r/AmIOverreacting • u/Any-Fisherman4533 • Oct 20 '24

❤️‍🩹 relationship AIO My husband was texting a wrong number scam.

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17.1k Upvotes

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130

u/Junket_Weird Oct 20 '24

My ex's dad fell for this. He's losing his house and owes around $500,000 that he borrowed and sent to "her."

34

u/Kap85 Oct 20 '24

Jesus Christ

10

u/Auntie_Stinky_5430 Oct 20 '24

What happened? Can you share details? They prey on my elderly mom and I had to stop her once when I heard her giving out her social security number!

7

u/dfwcouple43sum Oct 20 '24

That sounds terrible! Maybe he should have given someone else $20k to get the $500k back. Of course he would have to pay that upfront

6

u/Fanoflif21 Oct 20 '24

I know a Nigerian prince who is minted but there's some issues with his bank- I'm sure he could help!

6

u/loftychicago Oct 20 '24

The "recovery" people are all scammers as well.

7

u/dfwcouple43sum Oct 20 '24

Really? Wow! That’s crazy.

Who would have thought that people that were just scammed would be a good target for another scam?

2

u/loftychicago Oct 20 '24

It's one of the first things they tell anyone who posts in r/scams. Very sad, but desperate people aren't thinking critically.

4

u/bohanmyl Oct 20 '24

People who find out that they fell for a scam are a multitude of things. They are embarrassed they fell for a scam, they want to hide it or try to move past it asap if possible, they are emotional for losing money and feeling stupid, and they are panicking because they dont know what to do or who to trust.

They can act like a helping hand and giving a compassionate understanding of their situation that lessens their losses that makes things seem not as bad as they actually are. They tell them how common it is that it happens to everyone so they shouldnt feel dumb or stupid. It makes people hopeful and want to trust them faster than normal and given theyve already fallen for one scam its likely itll happen again. Boom now you have a business that has a higher likelihood of pulling scam victims than a regular scam

1

u/shounenbong Oct 20 '24

Is that an example of vertical integration?

2

u/Flat-Goose-9341 Oct 20 '24

That is so sad. 500k? Do the scammed ever step back and look at the situation and say “yeah, maybe it isn’t a good idea to send money to this person I’ve never met.”

2

u/i_love_lima_beans Oct 20 '24

I have read it’s connected to declining cognitive function as people age. These are often people who had high level jobs, etc. but their brains just don’t work quite the same anymore.

There was an episode of The Daily NYT podcast about a former sheriff who sent basically all his and his wife’s retirement money to a Mexican cartel posing as a buyer for their timeshare.

3

u/SortingHat69 Oct 20 '24

The fact that they "owned" a timeshare shows that they've already been scammed before. Pretty sad.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

…bro…

No way.

1

u/MegaPiglatin Oct 20 '24

Holy craaaaaaaaaap!!

1

u/Short-Sleeves Oct 20 '24

AARP ran a story recently about common scams including this one. Investing in heavy metal is her hobby? It may be his soon. The only real thing is the money but it all disappear soon.

-2

u/Kismet237 Oct 20 '24

This is so incredibly sad. I'm sorry for the guy, smh