Woman duped into sending nearly $1million overseas in a romance scam

Forums › Off topic › Woman duped into sending nearly $1million overseas in a romance scam

GSManiac

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#280580 25-Dec-2020 10:12

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300192770/mother-sent-865000-to-romance-scammer-bank-not-responsible

How stupid would you have to be to send nearly a million dollars to an overseas stranger. Absolutely no sympathy at all.

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#2626657 25-Dec-2020 10:19

Someone lonely and looking to be loved.

Sred

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#2626661 25-Dec-2020 10:46

Obviously not a stupid person as she had business interests and rentals

Sred

alasta

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#2626669 25-Dec-2020 11:11

I have mixed feelings about these types of situations. Yes, she was stupid, but $1m is a grossly disproportionate penalty for just being naive and having poor controls around financial transactions.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2626671 25-Dec-2020 11:19

Sred:

Obviously not a stupid person as she had business interests and rentals

I doubt she set this up herself. No family history is given, but I suspect these were previously managed by someone with a clue.

alasta:

I have mixed feelings about these types of situations. Yes, she was stupid, but $1m is a grossly disproportionate penalty for just being naive and having poor controls around financial transactions.

Controls around financial transactions are already too stringent and getting worse. The bank did query the loans and she gave them credible reasons. It's 100% on her and nobody else.

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#2626685 25-Dec-2020 11:41

I think this is just sad. Perhaps the woman was stupid. Maybe she was blinded by love, or desperate for attention. Maybe she had hidden cognitive impairments, or other mental issues. It is hard to pass judgement without knowing a lot more.

People have to assume some responsibility for themselves. Those who cannot will hopefully have others who can do this for them. Some will just be victims. From the scant information provided, I do not think the bank is at fault here.

I feel sorry for the woman. I think it is sad.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

alasta

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#2626689 25-Dec-2020 12:08

SirHumphreyAppleby:

alasta:

I have mixed feelings about these types of situations. Yes, she was stupid, but $1m is a grossly disproportionate penalty for just being naive and having poor controls around financial transactions.

Controls around financial transactions are already too stringent and getting worse. The bank did query the loans and she gave them credible reasons. It's 100% on her and nobody else.

To be clear I was referring to the victim's financial remittance procedures, not the bank's.

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richms

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#2626690 25-Dec-2020 12:10

The complaint was from the daughter of the person that did it, so probably more annoyed that her inheritance is being sent off overseas and that she will have to look after the clearly not all there elder person.

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gzt

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#2626708 25-Dec-2020 15:04

GSManiac: How stupid would you have to be to send nearly a million dollars to an overseas stranger. Absolutely no sympathy at all.

Scammers intentionally target vulnerable people and exploit them. Victims of these scams deserve sympathy just as victims of other crimes do.

floydbloke

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#2626776 26-Dec-2020 08:56

gzt:
GSManiac: How stupid would you have to be to send nearly a million dollars to an overseas stranger. Absolutely no sympathy at all.

Scammers intentionally target vulnerable people and exploit them. Victims of these scams deserve sympathy just as victims of other crimes do.

They do, but the amount of sympathy (from me anyway) is inversely proportional to the amount of ignorance/stupidity/carelessness that causes a victim to become one.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

Eva888

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#2626785 26-Dec-2020 09:18

Hence the saying that love is blind.

Loneliness is a wicked companion that places blinkers over the eyes and dulls common sense because the thrill and hope of connecting with someone makes them listen selectively only to the words they desperately need to hear while blocking out all the suspicious signals that will return them back to loneliness. It’s very sad and happens to men just as much as to women.

Paul1977

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#2627107 27-Dec-2020 10:19

Hard to make any judgements about the victim of the scam with such scant information. However, from the information given I don’t see how anyone could reasonably blame the bank.

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#2627117 27-Dec-2020 10:37

I know a friend of a friend involved in such a scam. The simple reality was these people are so convinced their "romance" is genuine that it wouldn't matter what steps banks put in place, these people would still find ways around them or make up lies (like this woman did) as a cover story.

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#2627124 27-Dec-2020 10:52

Reminded me of this story a while ago. The children were trying to help but their father had basically cut them off, believing in the scammer's lies as gospel.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/familys-worry-as-elderly-man-pours-life-savings-into-romance-scam/SNBYGAZ3TKVAX2PUWMWPYF4GJA/

mudguard

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#2627302 28-Dec-2020 08:58

It happened occasionally when I was at Westpac. I remember showing someone new the procedure for releasing telegraphic transfers, this happened at the end of the day. I was joking about how we have to check and make sure they're not sending them to Nigeria etc, when I came across one that was going to Nigeria! We delayed it one day, called the chap, investigated his account to see he'd been borrowing money to do it. In the end we let it go after he came in, in person to confirm. There wasn't anything we could do to stop it.

It's sad, but there isn't much more the bank can do. If they put stops in place it would have a cascading effect for those who had genuine reasons for sending money.

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#2627308 28-Dec-2020 09:34

This is very sad but can't blame the bank!

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