75 year old dad engaged to 26 year old from Uganda

Hi there,

My dad has built up a relationship with a lady from Uganda on the internet. The age difference and location of course ring alarm bells.

They started talking in September, she came over for 3 weeks at Christmas (he paid of course and we found out afterwards) and now they are engaged and he is off to Uganda.

What confuses me is this person Betty exists, she came to the Uk, has a facebook etc. I am convinced it is a scam and know my dad has sent her several thousand for her to set him up for when he comes out (deposits etc). When I presented some info to my dad where her facebook says she's been married before he called her out on it and called her a scammer, however, she is completely aghast and throwing the how can you not trust me lines, how hurt she is. I feel she has now convinced him it was a misunderstanding that she used that she was married to stop people hitting on her (sigh).

What can I do?

Why would she come over if she was a scammer?

What could happen if he goes?

I should note he's been scammed before by a 26 year old from Tanzania so he is unbelievably gullible!

Nothing comes up when I google her email or phone number.

Help and advice welcomed.

These situations are always tough ones. What happens when an image search is conducted with her photos?

Nothing, she exists, he's met her.

I realise now that means she's not a scammer as such but a gold digger, much harder to prove.

Once he leaves for Uganda though he will be much more vulnerable to manipulation as his family will not be able to protect him.

Does anyone know whether it's possible to find marriage records in Uganda as her facebook says she has been married before but she has denied this to my dad saying it was to stop people hitting on her. I'd like to present some proof if it exists but it doesn't seem possible to find records?

Help welcomed!

I have had a look here

http://www.ursb.go.ug/

cannot see if there is a way to check, I think you are going to have to tread carefully with your Dad here as I think she has her hooks in well and good. You could end up being seen as in the wrong.

I have had a look at the FB page and cannot see any sign of a scam there, maybe the angle could be that she is looking to get British Residence out of it.

I agree your Dad going to Uganda is probably not a good idea, perhaps you could suggest to him that she comes over here again, at least your Dad will still be in the UK

I'm no expert in this area but just being married to a UK citizen doesn't give an automatic right to permanent settlement in the UK.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/spouse-cp/can-you-apply/genuine/

Just a short excerpt of the requirements

If your relationship is genuine and subsisting we would expect you to be able to show evidence that you:

are in a current, long-term relationship;
are living together with your partner;

While the country has made progress, Uganda still has a high poverty rate, especially in rural areas, and in many cases there are few opportunities (work or education) to help people get out of chronic poverty. There are plenty of younger people looking for a way out. In fact, I've dealt with scam victims in Uganda who lost every cent they had to a job scammer who was promising them employment overseas.

Unfortunately, while we see many hardworking young people who are looking for an opportunity to work, others have simply decided to live off strangers if they can get away with it. Some simply look for a "sugar daddy" (or "sugar mummy") to support them while they remain in their own country, while others have the long term goal of using their benefactor to get them out of their country entirely. At this point, there is no way to know for sure which she is after.

Some gold-digger types actually juggle multiple "relationships" at once. For that reason, JR's suggestion of an image search is actually still appropriate, to see if you can find any other profiles out there that she is using to find other sugar daddies. You might also want to google some lines (put them in quotation marks to search for exact matches) to see if she is using a script to scam under multiple names.

If you feel he is truly incompetent, you may want to contact an attorney to see if there is a way to protect his assets. An attorney may also be able to set you up with a private investigator who can check out her history for you.