My recently widowed father (72) is planning a trip across the country to meet a woman who he claims called him by accident and with whom he has since built a romantic (remote) relationship. Here's what he's shared with me:
- He received a "wrong number" call from a woman that led to a number of other conversations online and on the phone that started to take on a romantic tone.
- He believes she is real because he has checked her out online, including validating that she is indeed the CEO of her company, is 40 years old, and is originally from Taiwan. Haven't seen this myself.
- She says she runs this company with her brother in Canada and her father back in Taiwan. The details of the company were not clear to me.
- They have exchanged photos but not video because her webcam is not working.
- He is planning a trip to Los Angeles (from the East Coast of US) in a few months to meet her in person. She said her driver will pick him up at the airport.
- No money has been asked for or sent, according to him.
This is obviously a scam, right? But, without there being an ask for money I can't figure out the angle and haven't been able to convince him to disengage.
It is either going to be an ask for money to help her overseas family or a "can't lose" investment in her company. I'm guessing she'll back out of the travel plans last minute so they never meet OR he's going go there and have his organs harvested.
Does anyone recognize this scam? What should we expect next? Has anyone else successfully talked their elderly loved ones out of one of these?
My dad is on his third one of these. The first one eventually said she could help him buy Bitcoin at which point he realized it was probably a scam and stopped talking to her. I can't remember what happened with the second, but the third invited him out to the west coast so he could drive her fancy super car. I'm guessing before it gets that far she'll bring up money and he'll realize it's a scam again.
I'm not too worried about my dad yet because he doesn't get too invested in the whole thing and isn't one to send money to people, but I plan on bringing it up if he ever brings up sending money to, or visiting one.
Christ, I got solicited by my fucking cab driver to buy Bitcoin. These people are everywhere. They're constantly dangling "I can hook you up" bait in front of anyone who will listen. It's downright suffocating.
lol
If he knew some secret technique to making lots of money with Bitcoin, he wouldn't be a fucking cab driver, now would he?
https://www.pitzlfinancial.com/blog/ode-shoeshine-boy
"In 1929, at the height of an economic boom in America, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (father of JFK) was working as a stockbroker on Wall Street. As the story goes, Joseph was walking around when he decided to sit down for a shoeshine. While polishing his shoes, the young worker gave Joseph some of his favorite stock picks. When Joseph heard the shoeshine boy giving out stock tips, he figured the party was about to end, and it was time to get out of the market. Joseph proceeded to exit his positions in the market and bought short positions that bet on the market going down.
Shortly after that, the stock market entered a free fall. On Monday, October 28, 1929, the market dropped about 13%. The next day it fell another 12%. These became better known as Black Monday and Black Tuesday, and ushered the United States into The Great Depression.
Now did Joseph profit from this type of bet? Absolutely. It's estimated that he made somewhere north of $150 million during that period, which equates to roughly $3.5 billion in today’s dollars.
Did he make these bets based on the shoeshine boy? Probably not, but it makes for a good narrative."
Joe Kennedy was famously a booze smuggler who profited most handsomely from black market liquor imports during Prohibition.
I'm sure he made some savvy stock trades in his day, but the seed of his fortune was the illicit sale of alcohol.
I think these (largely apocryphal) stories overlook how shoeshine boys have been giving stock tips during rain and shine for centuries. I wish it was the sign of a peak, but it's more the continuation of an enduring trend.
Yep. My grandpa has lost everything after my grandma passed away. So many young women want him! And he could make so much money if he just buys some supplies! And this and that and scam scam scam.
I'd feel bad for him if he hadn't disrespected the memory of my grandmother so damn quickly after being sucked into these scams.