I worked for 12 years in a fraud control department.
This guy’s a fraudster. Your mom is being scammed.
Yeah it really sounds like it will turn into “hey I need some money to travel to your place”, “the government seized the money you sent me, could you send me more?”, etc.
This story is so full of red flags of internet scam. Let me emphasize: Well-known red flags.
🚩🚩🚩 He is a scammer.
🚩🚩🚩 He is a scammer.
🚩🚩🚩 He is a scammer.
My suggestion is: Make her suspicious. Make her google for all these well-known schemes. She needs to read about it herself, because she won’t listen to you. Or maybe hear these stories on YouTube from the people who have fallen before.
A man she has never met, online interaction only, being put in the bedroom of her teenage son?
All I can really say to that is ‘bro…’
I hate to say it but yes, your mom sounds like she’s gotten a bit too attached to this guy. Sounds like a common online scammer. Has she given him any money? Let me guess, he’s probably told her he just needs a little bit of money for a plane ticket and they can be together
No no no, nothing like that. He is not asking for anything himself. My mother has sent him a couple of times a few dozen dollars supposedly of her own free will, which he didn’t ask for, and he is said to be very grateful for them. He even sends her proof of purchases of what he buys with that money comparing prices and choosing the cheapest products (because the country he lives in is poor).
Yeah, he’s going to ask for more. He’ll need money for a plane ticket, and a train ticket to the airport, and his mom will find and take the money so he’ll need more, and then he’ll need to bribe someone along the way, and someone will rob him, and and and and and …
Until you said he sent her proof of purchase, etc, i was on the side of ‘maybe not a scammer,’ but once you said that, the alarm bells started ringing again.
Dont trust this person. His story is likely fabricated and tailored to pull at your mums heart strings. He is manipulating her. What you need is picture evidence of who this person is. Or better a video call. That will prove he is at least who he has described himself as.
He is making your mom send it in her own will of course barring that he actually is a nice guy.
It definitely sounds like a ‘pig butchering’ scam. They find someone lonely, give them a sob story, proclaim a special bond, talk to them for months, then start asking for money or pumping an investment scheme. Most likely, he would never come to your country, but rather will start saying “i need <thousands of dollars> to travel there…”
How is it worth it for someone to put in months of time for this small amount of money?
Sometimes they get tens of thousands, like if they convince the person to invest in a fraudulent investment scheme. Also, it’s not fulltime work with one person… maybe an hour or a few a day per victim, and they do several at once. Reply to one person, reply to another one while waiting to hear back, reply to another… and sometimes the people doing the ‘work’ are merely employees working for a wage or percentage! If they’re in a country with a different scale of currency like China, Brazil or Moldova, 10,000 USD would go a lot farther than in the US.
Anyway, it’s not theoretical. Check out this Wired article for instance, or one on ProPublica. They’re basically the same as the “I’m a lonely doctor in the military in Africa” romance scams that have been going around social media for years, somewhat descendants of the famous Nigerian Prince scams.
I just realized these scammers probably have CRM software.
Just thinking back to my last sales job. I was selling stuff at about $20k per sale, and my process was typically four or so 2-hour meetings with them.
My system was all paper, but that’s just because my company sucked at providing the resources we needed. Each prospect had a paper file, and I’d track each conversation. Then on the computer I had emails and files from each person separated out, and tasks to remind me to follow up.
I just realized that, in terms of personal organization, being a scammer is identical to a sales job.
The USD goes a long way in a lot of countries and these can by no means by small amounts of money. The youtuber Kitboga does a lot of videos exposing these scammers. They usually have a few different marks going at a time and, once the relationship is built up, can receive hundreds of dollars a week, steady, indefinitely
Thousands in a country where the wage is like 50 bucks per month is a lot.
Thousands isn’t a small amount, especially if the exaggerating rate is good.
If it is a scam, they likely have many different people on the hook at any one time, possibly dozens if their systems are sophisticated enough. They could be bringing in quite a hefty sum in total.
In addition to the other resources people have linked if you are interested in learning more about this type of scam take a listen to
Darknet Diaries episode 141: The Pig Butcher, it is very interesting.
I’m going to say something different from most, this guy might be genuine, he might just be some kid thats a bit lost. He might be a scammer but we haven’t heard proof of that yet.
HOWEVER, you can not move a stranger, however lovely, in with your teenage son. That’s just not a thing. If he wants to come live with you, AND he can get there by himself, then why can’t he live on the sofa? You also mention your siblings being supportive, why can’t he share with them? Are they younger than you?
Could he even move there legally? Would there be immigration issues if he tried?
See if you can read the messages yourself between the two of them, try to work out who’s suggesting these things. Is he talking about lack of money a lot? Is he constantly having ‘situations’ that your mom needs to fix?
I had a similar situation except I was the dude (but 30 at the time) and I banged the crap outta my version of your mom for a week straight when I went to visit her.
These must be very comforting words for this fella!
My experiences in life echo this poster. When your new step-bro comes to stay with you, or even just visit, it’s safe to assune that any time you leave your mother with him, he’s going to be slapping his meat on your mother’s curves. And yours, too, should you ever get stuck in the laundry machine
He’s grooming your mom and now your mom is ‘grooming’/readying her entire family, so he can run away from his situation in his home country and start again. The question is this: why is he running away? He has a roof over his head, he’s an adult, his aunt is forcing him to study so he can get a decent job?
Sorry this is ridiculous, he just thinks he wants an easier life and sees your mom as a way to get it. If he gets into your home, he won’t be getting a job, he’ll be playing games all day and eating food and doing nothing. Because that’s what he wants, to be taken care of.
I’m all for giving people opportunities, but this guy has no plan, beyond living with your mom. Also, again, he’s not a ‘kid.’ He’s an adult, let him figure things out for himself, or else he’ll always look for the easiest solutions and be a major problem for your family. Yes, he’s scamming your mom. Show her alle these responses and tell her to grow up and protect her kids lika an adult should do.
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I’m curious, she states that she has argued with him in the past and that it would’ve revealed the kind of person he is.
What have they argued about in the past? I would almost say that having argued with someone multiple times that you don’t even live with is a red flag for happening at all, instead of a green flag that he’s not a bad person. I’m curious if the context of their argument would make more or less sense.
This is a good point! I’ll ask her
Are you seriously saying that people dont argue over the internet? Is this your first day?
I don’t mean random opinionated internet comment arguments. If I think about online acquaintances that I actually message privately, like Discord, then I don’t argue with any of those people ever. The people I actually privately want to know and have added as friends, anybody who id even come close to calling, for instance, “brother”, I don’t argue with any of those people.
Random dude on a message board who has awful takes, of course, but I don’t add that guy and send him money or consider letting him move into my house.
I mean sure, if you talk about common interests with people youre less likely to argue, but if you build actual relationships and communicate a lot, arguments are bound to happen. Not arguing with people you are actually close with seems unnatural, whether on the internet or in person.
I think it depends. I’m very logical and my brain likes to identify issues and cleanly solve them. Arguing in circles is a waste of time and energy. Basically, it’s complicated. I think the nature and frequency of the arguments are important to get a better idea of OP’s situation, that’s why I asked.
Arguing in circles is a waste of time and energy.
So you’re saying I waste your time?? I thought you liked me!
I would be generally concerned. There are scam operations that are almost exactly like what you described. Scams nowadays aren’t quick - some of them take months to set up, and the scammer talks to the victim (often a middle-aged lady) for weeks to months before they start asking for money. It’s unfortunate the world is like this, but sometimes you have to be callous to other people to protect yourself. I don’t know what I would do in that situation.
Also if you have highly agreeable people in your life and you’re less agreeable, you need to step in and help protect them from being manipulated.
This can NOT happen, the risk is too big and people could get hurt. Your Mom has allowed this to escalate too far, too fast and can’t see the danger she is inviting.
Your Mom isn’t ‘mad’ but she is definitely being reckless and while trying to help someone else that she thinks needs her, she is forgetting about her family that need her. She doesn’t know everything she needs to know to be sure this is a safe idea and she doesn’t have the resources or ability to find out. Just getting to know someone over the internet is NOT enough and it IS possible to be deceived even when you think you know the person well. That’s how online scammers work, they have to be convincing or people would not give them anything.
Even if they are telling the truth, the amount of help they’re going to need and the long term commitment could be a disaster for you all. This person will be completely dependent on your family while in your country and they may have all kinds of complicated needs having come from a difficult home in a very different country, and with potential immigration questions. Offering to help someone with those kinds of needs is not a good thing to do if you are not truly in a position to offer that much help. Already your Mom can’t even offer them a place to stay without making promises on someone else’s behalf (yours), can she really offer what will likely be years and years of emotional, legal and financial support to a stranger without compromising her responsibilities to her family? When you speak to your mother about this, you need to remind her that YOU are her first responsibility and you are the one being put at risk most of all. You mentioned siblings, I’d be worried about them too. Are they minors? This is just such a bad idea.
You should speak to your father and find out if he is really okay with this like your Mom says? It sounds possible that like you, he didn’t think it would do any harm for your mother to comfort this person online and now it’s getting out of control and he doesn’t want to upset her or doesn’t know what she’s promised them. If he really doesn’t have any objections, then maybe there’s other family members you can talk to? Most people outside this situation will think your Mom is making a bad decision and maybe you have an Aunt or Uncle that can talk to her. YOU are her first responsibility, because you are her child and family, this person online is not. It would be nice if it was possible for her to take care of the whole world, but it isn’t, and if she tries to do that she might find herself unable to care for you and your family either because she gets scammed and loses your family’s money, or because the person invited in to your home turns out to be more dangerous than expected or just requires more care than any of you can offer. It’s not that they don’t deserve care or help, it’s that it’s not help your family can reasonably and safely provide.
I hoped I would have good advice on how your mother could still help this person without the risk of being scammed or without going way too far like inviting them to live in your home but unfortunately I don’t know any way that can be done. Though tragic, there is sadly a line where your personal responsibility for others ends. When caring for strangers involves risks to your own children that line has been crossed. Help offered to people in bad home situations, or in dangerous countries or in this case both, is complicated and difficult and full of risks even for professional organisations that try their best to do this, to take on this responsibility personally is very reckless and dangerous for your Mom, for you, for the rest of her family and even for her internet friend. Once he stays with you guys, what then? Can he work in your country? Can he legally immigrate there? What’s his family going to do if they find out about you guys? How long can you support him? If he stays for some time and it doesn’t work for any reason, where could they go? They’d be be alone in a foreign country with no where to stay? This isn’t a real plan, it’s a big, kind, but thoughtless gesture that needs to be reconsidered.
I second finding other adults and asking them for help. As well as your father. Do you have family friends or family memebers who would be willing to hear you out and back you up? It may be possible to convince your mother this is a bad idea, but I suspect she will be more receptive to opinions from her peers as opposed to her children.
I honestly do feel for this guy (assuming they’re being completely truthful), but I think getting them to move countries and share a room with your kid is too much of an ask for your kid
Assuming they’re telling the truth
This sounds like it could be a possible scam, but I don’t know enough to be sure
I’d say be vigilant for him asking for money to get out of his country and try to stop it. As a precaution, try to google him - his discord name or if he gave you his real name. If he is scammer (which is not unlikely) he’s probably done this to others already. It is possible you find something on him specifically if he is a scammer (which sounds like he is). Try to find as much as possible. You can also try to use some of his messages to use in the google search if you can.
I was in a similar situation and I’ve found some messages the scammer sent which were identical to those received by my close one (they would use templates they sent out to multiple people). This was the only proof that managed to plant seeds of doubt and I then managed to make other cracks from there. Your mom sounds to be pretty deep so dig as deep as you possibly can for as much info you can is my personal advice.
Good news is there probably isn’t any kid that plans to move to your room - bad news is there is risk of your mom losing her money and possibly get in debt as well. Sadly if this is true, your job is to prevent it. If you have other relatives you and she trust and will see this as an issue, ask them for help - since you already treated the scammer negatively in her eyes, she is less likely to trust you alone.
Good luck. It’s not easy but can be done.
I wouldn’t feel safe sleeping in a room with a random internet stranger my mom met over the internet. In fact, I wouldn’t really feel safe sleeping in the same room as people I’ve met while playing internet games and I’ve met some cool people. People can easily fake an internet persona over long periods of time. I don’t feel like this is empathy problem on your part. Trust takes time to build and it’s not something that can really be done over the internet if your entire history with the person is based purely on online interactions.
