What the -? African "business man" targets widow

My friend is being lured to Morocco. The man is younger, attractive and pretends to be a successful business owner / entrepreneur. But there's a twist, as she is poor. With a BMI >30, 5 adult children and 50 the question arises what this man is really up to?

Youtube has documentaries on Pinoi drug mules.

It is bizarre wanting to marry a STRANGER she hasn't met. But he has been skyping like crazy, while avoiding e-mail (=> no IP address to check). Facebook? Yes, but with a fake name and not a single photo.
Why bother? Why would a successful middle aged entrepreneur play such a game? Is he a sadist, who loves making females fall for him?

Too busy to fly over for a weekend? Mmm. With the kind of money he claims to be making, surely he can handle business via the internet for a few days?

[*]No landline, no address, no license # for the new "German car" he just bought.
[*]No IP address to check
[*]Crafty bastard - I urged her to insist on a meeting => and he agreed! "in June". Alas, she is to come to Morocco "in March". (Bringing a wedding dress?!?) .

What is she getting into? I would want to meet an internet friend and make it real.

Told her, how I share my life on FB: real name, real photos, my cell #, and normal posts like of a motorcycle I bought or holidays I took. And he can make the photos e x c l u s i v e.

She loves him and would follow him to a cave in Afghanistan. If he was poor and the business man profile was a scam, she still would want him as a partner. But asking her for some advance payment scam is crazy. She is making about $ 700 a month, working crazy hours in SE Asia

What do you think this is all about? Skype video? All the time! One handsome guy showing his face, but never in a photo.

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for posting.

Its a scammer period.

But he has been skyping like crazy, while avoiding e-mail (=> no IP address to check). Facebook? Yes, but with a fake name and not a single photo.

That goes without saying. Reading all these sickening tales with e-mail & chat messages I wanted to highlight the SKYPE "only" video calls this guy makes. (It's not the case of a pretty person's stolen identity. The guy appears on Skype but has avoided sharing a photo etc.).

A $ 2xx Visa extension bill led to big drama months ago. And she hasn't saved the money for the flight yet. With him promising to pay for her trip Can't see an advance payment scam here.

Another worry is the Skype-video thing taking up so much time. It's one thing to use (recycled) text. But all this endless assuring her of his love, of him wanting to marry her bla bla is weird.

[AlanJones]

But all this endless assuring her of his love, of him wanting to marry her bla bla is weird.

That is standard with romance scammers. They can go for many months building up their victim's reliance on them and infatuation in them before there is any mention of money. It is also possible that the scammer has managed to get video of the person he is pretending to be, but doesn't have any photos.

He is a young (likely) African man and his only interest in your friend is in her money. He doesn't care that she probably has less than he does - if he can steal a few hundred dollars from her on top of the money he is stealing from his other victims then there is no need for him to get a real job.

katakombist is no longer with us. May his spam post rest in hell.