 60+ % health, which doesn't make sense considering the age, I've seen proof if iphone 17 pro/max which is obvious because it's the only iphone with that design
• She tells me her natural hair color is a very bright brown, almost blonde
• She tried to ask me to help her friend buy a Ford Fiesta from her friend so he can have money for his mom's cancer. But every proof I've seen of her from 2023 till today, is the same white Ford Fiesta which is quite obvious.

So now I'm trying to break up with her, it's difficult because she's constantly trying to guilt trip me. But I am tired and I am broke. And I've been single for 19 years since my ex so it's a very vulnerable spot for me. I keep wanting to believe her, but I notice lies all the lies.

I'm not asking if she is scamming, at this point, it's pretty much confirmed and I guess... I just want to talk it out to help with me moving on. I'm having depression partly from this (waiting to see someone for it). And also want to figure out why someone who's well off, with a boyfriend, wants to lie and come up with all this BS, like.... To what end?

Also, she goes to school everyday from 7am+ to 9pm+, Monday to Saturday, at a private university. And even on public holidays, I didn't question much because I'm not familiar with the Philippines, but now thinking about it, it doesn't make sense of course. And she said the school only accepts cash.

I'm trying to verify with the school if they accept credit card payment. And classes today are online due to some protest, but she told me she was going to school. No way as a Filipina living and studying there, would she be unaware of the protest.

But yea, in summary, my question is... Why would a girl who's relatively well off, has a boyfriend, want to pull of a romance scam? I was respect of her when I visited her, but what if someone she's trying to scam was someone who took no for an answer? Why would she risk rape for whatever possible reason?

P.S, there are more details, I'm keeping in vague deliberately

so at like 11:30pm tonight I got a message from a random number saying “*my exes name* is dead” , my heart immediately dropped, we broke up like 4 months ago but I still have him on every social media and stuff. I responded with “who is this” and then they replied saying it’s a work accident and the funeral is tomorrow, I asked again “who is this” and then they sent the address to a funeral home in my small town.
I am very freaked out who has my number, I texted my exes cousin to obviously ask if this is real or not, she said it’s not real and it seems to be some sick prank. But I am almost confident that my ex and even his friends wouldn’t stoop that low.
I tried putting the number into an IP tracker but it didn’t work. I texted my aunt who is a 911 dispatcher if she has any idea what I can do.
But I wanted to bring it to Reddit to see if anyone can help in anyway they can, idk if I should break no contact with my ex to ask him if he allowed this sick prank to be done. I stopped replying to the number because I’m scared tbh LOL

EDIT: thanks for all the help guys i appreciate it and have stopped replying. however the next morning it continued with the number saying my name , my aunt (911 dispatcher said that’s enough to file a emotional harassment police report if things continue so I have a timeline) , but then as I was going about my day MY EX CALLED ME. he got super defensive saying it’s weird and that he doesn’t know who it is but also said filing a police report is really dramatic. he eventually later on texted me saying it was his friends playing a prank while they were drunk. He got super upset at them but was still begging me not to press charges or anything , he didn’t seem like he cared for my safety at all. Eventually he kept texting me saying how he has so many emotions and he was going to reach out to me when we were healed and grown to apologize and talk again but that pissed me off more. idk if that was a way for him to call me but it was all unnecessary and honestly made me realize that he didn’t change at all. anyway ya it was a fake number too guys through some website apparently

WARNING: I just escaped from the spider web of an online/email romance scam that saved me $1,500! I'm 76 years old and a professional writer. No fool like an old fool, right? Grrrrr. It started on a reputable online senior dating service and quickly moved to private emails. For 10 days, "she" and I exchanged more and more romantic messages and made more and more extravagant plans. In my romantic daze, I ignored several "tells" about the scam. Only when she tried an "emergency" from an alleged foreign country and "ASKed" for $1,500 did all my alarm bells go crazy. And I stopped. The "tells" I ignored during my "haze:" luring me to start with pictures of a normal, age-appropriate woman, switching to private emails quickly, sending increasingly provocative pictures and asking me to send pictures in return, "photos" from Istanbul airport where she said she was traveling on business, pictures of what she claimed to be antiques shops that actually came from a web site for an antiques dealer in southern Virginia, etc. When she "shouted" her emergency and asked for money, I was jolted back to reality. It ended when I asked her three times a very simple question so I could send her money by Western Union: name, address and phone number of her hotel. Three times, she dodged a question she could have answered in less than a minute. I called her bluff and she disappeared. I was very lucky. Today, on other subreddits, I've read stories of people who were blackmailed for $2,000 or scammed for $5,000. As you know, it's a worldwide problem. Btw--a bit of humor-I hope-I didn't send any naked pictures--not my overweight, old body! I have reported this scam to the FTC site. I intend to do more research and I'll share it with you as I go. Thank you for reading.

My dad is 69 and has been in a scam for 3 years. It’s affecting our whole family actually and my family doesn’t know what to do. We grew up mormon, and my mom got married to him at a very young age. He converted and everything but I always picked up on the codependency of their relationship. He has a broken back and has been really sick lately.

I didn’t know for a long time that I had an extra sibling. I didn’t find out until I was 20 years old. But he’s lost a younger brother and ever since then he has been a completely different person. He worked for the IRS and lost a case when it came to being fired for his disability ( important context). I’m convinced it’s a scam because he’s been helping us financially by basically doing our taxes for us or getting us on our feet when it came to college. That wasn’t until he got a call from this woman who claimed to be his long lost daughter. I immediately grew suspicious and even asked my family “uh.. are you sure it’s not a scammer?” and they were like no! she knows everyone in his personal circle! So I thought well, it’s not affecting me and as long as he’s happy right? I just put my faith into it because it’s my father, who has helped me and loved me for most of my life. He’s a very good person and has always been a good husband to my mom. At least that’s what I thought. She sent a photo of herself and added herself to our family group chat and it was a girl with hella plastic surgery. My brothers would joke about how she looks like someone from 90 day fiancé. I laughed along but I felt unsettled and worried. I knew in my heart that this woman cannot be trusted. I even google image reversed her photo and didn’t get anything. Then the crazy stories happened where she apparently had a daughter with cancer and needed money for that. And then she had a son who her evil mother put in jail and he’s 14 so she needs money to bail him out.. which was a stupid story to begin with. So then I took concern for that and told my dad. He was in COMPLETE denial. Shut down every time I would confront him and I was dismissed and ignored. I then thought ya know what, this isn’t affecting me so why should I care. I am ALWAYS being dismissed, but everyone would convince me that I was being the stupid one who didn’t know any better since I’m the youngest.

Apparently this person convinced him that she had access to the best disability attorney that could help him win a million dollars. That locked him in mentally, and the attorney would ask for thousands of dollars every weekend. It would stress my mom out but he would pressure her to ask us for money for the scam she blindly believed. I had just won a lawsuit but forgot to change my address since I moved out to go to school. I got a call from my dad at the time. He asked to borrow $3k since he got my check. I agreed that he could open my mail because I wanted to trust him because I relied on him too much my whole life (I know, big mistake). My mom has a jointed bank account with me that she would use to send money to me and she told me she’d send the money to my bank account from my check since I didn’t have a car to drive up with. I guess they were trying to reach me while I was sleeping and I woke up to many missed calls. I got a text from my dad telling me he used a FAT chunk of money from my lawsuit for his sketchy case, so now I was left with barely anything. I just used the rest of it to get a car and move out of my dorms because I was miserable and wanted to move off campus. After years of just making stupid decisions and going through trauma on my own, I kind of started to disown my dad after that. My mental health was pretty terrible so I moved back home and took a leave of absence because my car broke down. My dad said he could pay for it but I kept telling him no we need to figure out how to get rid of it and surrender it. But yet again, he convinced me and I gave him money that he used towards the scammer. Mind you, the scammer died twice from her sickness but then came back because she was “hacked.” I thought she “died” the second time for good since my mom told us that. I didn’t find out that she was back in his life. Now we’re on the verge of losing our home because my dad speaks to this person everyday who asks for money at least once or twice a month, and “helps” us with our utilities. So that was my mom’s reasoning to believing the scammer actually cares.

I know it’s a long story but I am at my
wits. I should move out and get away but my family financially relies on each other.. it’s pretty bad. But I also just want this person out of our lives completely because I am literally losing my mind and I feel pretty depressed and lost. I keep blaming myself for wanting to trust my dad. I miss my childhood and I hate that I am heading to the path of just being homeless and carless. I am just so lost. Is this a romance scam? Am I crazy??

Also to add, I am pretty mentally unstable and feel really alone right now. Just be nice and don’t judge. I am already pretty embarrassed as it is. Also the scammer convinced my dad that I can’t be trusted with this special case and verbally insults him and stresses him out. She got mad that they gave me her number to send her money since my mom uses me like a bank account now. I don’t know, I am the only sibling out 5 who seems to be wanting to do something about it.

I’m a 56-year-old man, and to be honest, I rarely use the internet or social media. A friend recommended Reddit and said that if anyone might have advice or be able to point me in the right direction, it would be the people here.

Last year, I was engaged to the woman I believed was the love of my life. We were planning our wedding and talking about spending the rest of our lives together. She was sweet, caring, and always seemed to look after me. I trusted her completely.

A few months before we were supposed to get married, she came to me in tears and told me she was struggling with debt. She pleaded with me to help her. Because I loved her and believed we were building a future together, I gave her the money she needed.

Then, out of nowhere, she disappeared.

She stopped answering my calls and messages, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since. I never got an explanation or even a goodbye.

The money hurts, but it’s not what keeps me awake at night. It’s the fact that I lost the woman I loved without ever understanding why. Part of me still hopes she’s okay, and part of me just wants answers.

I’m posting here because I don’t know what else to do. If anyone has advice on how I might be able to find her, or has been through something similar, I’d really appreciate hearing from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I just need to vent because my head is spinning right now. I (mid-20s F) recently broke up with my ex-boyfriend (early 30s M). We met through work. At first, he was the sweetest guy ever, treating me like a princess, and making me feel incredibly safe. But the mask just fell off in the worst way possible.

A few days ago, I caught him red-handed trying to steal around $800 in cash from me. When I confronted him, his entire demeanor changed. The "loving boyfriend" disappeared, and he turned completely cold.

I went to our manager and the whole thing blew up, the truth started pouring out. It turns out I wasn't his only target. He had been quietly asking multiple coworkers for "loans" and never paying anyone back. On top of that, I found out he had been relentlessly harassing his previous ex-girlfriend the entire time we were dating. He only got with me because she rejected him and found a new boyfriend, basically using me as a placeholder.

When he realized I knew everything and his reputation at work was ruined, he panicked. He went to our manager, played the absolute victim, and even threatened self-harm just to get sympathy and avoid the consequences. Then, he abruptly quit his job.

Oh, and the absolute cherry on top? I searched his name online and found an anonymous warning page created by someone else, posting a picture of his ID with the word "SCAMMER" written across it. This is literally what he does for a living. He also moves from country to country.

I’m feeling so many mixed emotions right now. Part of me is just grieving the illusion of the man I loved, but mostly I am just disgusted and horrified that I let someone like this into my life.

Has anyone else dealt with a pathological liar and scammer like this? How do you get over the shock?

I’ve been talking to a girl online for about 10 months. We’ve texted consistently, but there are some things that have been bothering me.

She has never FaceTimed me. She’s only called me once, and the call lasted about 13 seconds before it ended. Since then, no phone calls, no video calls, and no voice notes.

She says she lives with her ex, who she describes as controlling and abusive. According to her, he financially supports her, has cameras in the house (even in the bathroom), and has software installed on her phone that lets him see everything she does. She says that’s why she can’t call me, FaceTime me, or even send voice messages—even if she’s in the bathroom.

Her explanation for why she’s still living with him is that they were about to get engaged, but he cheated on her. She says she hates him and wants nothing to do with him romantically anymore, but she stays because he financially supports her. She also says she’s waiting until she gets the engagement ring she believes he still owes her before she finally leaves.

She does send me pictures, but since we’ve never really talked live, I don’t know if they’re actually her or if they’re old pictures.

One thing that makes this even more confusing is that she knows a lot of people in our religious community. Over the months, she’s told me things about people and situations that were later confirmed by others, so she’s clearly connected to the community in some way. That’s what makes this whole situation so strange—it doesn’t feel like someone who completely made up their identity.

She’s also never asked me for money, gift cards, or anything financial, so it doesn’t seem like a typical romance scam.

I’m trying to be empathetic because I know abusive relationships and digital surveillance are real. At the same time, after 10 months, it feels strange that there hasn’t been a single normal phone conversation or video call.

Does this sound like someone who could genuinely be trapped in a controlling situation, or does this sound more like a catfish using an elaborate story to avoid live communication? If you’ve experienced something similar, what ended up happening?

Is there a scam in which the modus operandi is as below:

Girl give telegram in dating app

Then she chats in telegram

She agrees to meet or come to a place but didnt ask for payment or anything

But when i ask to call, she just denies but she is ready to travel 10kms far even at 10 pm at night

She told she is staying with her family and cant call. I told her if her family allows her to travel at night, then I dont think calls would be much of a problem. Then she started talking about trust. I told her trust is earned not asked.

Then I directly told her i dont know if she is actually a girl or a gang or transgender. She then immediately deleted the telegram messages.

I feel something fishy but what is the end game here?

I started talking with Milan after he sent me messages on TikTok, initially thinking that I was his cousin Senya (my name is Sana). Eventually, we started talking, joking, and building some kind of connection.

Very quickly, Milan started using affectionate nicknames and sometimes showed behaviours that I and my friends interpreted as jealousy. He himself sometimes seemed to view certain behaviours as disrespectful or as something negative.

At one point, he told me about his father's death. From what he told me, he was not close to his father, but his father was violent to him and he had a restraining order. His father supposedly died in prison.

Later, after an argument between us, Milan suddenly told me that he was leaving for Mexico. During that time, we still talked a little, and he introduced me to his cousin Aitana. I found her funny and interesting, and we had good conversations.

Milan presented himself as Russian-Mexican. Aitana presented herself as Mexican-Spanish. Later, I learned that she had gone to Russia, where Milan was also staying. Ithiel, presented as Milan's cousin, was also supposed to arrive during that period.

Ithiel presented himself as someone with multiple European origins and as someone living in Liechtenstein. He talked about a very wealthy family, a wine estate, a large house that looked like a castle, and a complicated relationship with his family.

After a while, Milan started replying less. I sent him a message saying that if he didn't want to talk anymore, he could just tell me. At that point, Ithiel answered instead of Milan.

He explained that Milan was hospitalized. At first, I had difficulty believing it because I had already experienced situations where people used similar excuses.

Ithiel gave very little information at first and sometimes joked in a way that made the situation feel strange. He mentioned Milan being in a serious condition, including a story involving ventilation and a coma.

Aitana later had access to Milan's account and told me her version. According to her, she had an accident with Ithiel's motorcycle and hit Milan while she was learning to drive. Milan was hospitalized because of this accident.

One thing that stood out to me is that Ithiel and Aitana's versions matched on some points, especially the fact that the motorcycle belonged to Ithiel.

And after that, Aitana, through Milan's phone started a secret conversation and started to talk about Ithiel's family, things involving blood, castle, satanism, things like that.

However, some inconsistencies appeared:

\- Ithiel mentioned Milan had been hospitalized for around three days;

\- Aitana said it had been closer to one week;

\- some details seemed very dramatic or difficult to verify.

Aitana also told me many things about Ithiel's family: a very wealthy family in Liechtenstein, strange behaviors, family tensions, and unusual events. Some details seemed precise, but others were so extreme that I didn't know what to think.

I continued talking with Ithiel on Telegram. I noticed several things that made me question the situation:

\- his Telegram account seemed registered in Poland;

\- Milan's Telegram account also seemed linked to Poland;

\- Aitana's Instagram account also appeared linked to Poland even though she said she was Mexican;

\- Ithiel wrote “Liechstein” instead of “Liechtenstein”, and Aitana also used that spelling.

I also noticed similarities in their habits:

\- moments where messages were read, then the person disappeared before replying;

\- connection patterns that sometimes seemed similar;

\- some ways of responding by Ithiel that reminded me of Milan.

At the same time, Ithiel's personality seems different from Milan's. He is much more sarcastic, distant, and provocative. He often says he doesn't care, but still continues to have long conversations with me.

He also told me that Aitana probably changed the online option on telegram herself, and if it wasn't her, he would not know who did it.

With Ithiel, we talked about many subjects:

\- religion;

\- psychology;

\- books;

\- painting;

\- wine;

\- languages;

\- family.

He gave me personal details and sometimes showed concern despite his cold attitude. For example, he checks whether I have eaten or whether I am okay, even though he expresses it in a harsh way.

More recently, Milan's phone supposedly became inaccessible. Ithiel explained that the phone had run out of battery and that the charger was in his car because his mother had taken it. After that, Milan's account changed its online status display, which seemed suspicious to me.

Today, I am left with several possibilities:

1. Everything is true: Milan is really hospitalized, Ithiel and Aitana are real people, and the inconsistencies come from a complicated situation.

2. Some parts are true, but some details have been exaggerated or dramatized.

3. One person is playing multiple roles, or some accounts are connected.

I do not have definitive proof either way. I mainly have many details that seem to connect, but also several elements that feel strange.

I don't really know what to think of that story, and I'd like some help...

I’m the only one my MIL will talk to about her oil rig boyfriend. She just told me today that he was denied his retirement because he’s the only one qualified for his job since his boss was injured in a work accident and that now her boyfriend is required to stay until December. She did try to stop talking to him and deleted all of their messages but she said it was too hard to go without him for even a week. She talked to him about her kids telling her that she’s involved in a scam and that he could be Nigerian and he said he was very offended but still willing to give them a chance. The scammer has told her he’s been underwater for 6 months and hasn’t saw the sun in 6 months. She believes every word he says. We have looked up all of their details of how oil rigs actually work and watched all of the scammer videos and she believes the kids are lying. She even told her sisters that she didn’t know if she could go on a trip to see family because she hadn’t heard about the retirement decision yet. We know she has given all of her savings away and that she can’t even afford to live from pension check to the next because her account stays in the negative. She’s always having to go have meetings with the bank and we suspect it’s because her account is constantly in the negative. I’m the only one she will talk to about all of this because she thinks I believe her but everything I find out I tell the family so they can prepare for the inevitable. I tell all of this to ask if she’s too far gone in this “relationship” for us to even try to keep opening her eyes and showing her the truth or should we finally just let the cards fall where they may?

UPDATE!
Yesterday we had dinner with her and while we were there I had some time to find out some things out. She skipped paying her bills for May and made up for them this month. She gets her pension check on the 24th and as soon as she got it she took a little over half and gave it to the scammers. She believes they are going to get married when he comes back and that’s one reason why she’s so upset about his retirement. She also is being scammed by 2 internet celebrities. She has been sending them money too. One is supposed to give her a truck and the other is supposed to pay her back for everything she has given him while he’s had a hard time providing for his family. I just don’t see how we will ever be able to break this cycle.

My 75 year old Dad is in deep on multiple romance scams. He believes he’s romantically involved with Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Anniston, and Emma Watson. He has sent money and gift cards. He is also investing in crypto with shared wallets that we believe are managed by others. He is lying and hiding and becomes angry when confronted. No one can get through.

Me and my siblings are looking for advice on how to help protect his finances. We recognize he is willingly a part of this, but also know he’s the victim of a crime. My Dad lives in Nj.

Is there anything we can do?

There are some other signs of cognitive decline but he’s not obviously suffering from dementia. He’s also a narcissist, which is a big reason why he’s not wanting to let go of the scam.

Any advice appreciated.

Hi, so our father (aged 70) has been talking to and video calling a woman from the Philippines for the past 6 months or so, in that time he has been sending her money roughly £150 once or twice a month. He is now set to fly out to her in the Philippines to meet her.

Some things to know:
- our father had never been on Facebook ever prior to making an account and meeting this woman, he has never used the internet or had any common sense when it comes to these things
- he has never been on a plane so this is is first time travelling
- my sister contacted the woman via Facebook after we suspected he was sending her money and she admitted he sent her money to help her out
- the woman claims to have 2 children and he has seen videos and images of them, and via video calling with her
- she claims that she works in the city 8 hours away from where she lives so is regularly apart from her children for long periods of time

We have tried talking to him, all his family and close friends and he won’t listen to anyone he is completely blindsided and is set to go. He has no hotel booked, apparently she is booking it. We are contacting her re; this.

I just really want to know has anyone experienced a similar situation, what happened when they flew out if they did? Or is there anyone we can contact, police etc?

We are worried he will land there and be robbed or worse, and again he is new to travelling.