On line dating scam

This is my first time opening a new discussion so I hope I have put it in an appropriate place.

When you read it you may all think that I am writing about myself but it genuinely is about what happened to a friend!

I have a friend aged 64 who after several years of being alone decided to re-enrol on an online dating website. Within 48 hours of putting her details on there she was contacted by a gentleman who she liked the sound of. He was widowed about 5 years previously with no children. They exchanged a few messages on there and he suggested that as they were getting along so well they come off the website and communicate privately.

To keep a long story short they emailed and telephoned each other for a couple of weeks. He mentioned that he was an engineer planning to retire soon but had one final job overseas before then. My friend had been completely taken in by this chap but I was very sceptical - it all seemed to be moving too quickly for my liking. Because I was so wary I told my daughter and asked for her opinion.

She heard from him while he was overseas and spun a story about a problem with the contract and that he wasn’t going to be able to get back to the UK as he couldn’t raise the funds for the flights home. He said that there was nearly £1.5 million tied up in an account but if she allowed him to put this money in her account temporarily all would be sorted his end!! She rang me to ask what I thought and I told her not to be so gullible. That it was all a scam.

She still wouldn’t believe me and said that it must be true as she had spoken to a barrister overseas and he confirmed that it was all legal and above board.

My daughter and a friend did copious amounts of ‘googling’ and found some information on online dating scams that sounded exactly what my friend was going through.

Eventually, she has come round and realised that she had become sucked in by this man. Luckily, we helped her realise before she lost any money. The reason for my post is just to make people aware that even the most savvy people can be hoodwinked by these evil people. I wondered whether others have experienced similar situations.