Religion

[Tecumsehsbones]

Online dating relationship ends badly, $1.3M later

Jennifer Quinn - News reporter, Robert Cribb - Foreign, Investigations, Staff Reporters, Toronto Star
2 days ago

Ellen was retired, living a comfortable life in a nice home in British Columbia. In the driveway was a luxury car, and her house was paid for.
And then she joined an online dating site, hoping to find some companionship.
Instead of romance, Ellen says she lost her life savings, and more — over $1.3 million — seemingly taken by an online scam where villains prey on people looking for their perfect partner.
Ellen’s is a story that is hard to believe, and even more difficult to comprehend. How could a mature, self-sufficient woman send such a huge sum of money to someone she never even met?
She reported the loss to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and is now their biggest recorded victim of so-called romance fraud — a new take on the Nigerian email scam.
Romance frauds are the most lucrative scam in Canada. Over the past four years, Canadians have reported losses of almost $50 million to authorities. And the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre thinks only a small percentage of victims tell anyone what’s happened to them.

More at link: https://socialreader.com/?chid=7667...n=wpsrTrendingExternal-1-opt#me/content/lpasT

It struck me as I read this story that this is exactly what religion is. A promise of love, acceptance, and a special relationship with a highly desirable fictional person in return for money and obedience.

 

[Blackleaf]

I'm not surprised it ended badly. I don't know what any man would seen in a woman whose head and shoulders are just a blur.

 

[DaSleeper]

I'm not surprised it ended badly. I don't know what any man would seen in a woman whose head and shoulders are just a blur.

The shortest post by BL.......finally learning....

And now to get back to the OP.......Taking an article on South African fraudsters and twisting it into an anti religious rant makes it the long jump post of the week................

 

[55Mercury]

I think one dead giveaway of these scamsters is that even though they have to initiate contact through the dating website, they always want you to only reply to their e-mail, not the site's message service, and it is always a yahoo email address.

And these people have no imagination as their solicitations after a while take on the air of a form letter.

But I'll bet the majority of posters here know of someone who has met someone successfully from an internet dating site or other web contact.

I wonder how many people actually hook up from making acquaintance through a discussion forum such as this, though.

 

[SLM]

I think one dead giveaway of these scamsters is that even though they have to initiate contact through the dating website, they always want you to only reply to their e-mail, not the site's message service, and it is always a yahoo email address.

And these people have no imagination as their solicitations after a while take on the air of a form letter.

But I'll bet the majority of posters here know of someone who has met someone successfully from an internet dating site or other web contact.

I wonder how many people actually hook up from making acquaintance through a discussion forum such as this, though.

These con artists have always existed, the internet just opened up their potential victim pool. I'd say it also has made it less important that they be good actors, since in person contact is often not necessary. I cannot for the life of me understand why people are that trusting but maybe I'm just too cynical.

But as far as meeting someone from online, I've known lots of people who have. It's just about using common sense and good judgement...even online personality usually shows through.

 

[Christianna]

I know of a woman who was nailed twice by such frauds, her excuse for falling for it twice was LOVE. One guy (a Nigerian) "loved" her and wanted to come to Canada to marry her, but he didn't have the funds to get here. Fortunately neither did she and as soon as she didn't have the money to "bring him here", he was never heard from again. The next one was even dumber , and highly illegal, so before she could actually do the request the cops swooped in and made sure she couldn't. They also took her computer and told her to not replace it. She of course again had no clue and has another computer and is probably still falling for any scam that comes her way.

 

[darkbeaver]

Online dating relationship ends badly, $1.3M later
It struck me as I read this story that this is exactly what religion is. A promise of love, acceptance, and a special relationship with a highly desirable fictional person in return for money and obedience.

Religion is natural philosophy. The case at hand is one exemplifying the wages of the prime sin of ignorance. She is not innocent and nothing but education would have saved her. Nature is dependably and eternally unforgiving. Everything eats everyone else's babies. Amen

 

[damngrumpy]

There are all kinds of reasons people fall for scams and get taken in by religion.
First scam artists make people feel special. Or they try to get people to react
on an issue of importance.
Goodness and wanting to do the right thing is always a target for scammers.
As for religion. Some have a real belief. Some believe if they belong God will
do great things for them. Others are overcome by emotion and fall for crooked
preachers.
Funny cause Christ said use your head and subscribe to wisdom. If many did that
religion would have a much better reputation.

 

[Sal]

She's lucky he only took her money. She went off and met people twice. Had the guy been a psychopath she'd be dead. Apparently that happens more than we know...people go missing.

I know of several people who married people they met on line. I also know of a person who belonged to an on-line dating service that cost 10 grand a year. It ensured that the people he mingled with had a lot of money. The on-line service also did heavy screening but still one could end up in big trouble. It is beyond me that people would give money but another site I was on for years had an individual who was open about it and just asked outright. People wired him money. Not a lot but still, they did it because most could afford it I guess and he was always playing the victim.

Another forum I was on for years and years (American) had a guy that was a soldier and always posted from various countries. When he got sent into a dangerous war zone we all got together and sent him a huge package from us.

I have met people from on line forums and some are from here. Never had a problem. Over the years it is easy to see a posting pattern.

 

[darkbeaver]

Man sees Jesus in block of wood

Man sees Jesus in block of wood | wtsp.com

 

[DaSleeper]

There are all kinds of reasons people fall for scams and get taken in by religion.
First scam artists make people feel special. Or they try to get people to react
on an issue of importance.
Goodness and wanting to do the right thing is always a target for scammers.
As for religion. Some have a real belief. Some believe if they belong God will
do great things for them. Others are overcome by emotion and fall for crooked
preachers.
Funny cause Christ said use your head and subscribe to wisdom. If many did that
religion would have a much better reputation.

There you go....getting sucked in to a religious discussion when the article has nothing to do with religion.
That ....in a way....exemplifies how people fall for sh*t that is not what it seems to be.