I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me • Hacker News Board

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#181

Post by Pica_soO » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

berntb wrote: post #152

hilop wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She's paying for companionship. It's basically prostitution. If you don't approve, find someone to give her more comfort than her courtesan does.

I assume that was written by a secondary account from someone here. It seems to be a common way around the HN demands for civility... :-( Regarding the victim, my guess would be on early stages of dementia and/or emotional trauma after becoming a widow. But if I would discuss this with a victim, I would try bringing up the psychology of a scammer. First in general terms, like the Nigeria letters, then the specifics a…

Interesting point on the psychology of "bad" people. Could this logic relation be inverted? If you see humans as evil, you are more likely to be a criminal or evil-doer? Thus Pessimism is the first stage of psychopathy? I weep for the species. Also weeping for science.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#182

Post by michael_h » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

jayess wrote: post #172

michael_h wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first day he messaged her, we told her it was a scam to take window's money. Four months later, when we discovered she had been talking to him in the intervening months, we showed her a few websites that detail exactly how the romance scam works (matching her situation exactly ). Last weekend, when we found out all of her money was gone, we had the police and adult protective services come out and tell her point…

Good lord, just log in to her facebook and block the dude... better yet, change her email address for the account and then the password so she can't reset her password.

Done, done, and done. That was the first thing we did. Facebook was only the initial mode of communication - now they communicate by text, which I can't control.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#183

Post by Pica_soO » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:28 PM UTC

I wish we could get those texts, we could train NN on keeping the scammers busy.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#184

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:30 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #158

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scammers can be very persuasive in person, so it's not a given that the scammer will ignore her. I know someone in a similar situation. She's been abroad to see her "love" in Egypt regularly, and he's very attentive when she's there. Of course they're planning to get married. Of course it's love. What else would it be? Works on guys too. I know someone else who has given rather a lot of money to an East European woma…

But actual love is similar, so where is your differential? I realize you could have a simple answer, "is any money involved", but that would make many very good relationships that work out positively for both partners "scams" at one point. Does it also make every stay at home, or temporarily unemployed person a "scammer", if they are receiving financial help? You need an actual differential on love here. If Hillary s…

[deleted]

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#185

Post by infinite8s » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:30 PM UTC

kba wrote: post #110

voxic11 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the United States and most countries I'm aware of debts cannot be inherited.

I think most places, debts can be inherited voluntarily, but you can't cherry pick. If your dead aunt had a Mercedes 190SL, but also owes $200,000, you can either take both or nothing. But yeah – they won't end up in debt themselves, unless they choose to.

You aren't inheriting the debts - you are inheriting the estate after all debts have been settled. So the estate could be worth 0, but you'll never inherit a negative estate.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#186

Post by oblio » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:38 PM UTC

tedmiston wrote: post #130

oblio wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do a disproportionate number of these scams seem to originate from Nigeria? We (Romania) prefer to steal credit card numbers instead. Less work and instant benefits!

Not sure if you're being facetious or if this is actually more prevalent. I haven't been to Romania but did notice and personally experience credit card numbers being stolen in Greece, especially in tourist areas in Athens, presumably via skimmers.

As far as I know our guys mostly do it through online stuff. Basically script kiddies: high-school dropouts with nothing better to do.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#187

Post by nitrogen » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:40 PM UTC

dragandj wrote: post #153

pavel_lishin wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could argue the same thing about Christianity in general; didn't Jesus prophesize his return to occur within a very short time after his death?

Whoever wrote the texts in the New Testament was clever enough to specify it vaguely. Short, for god, can be very long for you, mere mortal. Of course, there slipped an error in some of those texts where Jesus promised that this "short" means "within the lifetime" of those who he was speaking to. But, again, the Bible is so full of much more blatant inconsistencies that this got drowned down below. The believers don'…

The workaround for that "lifetime" bit is the claim that one or more of the people present were allowed to live forever. There is no end to the layers of explanations.

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#188

Post by erikpukinskis » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:49 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #164

nkrisc wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People believe all sorts of irrational and outlandish things without a shred of proof, or even with proof to the contrary.

There is proof to the contrary that "startups work" and that working for equity is a good use of someone's time. I still believe it. It's kind of irrational and outlandish. When I work on startups with others, this isn't a scam. So your terms "irrational", "outlandish", "without a shred of proof" or with "proof to the contrary" is insufficient. You need to come up with a more polarizing differential that can differen…

There's a difference between a low probability of success that has a net negative financial value (startups, lotteries, America's Cup bids) and fraud.

In one case, there are just big risks that on average won't work out. In the other, there is no possibility for success because one party has no intention of following through on their promises.

If the scammer were actually in love, and just taking the money with the intention of investing it, but consistently blowing it in Vegas due to a gambling addiction, that wouldn't be fraud because he's still being honest.

It's the lying at issue, not the soundness of the investment.

And frankly I don't see many people saying "take options at a random startup to get rich, that's a good financial investment". Have you?

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#189

Post by arm » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #5

Reminds me of [1], where a scammer was scammed into sending a photo with a fish on his head. [1] http://www.419eater.com/html/tope.htm

Haha, if you thought that one was good, check out this¹ one where the scammer is scammed into sending a lot more than a photo (although he is scammed into doing that too)!

――――――

¹ — http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm

Re: I went to Nigeria to meet a man who scammed me

#190

Post by logicallee » Thu, Oct 20, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

michael_h wrote: post #138

nkrisc wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine she has almost certainly not met anyone in person, that's how these scams work.

No, she met someone in person, which made the whole thing a little more scary. They went out to dinner, twice in a single week. From what I can gather, she met someone , but I doubt it was the same guy she's talking to over txt.

It's difficult. obviously if you were to intervene (for example by pretending to take an interest) to help, the scammer would realize what you are doing.

you are saying that your mother is not senile, and is just (acting) 'stupid'. But if this is the case, why don't you ask her about the details (excuses and so forth)?

Has she told you things like, "Yes, I realize that there are scams, but this is not one of them."

Is she otherwise intelligent? If she is intelligent and you got as far as her saying, "Yes, I realize there are scams, but this is not oen of them" then you could discuss rationally how you know...

the scammer could also kind of believe it from their end.