The presentation here was really interesting. It felt like reading a magazine story on something back in the day. Wasn't a huge fan of just how much I had to scroll sometimes, but still cool overall.

It's really dishearting to imagine how the victims feel after this. Being so vulnerable to someone you trust only to learn it was a ruse all along to scam you is probably one of the most awful feelings I can imagine, on top of the missing money.

My mother-in-law fell for a love scam last year. Luckily we caught it early and no money was lost, but I was surprised how difficult it was to convince her it was a scam despite the obvious signs and family and friends all telling her it was. The scammer claimed to be the actor Jack Wagner (popular on Hallmark channel and soap operas). Out of desperation we looked him up on cameo and paid him for a video message telling her it wasn't him texting her, and that finally snapped her out of it.

Intense. It's unfortunate so many are affected. Imagine "a senior uniformed figure like a general" messaging you and within a few days, asking for a $20k deposit. It feels like we've failed people as a whole to not light this kind of deception up like a torch. Perhaps it points to a deeper lack of connection within humanity as a whole.

What is enabling so many people to be like "oh, I got a random text from an unknown number, I guess I'll trust it and potentially marry this person and send my life savings to them"? That is a catastrophic failure and it must be commonplace enough to enable an entire industry to pursue it.

I read these and it's beyond my comprehension how people can get sucked in and fall for it. And yet I know I'm not special and I think back on periods in my life where I was depressed, under a great deal of stress very apprehensive, and I wonder "Could they have gotten me then?"

(My mother who is 88 years old has been so indoctrinated in scam avoidance that she refuses to set up an online password for her bank, and totters to the branch every two weeks to do her banking, where they plead with her to do it online. But she's not gonna get scammed. Also she finds the idea of a new romance at 88 "repulsive".)

These cases can get quite interesting. They interviewed an investigator on a local show, and he said they often intercept money going to a scammer, and contact the person to inform them they were being scammed. Up to that point, the sender has no idea.

It can take quite a bit of effort to convince them they've been scammed. The usual reaction is "You did what?! I was sending money to a loved one. How dare you!" They then have to give the sender a sense of the evidence they have, etc.

And some percentage never believe it and remain upset. And will then resend the money through other channels.

I wish websites like this had a "cut the bullshit" option so I could just read. I mean yes, it's pretty and lovely but I don't always want to feel like I'm on a "choose your own adventure" when reading something.

I mean it's beautifully presented, but why does it need to be so graphical?

(Thankfully in Firefox I can click the Reader view and it provides that)

Nice. I love if a scammer contacts me. I always send a goatse picture, this does the job