121–130 of 158 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt that, it seems the investment websites used are entirely fake, they probably just use crypto because it's well known and sounds good to many people. They might however just as well promote fake investments in stocks or something else.
Without convenient on/off-ramps this kind of scam would be much harder to operate.
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I knew some Scientologists in the late nineties, and there are many parallels. Ironically, they were also devout Christians, and one later became a priest. Something very eye opening is know precisely who L Ron Hubbard is, what kind of person he was, and nonetheless seeing a real religion building up around him made me realise that all of the major religions must have started similarly. Watching Trump's followers tur…
Scientology has gone through phases. Up until the revelation of "Operation Snow White" [1] it was oriented towards recruiting large numbers of footsoldiers into "staff" roles and set prices that made their services accessible to a rather broad "public". Notably L. Ron Hubbard had written that it was immoral to ask for donations without giving something in return so it was all oriented around getting people to pay for…
We should teach/learn resisting scams in school. Far more useful than any other subject.
Their "relationship" developed over about 1 yr, and which point they sent ~£30k to temporarily cover a cashflow shortfall in their scammer's apparently legitimate business.
This was quickly detected by their spouse, who was obviously livid.
However..... not only did they transfer these funds to some limbo, and had received extremely clear advice that they had been scammed, they did the same thing with another ~£30k about a month later.
The funds so transferred went to some account in China.
The repetition of this "aberrant" behavior contributed to the divorce of my relative and their spouse.
In later conversations with the victim, who did eventually realize that they had been scammed, I attempted to reassure them by saying that these scammers are very skilled, and that they were innocent in the whole affair. It was small consolation, though.
I got sucked into reading this paper, and it has completely changed my perception of these scams. They are incredibly thorough and realistic. Here are some quotes that drove this home for me. "The bond phase showed that scammers had tremendous patience; this phase lasted anywhere from 3 to 11 months before the scammer moved on to the next stage of the scam." "When I spoke to her on a video call, it was the same perso…
Definitely sympathizes the victims even more. I had been thinking that these were 1-2 month, ham-fisted operations: establish contact and rush to grab the cash from the gullible rube. To string along the target for a year shows dedication completely separate from the pedestrian scams you normally encounter.
Imagine: you meet someone online. You talk for a while, and decide to meet up for dinner. They say nothing, but upon googling them (for safety, of course) you discover they're the son of a billionaire - a weapons or diamonds magnate or something to that effect.
Anyways, the day of the date comes around and a brand new Rolls Royce Phantom comes to pick you up, then drops you off at a private jet. You go to one of the highest end restaurants in the continent. You're experiencing a probably $20,000 night between tips, booze, food, and entertainment. You're showered in expensive gifts over weeks and weeks - honestly, where is all this money coming from, if not his pocket? He's a billionaire! You see him checking into hotels all around Europe, but you mention you miss him so he flies in just to get coffee with you for an hour. He's clearly head-over-heels for you.
tl;dr he has a scheme where he's got some photos of his guard roughed up, and a little blood on the "swindler", which aren't shown until the woman is deeply infatuated with him. It's a very urgent problem - some business competitors are out to get him, and they're tracking his cards. Can you please take out a loan for $50,000 and send it? It's okay if the bank won't normally approve that - I'll "employ you" and send over a paystub showing you make over $90,000/month! That loan gets approved instantly. You take out a few more because you want your boyfriend of 6 months to survive of course.
You're simply funding his night out with his next target. It's a rotating scam. Pretty insane to me.
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Most motorcycle gangs require a 1 year hang around, plus the introduced person has to be known for at least a year. The conventional wisdom is to wait 2 years to marry someone, and 1 year at the absolute bare minimum if you are old or at the edge of the fertility window or in some extenuating circumstance. This seems somewhat confirmed by the fact it outlives the measure of these long-running scams. Perhaps the conve…
for the average person, the limerence phase -- where your brain produces dopamine instead of oxytocin when around your partner -- lasts around 20-26 months. aka the honeymoon phase. wait until the dopamine hits stop and then see where you stand with that marriage...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without convenient on/off-ramps this kind of scam would be much harder to operate.
Wire transfer?
I got sucked into reading this paper, and it has completely changed my perception of these scams. They are incredibly thorough and realistic. Here are some quotes that drove this home for me. "The bond phase showed that scammers had tremendous patience; this phase lasted anywhere from 3 to 11 months before the scammer moved on to the next stage of the scam." "When I spoke to her on a video call, it was the same perso…
3 to 11 months is long enough. I wonder if higher level scaammers spend even longer for even higher rewards, years instead of months for the momey. At that point it should be a much higher purpose/agenda but I guess these timespans must be happening too.
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I get presented with one or two of these a month. It’s easy to be calloused until you remember that these people are also victims, often in worse ways than you could ever be as one of their targets. The best thing is just to ignore completely. If you engage at all, you risk worsening their situation by wasting their time, while if you do engage you might be saving someone else at their expense…. It’s lose/lose to eng…
> If you engage at all, you risk worsening their situation by wasting their time, while if you do engage you might be saving someone else at their expense…. I don't understand what you are arguing for here? That they need to be allowed to scam someone else to avoid worsening their situation? I'd say wasting their time is the best solution. It avoids giving the bosses info on what approaches works with who and helps m…
The kind of people that run criminal organisations generally don’t give credit for trying. It’s strictly numbers.