Outlaw-16
Veteran Member
While this is not something new, I was recently made aware of it as it happened to a good friend of mine.
Here's what happened. This friend, a little naive, (more than a little) was on X and came across some guy who ran a cat rescue. He was soliciting for help as he didn't speak English that well. He, allegedly, walked, drove, whatever, all over his city and rescued homeless cats and provided them with food, shelter, and vet care.
Sounds reasonable for the most part.
Then, as reported to me, the conversation moved from X to Whats App or similar chat program. It was to take some of the information off X and go into more detail as to what he was hoping to get. So, allegedly, the conversation moved to budget issues with operating the shelter, getting accredited, attempting to set some kind of GoFundMe, that kind of thing. The conversation was breaking down the cost for food and vet care, on a monthly basis with calculations adjusted for new cats arriving weekly, monthly.
Then, somehow, the conversation moved towards romantic. Yeah, red flag for sure, but it moved to that point. Whereupon it came out that the guy was allegedly going to divorce his wife as he was in love with this friend of mine. She had already sent him money. When I heard that, Holy shitballs, Batman.
So she had already sent him a couple hundred that she admitted to me. It later came out that she sent him thousands over the course of the time she was talking/working (11 months) with him on his 'shelter project'.
But it gets better. The guy was in Gaza.
Hard stop right there.
Allegedly, his religion prevented him from accepting charity via a GoFundMe type of fundraiser.
As it turns out, she had sent him money for his kids for some birthday event, or whatever, and was planning on sending him a lot more as he swore he was going to divorce his wife but needed 10k USD to process the divorce and then he would meet her in Egypt.
By this time, I was wtf?
But, it gets better or worse depending on your perspective. Apparently, he professed his love for her and swore that he was going to leave his wife if only he had the money and incentive to do so. What was the incentive? Why, he wanted graphic pics of the woman he was now in love with.
Sadly, this naive female friend of mine who is on a very limited income, sent all that money and more than a few pics and vids to this asshat who then, when he found out she couldn't provide him with more funds for his 'cat rescue shelter', dumped her.
So, now this female friend is feeling more than a little violated over the entire event. Has lost thousands of dollars and has recently found out that he's back on X with a fundraiser hosted by someone else who is also female who may or may not be in the same situation as 'I'll divorce my life, leave my family behind and live with you in Egypt' if only I had the 10k to process the divorce.
Total scam as he manipulates naive and potentially lonely women who think he has a good cause.
There are also romance scams ongoing as well. This might have been one of those but I'm not sure. It appears to be more of a milk vulnerable women out of their money and personal dignity. It was heart-breaking to hear about this as the woman he did this to is a close friend and actually thought this man was going to come in and sweep her off her feet and they'd live in some palace in the middle east while giving her a happy ever after life.
Here's what happened. This friend, a little naive, (more than a little) was on X and came across some guy who ran a cat rescue. He was soliciting for help as he didn't speak English that well. He, allegedly, walked, drove, whatever, all over his city and rescued homeless cats and provided them with food, shelter, and vet care.
Sounds reasonable for the most part.
Then, as reported to me, the conversation moved from X to Whats App or similar chat program. It was to take some of the information off X and go into more detail as to what he was hoping to get. So, allegedly, the conversation moved to budget issues with operating the shelter, getting accredited, attempting to set some kind of GoFundMe, that kind of thing. The conversation was breaking down the cost for food and vet care, on a monthly basis with calculations adjusted for new cats arriving weekly, monthly.
Then, somehow, the conversation moved towards romantic. Yeah, red flag for sure, but it moved to that point. Whereupon it came out that the guy was allegedly going to divorce his wife as he was in love with this friend of mine. She had already sent him money. When I heard that, Holy shitballs, Batman.
So she had already sent him a couple hundred that she admitted to me. It later came out that she sent him thousands over the course of the time she was talking/working (11 months) with him on his 'shelter project'.
But it gets better. The guy was in Gaza.
Hard stop right there.
Allegedly, his religion prevented him from accepting charity via a GoFundMe type of fundraiser.
As it turns out, she had sent him money for his kids for some birthday event, or whatever, and was planning on sending him a lot more as he swore he was going to divorce his wife but needed 10k USD to process the divorce and then he would meet her in Egypt.
By this time, I was wtf?
But, it gets better or worse depending on your perspective. Apparently, he professed his love for her and swore that he was going to leave his wife if only he had the money and incentive to do so. What was the incentive? Why, he wanted graphic pics of the woman he was now in love with.
Sadly, this naive female friend of mine who is on a very limited income, sent all that money and more than a few pics and vids to this asshat who then, when he found out she couldn't provide him with more funds for his 'cat rescue shelter', dumped her.
So, now this female friend is feeling more than a little violated over the entire event. Has lost thousands of dollars and has recently found out that he's back on X with a fundraiser hosted by someone else who is also female who may or may not be in the same situation as 'I'll divorce my life, leave my family behind and live with you in Egypt' if only I had the 10k to process the divorce.
Total scam as he manipulates naive and potentially lonely women who think he has a good cause.
There are also romance scams ongoing as well. This might have been one of those but I'm not sure. It appears to be more of a milk vulnerable women out of their money and personal dignity. It was heart-breaking to hear about this as the woman he did this to is a close friend and actually thought this man was going to come in and sweep her off her feet and they'd live in some palace in the middle east while giving her a happy ever after life.