My recently widowed father (72) is planning a trip across the country to meet a woman who he claims called him by accident and with whom he has since built a romantic (remote) relationship. Here's what he's shared with me:
- He received a "wrong number" call from a woman that led to a number of other conversations online and on the phone that started to take on a romantic tone.
- He believes she is real because he has checked her out online, including validating that she is indeed the CEO of her company, is 40 years old, and is originally from Taiwan. Haven't seen this myself.
- She says she runs this company with her brother in Canada and her father back in Taiwan. The details of the company were not clear to me.
- They have exchanged photos but not video because her webcam is not working.
- He is planning a trip to Los Angeles (from the East Coast of US) in a few months to meet her in person. She said her driver will pick him up at the airport.
- No money has been asked for or sent, according to him.
This is obviously a scam, right? But, without there being an ask for money I can't figure out the angle and haven't been able to convince him to disengage.
It is either going to be an ask for money to help her overseas family or a "can't lose" investment in her company. I'm guessing she'll back out of the travel plans last minute so they never meet OR he's going go there and have his organs harvested.
Does anyone recognize this scam? What should we expect next? Has anyone else successfully talked their elderly loved ones out of one of these?
23 Jun 2026 20:23
She’s probably going to say her car/something broke down and she needs money ASAP to meet him.
Also, lol @ CEO of a company that doesn’t have any device with a working camera…
23 Jun 2026 20:27
Yes it's a scam. Likely there will be money requests forthcoming.
23 Jun 2026 20:28
Some variety of a so-called
Pig Butchering Scam. 23 Jun 2026 20:34
sounds like
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam it's in early phase so far
23 Jun 2026 20:35
One of my uncle is currently involved in scams like this one with multiple women at the same time. They all love him, they all want his money. Last time I checked, he lost most of his money and almost became homeless.
I hope you can do anything to your father because he will lose a lot.
23 Jun 2026 20:36
My dad is on his third one of these. The first one eventually said she could help him buy Bitcoin at which point he realized it was probably a scam and stopped talking to her. I can't remember what happened with the second, but the third invited him out to the west coast so he could drive her fancy super car. I'm guessing before it gets that far she'll bring up money and he'll realize it's a scam again.
I'm not too worried about my dad yet because he doesn't get too invested in the whole thing and isn't one to send money to people, but I plan on bringing it up if he ever brings up sending money to, or visiting one.
23 Jun 2026 20:41
This is a scam. 1000%. Do what you gotta do to stop it.
23 Jun 2026 20:42
What should we expect next?
Likely she will cancel the trip at the last second and claim to have a work or family emergency. Then she will need money.
Or shortly before the trip she will share an investment opportunity and offer him to join her in it. It will turn out to be fake.
Or both.
23 Jun 2026 20:46
Last time I saw that happen, it took all of 30 seconds to walk one office over and appropriate that laptop
23 Jun 2026 20:52
^^ This. here's a bit of the show Last Week Tonight going over how the scam works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg 23 Jun 2026 21:01
Scamming old people has grown into a massive and well organized industry that brings in billions in profits per year. It is a huge problem that has continued to get worse. As others have said, this is 100% a scam. They will inevitably use any number of techniques to extract money from him. It is very possible they already have and he just hasn't told you yet, it is not uncommon for the victims to be secretive about what the scammers are getting them to do.
23 Jun 2026 21:03
You should start asking for money. Just $50 see what happens.
23 Jun 2026 21:03
I've seen this scam
a lot on Tinder.
I'm not sure what the goal really is, but it is most definitely a scam. At some point, they will ask for his identity to be verified through a PAID SERVICE. The scam is either to get people using the service or is to get your credit card info through a phony service site; IDK beyond that, as the moment they had asked for that shit I block and report them and I've come to recognize the bullshit before it gets that far now.
It can be days, weeks, even MONTHS before they actually ask you to spend money. That's what makes these scams so fucked up; they often seem like genuine people for a long period of time before suddenly switching gears.
23 Jun 2026 21:04
Deepfakes combined with a romance scam. Pretend to be someone with a legitimate background that you father can verify himself, legitimised with synthetic images and voice (video isn't quite there in terms of reliable quality, so they stick to static images), some of which will even contain current dates/events and even his name written out, all to make it seem like a real person.
The scammer is playing the long con, building a relationship and slowly working towards a situation where your father wants to give them money, or even slips up and provides them with some sort of access to his accounts. It's not going to be sudden or obvious. They may not even ask directly, but craft a scenario where your father offers himself.
https://youtu.be/srr0rRgF2Fw
https://youtu.be/ACijyfS3ya4 23 Jun 2026 21:05
Lemmy
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