S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[ladyknight1]

My cousin D is a world-class moocher. He married a young woman, and they had two children. Things started to go badly at work, D became involved in drugs, then started selling them. Then he was caught, convicted, and sentenced to prison. During the trial, it came out that he had multiple mistresses, and his wife filed for divorce. She still took their children to visit him when he was incarcerated and made sure they sent cards and letters to him. What does D do when he gets out? He moves out of state, finds wife #2 and begins a new family, cutting off all contact with his children. He never paid the child support he was required to pay and he has warrants out for him because of it. He works off the books, so he doesn't have to pay. This has gone on for 12 years, and his oldest child is getting married this year.

My mom makes excuses for D, that it is because he was raised so strictly by my aunt, and tries to get me to change my view of the situation, but lack of personal responsibility has led to the downfall of many relatives.

[Minmom3]

My Ex late DH was a beggar, moocher, and scammer all rolled into one and he was dingdangity proud of it.  His biggest scheme was getting out of paying child support, because I worked so I should be able to support her just fine (his mother's exact words).  They took the money out of his paycheck so I knew he would call every other Friday with a sob story.  And if I didn't hand it over (one time I gave him $100 for new brakes because I knew they were bad) he would not show up when promised to see our DD and he would tell her it was my fault because I couldn't help him out .  So, him and his new gf (in a long line each skankier than the last) Heroin Hannah, decided to just leave for Florida one night (while DD was on a visitation with him...he left her at his parents with no word that he was leaving) and he got a job there.  When they nailed him there for support (don't know how but they did and this was when I found out where he was) he quit and went to another job, where he used his bother's SS#.  His brother didn't need it..he was incarcerated (again) for assaulting his gf (again).  I found this out from someone about 6 months after, but by this time they were back and both hooked on heroin.  So because he was getting letters from the courts about the back support he called me with a proposition...if I went to court and told them he was not her father  , they would stop the support and he would give me money every month.  When I politely  explained that was not how it worked he attempted to assault me.  When I moved shortly after, I got a forwarded letter from a magistrate about 1 hour away addressed to him at my old address, one he NEVER lived at (we had been split 8 years at this point).  It seems he missed a court date for retail theft (yeah, like I didn't know the bag of clothes with security tags still attached you gave DD for her birthday wasn't stolen..threw them out with her blessing).  I called magistrate and informed them of the fact he didn't live at my address and had proof, they not only charged him with FTA, but giving false information  .  He got angry that I wouldn't go along with this scheme (and I did not inform him I had moved).  He also asked me for a copy of our marriage license because he needed that for ID purposes.  I did not give him that although he threatened me in front of my co workers.  Him and heroin Hannah also opened a credit card in my name...took awhile but got that fixed.  Is it any wonder that I made the comment when he passed in February that I was relieved?

No, it's not.  I'm sure it was a huge weight off your shoulders!  I've posted on these boards before about the 1st husband of an ex-neighbor of mine.  Lousy husband, lousy father, got out of rehab a day or so before his birthday, OD'd on his birthday while out with his buddies, who took his body and dumped it on his girlfriends front door step.  After all the dust settled, his daughters started getting more in survivor benefits than he had EVER paid in child support, and regularly!  My neighbor looked at me one day and told me that his death was the best thing that ever happened to them.  Sad as it was, I had sat through too many stories from her of idiocy and stupidity and neglect from her ex to argue with her about that.

[*inviteseller]

Altho my DD has been hurt by his actions and he tried, up to the time of his death to drive a wedge between us, a lot of his actions were hidden by me from her when she was younger.  His actions tho to get out of the child support were so laughable (at the time of his death he was in arrears at almost $65,000 and she is only eligible for 4 months of survivor benefits because she will be 18 next month) that it was almost like a comedy sketch with some of the hare brained schemes he came up with.  He would get so mad when I would burst his bubble but it gave me extreme satisfaction   At one point, after a stint in jail (2 years) he called me and wanted to apologize (I was on drugs, lost my mind blahblahblah).  He was crying at one point about all the people he had hurt and although my guard was firmly up, I did wonder if he had turned a corner and then he said "I miss you and still want you so if I can maybe get my mom to drive me down, will you sleep with me?"   I just bust out laughing at the absurdity that a 48 yr old man(at the time) was trying to make a booty call with the line of if my mom can drive me!  I know it sounds crazy, but I passed that opportunity up 

[heartmug]

But he sounds like such a charmer? 

Actually he sounds a lot like my BIL who DH and his brother tried for years to get their sister to leave.  Nope.  She whines and complains about their lack of money but she has made that bed.

[Miss Misery]

My older sister. She doesn't have the common sense of a potato, blames everything on everyone else or her various illnesses (both real and imagined, medical and mental) and expects everyone else to clean up her messes. She's one of those people who will not grow up and get a clue.

The second-to-last straw was when she was going to take Mom's jeep out of state to visit her boyfriend. Without Mom's permission. She got an epic smackdown for that.

Did she learn her lesson? Nnnnnooo.....she was going to take the jeep again. This time Dad had the police call her and tell her that if she didn't bring the jeep home NOW she was going to be arrested.

She brought the jeep home and thrown out of the house. That was in February. She called last month wanting to come back home. Dad hung up on her.

I left her a message on Facebook calling her out on her ridiculous juvenile behaviour. She unfriended me and hasn't spoken to me since. Boo-Freakin'-Hoo. We're all better off without her and her drama.

[Elfmama]

Last week, my parents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.  Over a year ago, Mom said that she wanted a big bash with all of her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids.  (Dad is in frail health, so there is little possibility that they will make it to their 75th.)
 
 She didn't quite get her wish.  DH and I corralled all OUR kids and grandkids and 1 son-in-law, and all 9 of us spent last week visiting; not all with Mom and Dad all the time, of course, because at 92 and 88, just watching the little ones run around was too tiring for them.  And little kids get bored visiting with old people they don't really know. So there was sight-seeing and other stuff done as well.   One of Sister's granddaughters couldn't be there either, as she had finals all that week.  Sister's son, their oldest grandchild, died in January, so there was another one missing. But everyone else was there for the party at Shady Pines on Wednesday and the dinner afterward.
 
 And then we get down to Brother and his family. Just the 3 of them, Brother, SIL, and their grown son.   Mom and Dad specifically asked them to come.  Mom sent him a check for gas money, since he's always broke. He cashed it. 
 
 I don't know what he used it for, since it WASN'T for gas to come and see our parents on a once-in-a-lifetime event.  (He only lives 200 miles away.) He didn't use it for a phone call to say "Happy anniversary!" HE DIDN'T EVEN USE IT FOR A STINKIN' CARD!  Nope, not even $1.50 of it for a dollar-store card and a postage stamp.   
 
 And this after a lifetime of Mom and Dad bailing out his worthless hide every time he and SIL spend his entire paycheck on shoes or electronic gear or whatever useless gadget they see on sale somewhere, and "don't have money for the rent or power or food."   
 
 You will notice that he is NOT "DB."  As far as Sister and I are concerned, we no longer have a brother.  Once our DP's are gone, he's on his own, because WE will not take over their bills as well as our own. And when the will is read, he has an unpleasant surprise waiting.  Mom has kept records of what "loans" she has advanced to him, loans he never repaid.  That money will be treated as an advance on his inheritance.  I suspect that once that's tallied...
 
 ...he'll have just enough money to buy a postage stamp or two.

[MommyPenguin]

That sounds like fun, Elfmama.  Keep us updated when he finds out all this?  I'm guessing epic meltdown.

[ladyknight1]

This is too funny and on topic not to share. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and not so innocent.

6:28am
Scammer - John
Hello
How are you doing? I think you are pretty. I like your photo. I am here looking for that special woman with a lovely heart to spend the rest of my days with, Just thought i should say Hello to you, i will love to read your response,.....I'd like to get to know you, A bit about me: Well I'm a decent guy that is pretty complex but direct at the same time, and could do with a good laugh
Have a great day
Scammer - John

10:26am
Target - Roy
Scammer - John,
Well, I'm glad you think I'm pretty, and you like my photo, but. Since I am a 50 something year old man, you might want to just keep looking. A trip to the optometrist might also be in order!

10:56am
Scammer - John
Thanks for the reply back to me .I would love to know more about you as i have interest in you. Distance to me is not a barrier as i can relocate nor travel any distance for my woman..Are you single, Got kids, what do you do for a living? Last time in a relationship? What are you seeking in your man, Are you kind and caring, what do you do for fun, can you love and take good care of your man? Do you like Public Intimacy? Do you want a Man who can Love U Unconditionally, do you love to laugh a lot with your man, do you like to share what you have with your man, do you like ice cream?
Take care and hope to hear from you soon, You can write me back or chat my private email address
Yahoo: email at email dot com
Have a great day

11:26am
Target - Roy
Um..... Yeah. Gotta Go!
I'll write back when I don't have more time!

What is the angle?

[*inviteseller]

 
ladyknight..that is the biggest phishing trip I have ever seen.  I have met some clueless men who don't take seem to understand you don't appreciate their advances, but at least I AM a woman!!!  It is an auto email probably sent to thousands of addresses because, as we have seen on daytime talk shows there is someone who will take the bait!

[ladyknight1]

It was on facebook, sent as a private message. I know a few people that would fall for it!

[Hillia]

A friend of mine who worked in spam years ago told me that one percent of the people who receive a spam email will open it, and one percent of those will respond.  So if you send out 1,000,000 emails, 10,000 will be opened, and 100 will fall for it.  Say you get each of them for $100...that's $10,000 for sending an email.

Not a scammer, but weirdly like one:  DH and I just closed on our house (yay!).  We're in the process of moving, but I'm working from home also.  Yesterday the doorbell rang; I went down and there was a couple standing there.  We all looked at each other for a minute, and I finally said, 'Can I help you?'.  The man said, 'BJ is supposed to be here'.  Who's BJ?  Their realtor.  I said, 'That's  odd...we just closed on this house last week, it's no longer for sale'. 

A few more minutes  of confusion and a call to BJ, who was waiting at a different house on the same road, and we got sorted out.  They had seen our house driving around, and had said to the realtor 'the first house on Main street, tan with brown trim'.  That's our house if you enter Main street from the north.  If you enter Main street from the south, the first house is also tan with brown trim.  Since our house doesn't have a visible street number (yet), the realtor made an Assumption.

I'm sure it wasn't a scam, because a bit later I drove down Main street past the other tan house, and there they were, with a woman in a car with a realtor's sign on the side, and the tan house had a For Sale sign.  Very confusing for a few minutes, though!

[KB]

What is the angle?

The angle is to find accounts that are active so that they can be sold to mailing lists, more spammers, etc. You've just told 'John' exactly what he wanted to know.

[nutraxfornerves]

What is the angle?

At this point, the scammer is probably some teenage boy, sitting in an internet cafe in West Africa. His English is probably limited;he's working from a script. He's just hitting every Facebook page that will let him in--male, female, dog, cat...

If he can get a woman to switch to email, he will hand it off to his employer. The employer will start wooing the woman. Once she seems to believe that he is really interested in her, he will start the money deal. The most likely scenario is the "I want to come see you" one. It's amazing what he needs to get a visa to your country. Fees for the embassy. A paid-for plane ticket. Proof that he has X dollars in his bank account. And more. All of this needs to be paid by Western Union to a travel agency. None of it is real. In between pleas for money, he will push hard on the "we are soulmates" thing. If you really love me, you will send the money and by the way, you are the most wonderful woman in the world and I can't live without you.

It's a well-known and all too successful scam, sometimes called the "Sweetheart scam". It's more commonly done the other way--a "woman" falls in love with a man's profile. Still the same teenager at an internet cafe.

[ladyknight1]

What is the angle?

The angle is to find accounts that are active so that they can be sold to mailing lists, more spammers, etc. You've just told 'John' exactly what he wanted to know.

Not me, a local celebrity, who was targeted via his public page.

[Slartibartfast]

I've gotten probably a dozen emails a day from the same spammer, so I finally read one out of curiosity.  I'm kind of impressed - if I were actually in the target audience for this (i.e. a horny young guy with bad grammar), I might have been fooled long enough to actually believe it partway.  There's eight paragraphs, most of which are backstory for how this girl is supposedly moving near me, we used to be facebook friends but I deleted her, and I'm the only person she'll know here (although she conveniently never mentions where "here" is supposed to be).  The scammer actually asks if I'll help her move her stuff in and asks if I know anyone who could help her find a job!  Of course, then she casually mentions her current "working from home" job, which is webcam porn, and since her email is unreliable, the best way to chat with her is to use a "special VIP code" to get on her webcam chat.  Uh-huh.

Anyway, here's the non-porny part [WARNING: not-entirely-polite language in places]:

BABE... i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been
tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of
garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been?

In case u dont know who this is its ME Adrianna.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then
I think u deleted me haha.. anyways guess what... I got 2 things to
tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up
about 3 months ago... and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR
U.. lol... ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. well 3
cousins too but i cant chill with them lol..


I remember when we chatted u told me u thought i was cute and u wanted to chill so now we finally
can HAHA! im kinda scared to move.. im hoping this email addy is still
the one you use and u can chat with me ebfore i get there.. maybe even
help me move my poopadities in...are u still on facebook? i cudnt find ui was
soo confused...anyways im gonna need someone to show me the town and
take me out so u better be around bebe...


we only chatted a couple times but i remember thinking to myself i wanted to get ot know u
better when i was single..a nd i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt
tell u cause i wasnt single lol...ok so more info about me.. well im
23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for
drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named
BOO and i luv her to death... uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but
every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all
that.. love sex etc blah blah blah...who doesnt..

I really hope we get a chance to chat for a bit either online or on the fone before i get
there enxt week.. i hope u remmeber me and still wanna chill and arent
married yet lol.. OH YA also.. i need to find a job when i get there..

do u have any hookups or know anybody hiring? id LOVE to work in a bar
or osmehting like that...really anythgin cause my current job is fun
and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i
currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out
meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i
did? hmm shud i......? ok WELLLL... and dont get all weirded out
on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat
with people and get naked HHAHA... BOMB right ? I KNOW.. like i
figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play
with myself heheh...anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO
THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol... i actually need help
once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out....like i
said before this computer is a complete piece of CRAP and freezes NON
STOP.. ive tried ot send this email to u maybe 3 times already and im
hopign this time i can hit SEND before i run into trouble lol..

[cut the last three paragraphs, which were sharing a "VIP code" and pleading with me not to tell anyone]

Luckily I saw right through the scam because a) I'm not a guy, b) I don't use Facebook with strangers, c) I don't know anyone whose spelling and typing skills are that atrocious, and d) DUH IT'S A SCAM!  I would have thought it was a real email repurposed to get past spam filters, except it doesn't suddenly end with random links to viagra websites at the bottom . . .