News Forum - Victims of romance scams ‘at their wits end’

[Thaiger]

Most victims of romance scams in Thailand are women in their 40s. Middle-aged women are main targets of criminal gangs who pray on those who have taken the highly-questionable step of seeking true love online. Online fraud, including romance scams, has become a serious problem for Thailand, judging by the number of complaints filed with …

The story Victims of romance scams ‘at their wits end’ as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Fanta]

Victim shaming at its best. 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

1 hour ago, Thaiger said:

Most victims of romance scams in Thailand are women in their 40s.

Most victims of Marriage in the western world are men in their 40s. 

[Grumpish]

No more sympathy for them than I have for all those western men that got scammed out of large amounts of money by Thai women. As they say - there is no fixing stupid.

[Chatogaster]

5 hours ago, Fanta said:

Victim shaming at its best. 

 

Succinctly said. 

I agree almost 100% (I compare it as how wearing a sexy outfit "invites" sexual abuse relates to how being naïve "invites" being duped).

However, there's one aspect (I won't define it explicitly but I'm sure it's obvious nevertheless) that bothers me enough to not reject the sentiment of the article.

First of all, anyone who thinks that the root cause of negative mental manipulation is the stupidity and/or susceptibility of the victims is both utterly right as well as utterly naïve at the same time. Everyone is susceptibility to some degree (if not, how could e.g. the advertisement industry currently worth about a trillion keep going strong?).

How easy a solution it would be if everyone could be taught to be skeptical (<-- sound nice, but the other side of the coin is that the base line must be one of mistrust) and to be smart & objective enough to arrive at sound decisions!

However, ignoring the potential of people, skepticism/mistrust/smartness/objectivity can only be taught/stimulated selectively because otherwise the majority becomes a bunch of smart-asses and society as we know it would not survive (it might evolve into something better/more interesting, but never mind that). Limiting the selection to a few concrete examples (like romance scams) and using shaming - as much as I dislike the tactic - makes sense. It's tangible, it's limited, it doesn't run the risk of creating smart-asses, and it avoids some damage to future potentials victims by raising awareness now.

 

[Skip]

'“Do not send money to people you meet online” is advice any 8-year-old can comprehend.'

It's not "victim shaming"... it is a life lesson on growing up... whether it is a man or a woman 

[HiuMak]

Love is blind

[Nace]

Man or woman you really got to be completely insane to send any money to anyone you meet online. It really is a concept a child can understand like the Chief said..

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, Skip said:

'“Do not send money to people you meet online” is advice any 8-year-old can comprehend.'

It's not "victim shaming"... it is a life lesson on growing up... whether it is a man or a woman 

I agree, but how many 50 year old men send money to a Thai woman they met once while drunk in a bar. Romance scams are as old as the hills. 
 

[Ramanathan.P]

I thought it is the foreign men that gets conned by Thai woman in dating sites. Just log into any dating site and try to chat with Thai girls. they will talk sweet will flattery words even without seeing your face. On the 2nd day they will start telling some stories to create your sympathy for them and exactly on the 3rd day they will start talking about money and eventually will ask you to help them. They will promise everything under the sun and will swear on their great great grand parents to back-up their story. That is where you have to tell them that "There is no such thing as free lunch in this world. Everything will be decided only after meeting personally and spending time together few days". Once that message is transferred, they will immediately back-up and try to disconnect the discussion and look for next target.....

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

News Forum - Victims of romance scams ‘at their wits end
 

next Headline …. Victims of TOURIST scams ‘at their wits end

[Saunk]

On 2/12/2023 at 4:24 AM, Ramanathan.P said:

I thought it is the foreign men that gets conned by Thai woman in dating sites. Just log into any dating site and try to chat with Thai girls. they will talk sweet will flattery words even without seeing your face. On the 2nd day they will start telling some stories to create your sympathy for them and exactly on the 3rd day they will start talking about money and eventually will ask you to help them. They will promise everything under the sun and will swear on their great great grand parents to back-up their story. That is where you have to tell them that "There is no such thing as free lunch in this world. Everything will be decided only after meeting personally and spending time together few days". Once that message is transferred, they will immediately back-up and try to disconnect the discussion and look for next target.....

Exactly, most of the time it's women scamming men but this article makes it seem like it's the other way around.