by asdf3216
Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:52 am
My uncle (55 years old, US) met a girl on a dating website from the Philippines a few years ago. Our whole family has been skeptical from the start. He has sent her money several times for different random medical injuries, progressively getting more and more expensive. He's been unemployed for a couple years and has almost no money, so has reached out to us, his family, for help. He has flown out to meet her and her family and so is convinced that they are 100% legitimate.
Recently, he got an email from her cousin saying she has fallen into a coma (possibly due to the heat) and needs $1261 to get admitted to the hospital as there is a down payment, or else she will die. He was frantic and reached out to us for help. We all were sure it's a scam.
After a few days, we decided that even though we were sure it was a scam, we would loan him the money by sending the money DIRECT TO THE HOSPITAL for her payment, not to her or her family directly.
Then the story changed. I obtained her email, which her "cousin" had been using to communicate as she was in the hospital- I sent a general email to get a feel for what is going on. She told me she has typhoid fever, and that a neighbor Muslim family helped to pay her down payment, but that they had her discharged because they didn't want to pay any more bills. She said they took her home and will not let the family speak to her again until they pay the $1,261 (their way of having us now pay them instead of the hospital).
I showed this email to the rest of the family, now everyone EXCEPT MY UNCLE is convinced this is 100% a scam. But he is just too gullible. He thinks since he met them in person, they are 100% authentic. He just cannot see reason at this point.
We are not giving him any money. Now he has sent us all more emails begging for money, saying that he is afraid that the "Muslim family" will sell her as a marriage slave to someone, which he says is worse than death, if they don't get their money.
I have her email, I have the name, address, and phone number of hospitals in her area. And I do have her address as well.
I'm wondering the best way to go about this - how can I prove to him that this is a scam? Simply telling him it's a scam won't work - he is too deep into this for us just to tell him and him believe us.
Our approach is now pretty much telling him he is on her own. I would really like to prove this is a con to him -- any advice???
Recently, he got an email from her cousin saying she has fallen into a coma (possibly due to the heat) and needs $1261 to get admitted to the hospital as there is a down payment, or else she will die. He was frantic and reached out to us for help. We all were sure it's a scam.
After a few days, we decided that even though we were sure it was a scam, we would loan him the money by sending the money DIRECT TO THE HOSPITAL for her payment, not to her or her family directly.
Then the story changed. I obtained her email, which her "cousin" had been using to communicate as she was in the hospital- I sent a general email to get a feel for what is going on. She told me she has typhoid fever, and that a neighbor Muslim family helped to pay her down payment, but that they had her discharged because they didn't want to pay any more bills. She said they took her home and will not let the family speak to her again until they pay the $1,261 (their way of having us now pay them instead of the hospital).
I showed this email to the rest of the family, now everyone EXCEPT MY UNCLE is convinced this is 100% a scam. But he is just too gullible. He thinks since he met them in person, they are 100% authentic. He just cannot see reason at this point.
We are not giving him any money. Now he has sent us all more emails begging for money, saying that he is afraid that the "Muslim family" will sell her as a marriage slave to someone, which he says is worse than death, if they don't get their money.
I have her email, I have the name, address, and phone number of hospitals in her area. And I do have her address as well.
I'm wondering the best way to go about this - how can I prove to him that this is a scam? Simply telling him it's a scam won't work - he is too deep into this for us just to tell him and him believe us.
Our approach is now pretty much telling him he is on her own. I would really like to prove this is a con to him -- any advice???
