Agatha Christie - Over and out!

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merryone

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Here's the final update for the saga regarding my colleague being scammed by someone pretending to be an up and coming pop star. The concert was last night - I saw her this morning at work and she seemed pretty normal I said good morning and she replied with a smile but her face and demeanour was not of someone who'd just met the love of their life for the first time the night before. I wanted to be subtle so when I saw her later in the day when I was working with her in the canteen and noticed she was looking for a set of keys - I casually asked "oh where they here yesterday?" She replied I've been off for the last 4 days so I wasn't here yesterday...."do anything nice? I asked" She said "I wasn't on holiday it was just my normal days off"...So I thought....that's odd. A little while later I bit the bullet and said "Oh have you been to the gig yet?" She said "I didn't go" "WHY?"! I exclaimed with fake surprise and she said my fan card didn't come in time so I didn't get a ticket and my knee's been playing up...and with that she swiftly changed the subject.
What happened I wonder? She definitely had the fan card 'cause she showed me it on her phone last week and a backstage pass (obviously phony) but a ticket? I would've thought she'd have a ticket.. So did she have a fake ticket and found she couldn't get into the gig and then realised everything else was fake too? Did she get a request for money that morning which woke her up to the scam so she decided to call it a day and indeed didn't go. She was no longer playing his music or checking her phone every five minutes so yes, it's all over. How much money has she lost? Who knows, I get the impression that it's not a life changing amount otherwise I would've thought she'd have been in a proper state. She's never gonna admit to everybody that they were right and she was scammed - I doubt whether she'll mention his name or his music ever again - Game over and swept well and truly under the carpet. Let's hope she's learned something from this!
 
donna255 said:
Well, hopefully she won't get pulled in by another scammer. The ticket must have been fake, and she was turned away.
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....and I don't blame her for not telling anybody. Had she told me this was what happened, I mean what on earth could I have said to her? I wouldn't be as unkind to say to her "told you so" but it would be difficult. With a bit of thought I'd probably said "Sadly I suspected this would be the case, but we learn from our mistakes and what doesn't kill us makes us stronger" (Other cliches are available). I shan't mention him to her again or to anyone else and if she does start veering in that direction again I'm closing my ears!
 
It is a sad story. I work on the assumption that if something looks too good to be true it probably is. It's like the emails "you've won $3,000,000 in the Canadian lottery", that's amazing considering I never entered it! Yet some people fall for it.

It's a difficult situation being a friend of someone who is (or you suspect) being scammed. Anything you say will be dismissed. Scammers understand psychology and how to make people, mostly women, fall for them.

If you're too blunt you risk ruining the friendship. You can only try to be there for them afterwards. Hopefully she won't do this again.
 
Muttley said:
It is a sad story. I work on the assumption that if something looks too good to be true it probably is. It's like the emails "you've won $3,000,000 in the Canadian lottery", that's amazing considering I never entered it! Yet some people fall for it.

It's a difficult situation being a friend of someone who is (or you suspect) being scammed. Anything you say will be dismissed. Scammers understand psychology and how to make people, mostly women, fall for them.

If you're too blunt you risk ruining the friendship. You can only try to be there for them afterwards. Hopefully she won't do this again.
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It's a sad story, but although I feel sorry for a lot of people who are scammed, there are also lot of people who I cannot muster any sympathy for. How much publicity does there have to be before some women realise that if you're looking for love/companionship then beware of some men out there who ask you for money, have a very sick relative or claim to want to marry you. Time after time, after time - and I really believe that however many people warned them they would just ignore any advice. Then comes the sob story publicity - well, who would have thought it? They so WANT it to be true love or whatever that they shut their eyes and their minds to anything else. And as for the emails telling you you've won 5 million in the Farfromnowhere lottery and could you please send £5,000 first, the answer's simple: take it out of my winnings and send the rest on to me - bye.
 
We are going back to the early 00s, a friend had just got a computer set up by her husband in the living room. So one night I called round and husband was out, and she was reading her emails and one said you have won something. First thing I said was did you enter? No, but she clicked the link, and at first we had no idea what we were looking at. It was child ****! She phoned husband, and he said, shut the whole thing down now! When he came back, he started an antivirus and malware scan, then tried tracking where this email came from. It had bounced from different places across the world. He actually thought it was a blackmail scam, someone trying to say you have child **** and you better pay up, or we will report you, and you will go to prison.
 
donna255 said:
We are going back to the early 00s, a friend had just got a computer set up by her husband in the living room. So one night I called round and husband was out, and she was reading her emails and one said you have won something. First thing I said was did you enter? No, but she clicked the link, and at first we had no idea what we were looking at. It was child ****! She phoned husband, and he said, shut the whole thing down now! When he came back, he started an antivirus and malware scan, then tried tracking where this email came from. It had bounced from different places across the world. He actually thought it was a blackmail scam, someone trying to say you have child **** and you better pay up, or we will report you, and you will go to prison.
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I've not heard of that scam but the blackmail angle sounds feasible. This shows how dangerous it is to click on a dodgy link - they're just trying to get you to click it. The other is the email that says your account will be suspended now unless you click the link immediately so you don't have a chance to think.

The easiest way to infect a computer with malware is by clicking on a dodgy link.
 
historymystery said:
It's a sad story, but although I feel sorry for a lot of people who are scammed, there are also lot of people who I cannot muster any sympathy for. How much publicity does there have to be before some women realise that if you're looking for love/companionship then beware of some men out there who ask you for money, have a very sick relative or claim to want to marry you. Time after time, after time - and I really believe that however many people warned them they would just ignore any advice. Then comes the sob story publicity - well, who would have thought it? They so WANT it to be true love or whatever that they shut their eyes and their minds to anything else. And as for the emails telling you you've won 5 million in the Farfromnowhere lottery and could you please send £5,000 first, the answer's simple: take it out of my winnings and send the rest on to me - bye.
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I agree, but I think the sense of loneliness affects them so much that they are blind to everything ie publicly around scams, advice from friends/family, I can't think of any other explanation. On the TV show I've seen some of the victims were educated and if retired had had good jobs but they were so lonely they were desperate for it to be true. You can't believe they would get scammed but they do.

I think social media makes it easier for scammers, you can follow your favourite actor on Twitter, Facebook etc and you can interact with them which must make you feel like you have a relationship with them to begin with.

If somebody I had just met (in person or online) started asking me for money I would be directing them to the nearest bank and saying goodbye. But that's me. I'm on my own and can get lonely at times. However I do stuff on my own if there's no-one to go with. I sometimes go to the theatre alone, I've been abroad a couple of times and even did a cruise last year. It wasn't easy but I did it. But not everybody has the confidence to try.

And totally agree about the lottery comment, my late mum always said that!!
 
Muttley said:
I agree, but I think the sense of loneliness affects them so much that they are blind to everything ie publicly around scams, advice from friends/family, I can't think of any other explanation. On the TV show I've seen some of the victims were educated and if retired had had good jobs but they were so lonely they were desperate for it to be true. You can't believe they would get scammed but they do.

I think social media makes it easier for scammers, you can follow your favourite actor on Twitter, Facebook etc and you can interact with them which must make you feel like you have a relationship with them to begin with.

If somebody I had just met (in person or online) started asking me for money I would be directing them to the nearest bank and saying goodbye. But that's me. I'm on my own and can get lonely at times. However I do stuff on my own if there's no-one to go with. I sometimes go to the theatre alone, I've been abroad a couple of times and even did a cruise last year. It wasn't easy but I did it. But not everybody has the confidence to try.

And totally agree about the lottery comment, my late mum always said that!!
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I admire you so much for having the courage to go out and do things on your own if necessary. It's not easy in a world that often seems to be inhabited only by couples or large groups of people, and I know from friends who are on their own that this is how it very often seems, but it's great that you don't let anything hold you back. Good on you!
 
historymystery said:
I admire you so much for having the courage to go out and do things on your own if necessary. It's not easy in a world that often seems to be inhabited only by couples or large groups of people, and I know from friends who are on their own that this is how it very often seems, but it's great that you don't let anything hold you back. Good on you!
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Thank you, it's not always easy going out on my own but the alternative is not going anywhere or seeing anything. Holidays were the hardest to begin with but I always get talking to people.

Someone at work always asks me where I went at the weekend and then says "who did you go with?" Despite me mostly saying "on my own" she keeps asking it. Could do without that.
 
maymorganlondon said:
Hopefully she realises she's dodged a bullet if not now, in a short spell of time.
Still very sad that she was looking for love and found a scam.
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I'm pleased to say that she seems to be back to her normal bouncy self although her bounciness was turbo charged whilst this was going on but it does seem she's put this behind her. The saddest part imo is that she was gullible enough to fall into a trap that had "scam" written all over it from the word go. I'd have felt a lot more pity had the guy was talking to had been more, lets say age appropriate and had a ordinary job.
 
Well the silly cow still thinks the relationship is "on". As promised I didn't mention him again, but today at work she was listening to his music again and said this is his new single, I said I'm glad you can still appreciate the music. She started telling me that he's now in scandinavia but hopes to see her in June for her birthday (that old chestnut) but if not he's back in the uk in November - I bloody give up. Clearly the scammers are biding their time and probably have a lot of irons in the fire, no doubt numerous lonely ladies who think they're in a relationship with this Aussie hunk. She doesn't seem at all phased by the fact she might not get to meet him until November (and we know that ain't gonna happen). She's flippin' insane!
 
One can only hope that the real Harrison Storm publicly announces that he’s got himself a girlfriend or comes out as being gay before the year’s out. I think that’s the only thing that’ll bring the truth to her attention. She’s a lost cause unfortunately!
 
Muttley said:
Oh no, I wonder how long they will string her along? I can't believe she is this gullible, they'll definitely be after her money. I wonder how she will cope when the excuses mount up about not meeting up. Very sad.
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It’s not as if making excuses is that difficult when you live on the other side of the world. Age aside, this relationship isn’t viable full stop!
 

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