Scam Alert? Advice Needed

[MarcIssan]

Sorry to sound so negative here.

You haven't even moved here yet, and you're already caught up in it. steer clear is my advice...

Yes I agree. I have encouraged friends to visit Thailand after their current marriage failed and many of them ask me if this story or that story is for real or not? How am I to tell? But to ask for any money at such an early stage of the relationship is a clear indication you will have similar problems again and again but for different reasons. You may always be the 'only one' to help and once you run out of money..bye bye.

Keep looking..there are many choices and I suggest you break it off with all who ask for money so soon.

[bangkapi]

Watch that episode of "Scam City" about Bangkok.

She's just feeling you out for an income stream.

Gullible, overly generous Americans.. Gotta love 'em.

[MarcIssan]

How would you know "The typical scam is the sick mom or dad"? Looks like you think more about life than living it ... and don't think what you read on a few tv.com posts makes you an expert on anything Thai. Just come here and actually "experience" Thailand. If you're half-way intelligent you should be able to figure it out ... although many never do.

This is one I love..it has to be a classic. During one of my visits here a cousin to my wife come over and said he borrowed a large sum of money from some gangster types..mafia is the term he used. If he did not pay it back, they were going to kill him and he needed me to lend him the money for just a week or two.

I said that he seemed like a nice guy and I would miss him sorely but his problems were not going to become mine and I would not loan him the money. Only stupid people would do such a thing and giving him 1,000,000 baht would not cure his stupidity. I suggestEd he ask his mom or sister since they might miss hi more than I would. Funny, here we are 5 years later and he is not dead. I have heard that between his mom, sister, friends, my mother in law, and his x-wife's family he owes well over 6,000,000 baht. I'm glad I am not on the list!

[Igor]

Hey, OP> Don't be encouraged if she doesn't ask you for millions of baht. She's not a fool. She knows if she ask you for the whole amount, you'll disappear. Maybe you could just help out a little. Could you send 3,000 baht by Western Union? And then, again next week? And every week? Hey, it's only a hundred bucks for a rich falang. You can afford that! (Afterall, the other five guys sending her money every week or every month, don't seem to have any trouble affording it.)

Has she told you, yet, how much she dislikes Thai men?

I don't want to put you off, entirely. My GF is a nurse and, three years into our relationship, she's never asked me for a penny. Once, we had a major argument over a few thousand baht I wanted to loan for some repairs to her car. She insists on buying dinner, or paying for the movie. There are LOTS of great women in this country. But you are unlikely to find one online.

[Pkl]

It's very good that you are aware of the risks of being scammed and I can see you are also analytical in your thinking - these are both good.

The very first thing you need to understand is that you are not the central point of the universe. I don't mean to say this in a negative manner, but I mean that you must step outside of the box: the girl you have been talking to has had a life before she even knew about you, and she will continue to have a future even if you stepped out of her life right now. She does not need you, she has survived so far, and she will survive in the future even if you are not around. This is something that many men seem to forget.

You should not make too much assumptions on this case. Your analysis of the case is correct: if it is a scam, it is not the best one. However, you maybe do not know all the cards yet, so while on these facts that you have presented, it does not seem like a good scam, it may be that you do not have all the facts to evaluate the case yet - or, maybe she is just not a professional scammer, maybe she is just a beginner.

As far as I can tell, here are the potential options what is going on here:

1) Everything she told you is true. The situation with the loan and the family is very sad and upsetting and she wanted to share it with you, not because she is expecting you to give her money, but because she wanted to talk with you. It's a good sign that she does not ask for money. Also, the amount of money is so big, it would seem like a very stupid idea to try to get some money from you based on that since if you give her some reasonable amount, say 100 usd, that wouldn't make any difference to the loan problem.

2) She is a novice scammer who maybe has heard how easy it is to get money from western men by giving them a sad story, and she is now trying it to see if she can make any extra money with it.

3) She is a professional scammer who has not presented you with all the cards, or the elements of the scam. By providing this kind of scenario would make a lot of sense for a professional scammer for many reasons, for example, if you offer to give money ("I do not have 4 million but I can give little money to help you"), it tells the scammer that you are valuable target. In other words, the entire reason for the 4 million baht story is not to send you 4 million baht (no one is that stupid, I hope) but to test if you if you are the kind of person who is open to send money. Or, as I said, some elements of the scam are not presented to you yet. For example, giving you the 4 million baht loan story was the first element whose purpose was to get you thinking if you could help her somehow. In the next step, a rich uncle has agreed to pay 3.5 millions and now they only need the remaining 500.000 bahts - but quick, the rich uncle is leaving to Korea for a business trip next week and we need to make the transaction before that! Or something along those lines.

Whichever the case is, you should not send someone you have not even met, any money. You could, if you have some extra money and the person asks for donations, for example, but that is different. You do not want to send money to a potential girlfriend, who you have not ever meet, not in any circumstance. Ever. Do not do it.

[falkan]

1 she is looking for a sugar daddy to help to pay off debt

2 scam

my advice - get a girl with more money then you!

[lostinsurin]

Hi OP I have a solution for you.

My long lost second cousin's uncle who owned a major oil field and gold mine in timbuktu has passed away leaving an estate worth 23 trillion baht. unfortunately due to banking restrictions in this region the family cannot get to this money without a fresh bank account and a 500K baht release fee.

If you were willing to forward me this 500,000 baht and your bank account details when the funds are recovered I could pay you a 20% fee of 4.6 trillion baht and you could repay your girlfriends debt and have much money left over to buy her a new mini cooper, LV handbag, Iphone etc.

cheers

Don't worry Jay if he doesn't I will.

PS I'm off to Nigeria next week to invest in a really good deal.

[lostinsurin]

Hey, OP> Don't be encouraged if she doesn't ask you for millions of baht. She's not a fool. She knows if she ask you for the whole amount, you'll disappear. Maybe you could just help out a little. Could you send 3,000 baht by Western Union? And then, again next week? And every week? Hey, it's only a hundred bucks for a rich falang. You can afford that! (Afterall, the other five guys sending her money every week or every month, don't seem to have any trouble affording it.)

Has she told you, yet, how much she dislikes Thai men?

I don't want to put you off, entirely. My GF is a nurse and, three years into our relationship, she's never asked me for a penny. Once, we had a major argument over a few thousand baht I wanted to loan for some repairs to her car. She insists on buying dinner, or paying for the movie. There are LOTS of great women in this country. But you are unlikely to find one online.

OH igor be careful of the 10 year scam.

[Frank James]

This is clearly BS and if you even write or Skype her at all you are just asking for a shipload of grief.

[lostinsurin]

"my advice - get a girl with more money then you!"

After 3 years in Thailand that will be easy.

[DLP]

Tell her to get him a good lawyer.dont be fooled by people on these social networks

[lvr181]

Oh shit - another one about to bite the dust...................?

How sad, never mind, nothing changes.

[ebonykap]

Sorry, I cant really see a scam in this. Any normal daughter would be very upset if her father was having major financial problems. Crying on Skype....seems perfectly natural to me. UNTIL she actually requests a donation, this should be seen for what it is. Show sympathy and ask her a few questions, such as "what are you going to do?"

The minute she asks you for any amount of money, disappear quick!

[misterphil]

Why don't you post your conversations on here from her, and we will all tell you its a SCAM.

Do yourself a favour and don't come here. You are an easy target from what you've told us here and you will get scammed if you come here.

[FritsSikkink]

Tell the father to go to the police and find this so called friend.

[Lancashireman]

OP, do you not realise there are a zillion Thai birds talking to farangs at this very moment in time via PC or iPhone, with the the prime objective of cash flow from a perceived "millionaire" by whatever means or story. I have heard the stories about birds never asking for cash, yeh, that one is just a delaying tactic to get you on board, hooked.

This bird has mentioned a rather big sum of money where only a fool would have guaranteed it, especially a low wage guy.

A few weeks back Mrs.Trans got a phone call from a lady she hadn't seen for 30 years, she had heard Mrs.Trans had married a farang and asked a friend for our phone number. The reason for the contact was she wanted to know how to meet a farang cos she had got herself into deep shit financially with no way out, except get hold of a farang "millionaire".

99.9% of this Internet chat stuff is about cash at the end of the tunnel, NOT how hansum you are.

...agree, it ultimately is 'cash' related, but there are levels of honourability... Edited May 4, 2014 by Lancashireman

[ChoakMyDee]

Why would you even be interested in this girl if there are problems already before you've even net her? RUN, don't walk.

By the way, the only way her dad could guarantee a 4 million Baht loan is if he put up property as collateral....so he is either a very rich man or she is lying.

[marko kok prong]

How would you know "The typical scam is the sick mom or dad"? Looks like you think more about life than living it ... and don't think what you read on a few tv.com posts makes you an expert on anything Thai. Just come here and actually "experience" Thailand. If you're half-way intelligent you should be able to figure it out ... although many never do.

I say sir ,i hope you were not talking about my post,as if you were it is customary to quote it,but from the tone of your post sir,one would think,possibly you have sampled too many herbal remedies,for your minds own good.

[mrfaroukh]

Sorry to long to read

[mrfaroukh]

You mentioned you had joined many forums not to be scam, but it seem you are already in process of being scam. 4 million Baht is not an small amount that someone stand as guarantor, unless he has a very large income and lots of property for the bank to accept him.

Just remember CRY is the best weapon for all the girls, woman etc. So the moment you see them crying run as fast as you can.

[falkan]

"my advice - get a girl with more money then you!"

After 3 years in Thailand that will be easy.

no wonder you got lost in the rice fields in Surin.. jackpot am guessing 555..

[Igor]

OH igor be careful of the 10 year scam.

5555

[poweratradio]

^{If you turn the roles around would you have brought up the same subject? There is no "typical" scam, there are hundreds. Up to you whether you get involved but as you have read and researched on this forum I'm sure you know what may be in store for you.}

^{On the other hand it may be genuine.}

Thats the beginning of a scam or if you offer to pay it off and she refuses your offer you have found the girl of your dreams. A keeper.

[lucifer666]

Heard it all before. It's a scam, believe me

[scoutman360]

Giver her the sympathy she was looking for. Give her what she wants, except for the money. Tell her your own problems. If she only wants your money, she will stick around and you can have your fun until she figures out you will not pay. If she just wanted someone to listen and help her feel better, then you have a nice future together. Take it for what you know, and don't think too mutt. Good luck.

[Thaiberius]

Thai girls are far more emotionally hard than many give them credit for. A girl will very rarely cry on a day to day basis apart from to manipulate. If she is somebody you have met only online and she tells you a hard luck story about money and then turns the tears on? ...................... Plenty more fish in the sea as they say.

[wooloomooloo]

If the OP is being serious, then 4 million of Thai debt is a big deal. At today's rate that's circa £75.5K.

My wife's family don't have a lot of money, but they're not indebted.

My advice is don't commence a relationship with a deficit. There's so many good Thais out there.

[akentryan]

She isn't in Pattaya is she? There are two young "ladies" in my development seeking the same kind of "bailout". One is around 4 million, the other around 3 million. Yes, banks do make some very poor loan decisions. That's usually when a mafia lender moves in and all is lost. Wait until you get here to look for your true love.

[hhgz]

It's an obvious scam and, the fact you're ready to send her the money, you're just another sheep waiting to get fleeced.

[Eloelo]

your going to get involved with a girl who has a father who can guarantee 4million baht to a fellow who has done a runner, I don't know who is more stupid ,you the girl or the father.it seems to me the family has been scammed by the fellow who did the runner, and you are going to be the handsome man who gets dragged into this to help offset there losses. If you mention that you cannot help with this ,you will get the response that will help you make a decision about the girl and her family,