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?
Here's the thing: Even if she could do a video call, that doesn't really prove anything.
Having said that, she's 40 and she's a CEO. If her "webcam is not working" she has the means to rectify that quickly. Not to mention, there's basically no chance a 40 year old CEO of an international organization doesn't have a phone that can do video calls, let alone no laptop/device capable of it. It's pretty much going to be essential for that type of job. She'd buy a new laptop, new phone, get the existing stuff fixed.
Yes it's a scam. There are many variations of how these work and there's not always a one size fits all script. They'll say whatever it takes and it could be anything.
Some will ask for money directly. Some will lure the target into crypto scams. This general type of romance scam typically involves building trust over time, and then suddenly concocting an urgent situation requiring money. The idea is that they need help ASAP, and if the target doesn't act quickly, the scam artist is going to be in a lot of danger/trouble. For instance, she might claim that she traveled abroad and something happened (ex: lost passport, stolen purse) that requires lots of money now. Or maybe because she's stuck in another country without ID, she needs someone in the USA (your dad) to cover some bogus financial transaction for the company or they will face big fines/bankruptcy/lose the biggest client/etc.
Also, people who are being scammed often lie about whether or not they've sent money. Deep down they know they may suspect they've been taken advantage of and feel embarrassed/ashamed about it. Even people that you feel 100% would never lie to you about that, will lie about that up to a point.