Our mother was/is the victim of an online/texting scam. She has given most of her retirement money to this person and even taken out many loans. She continues to believe "he" is real and just needs a little more $ to come and return all the money she has already sent. So $300k later, she still has never met him. They "talk" by text mostly. Take all communications devices away from her? Take her cell phone away? It is hard to think about doing these things since she is so active and engaged in 95% of her life. Note that this is not a dementia issue (she has been tested) but instead (our assessment) she is delusional on this. Help!
This $$$ she's wasted is her future old age $$$ which is now gone. You're better off having her not speaking to you than taking her into your home later on down the road to care for her, that's for sure.
And at this point, she's probably so totally emotionally and mentally invested in this that there's no means of getting thru to her. Can you become her POA and speak directly with her bank? She needs new accounts and to close her existing accounts - and not to have access to them. Everything needs to go thru you. It's probably the only way it can be managed at this point...she's already lost enough and if things remain as is, she'll lose whatever is left. It's completely obvious. She may not have dementia, but she possess poor judgement - and that's still a danger. And you can tell her that sending those kinds of funds can be considered money laundering - and legally, she's placing herself in a bad situation.
If your Mom has a photo of this man, scan the photo or copy image if the photo is in his e-mail, and do a "reverse image". There are numerous websites that offer free "reverse imagine".
Chances are great the photo is a fake, that the photo actually belongs to a real person who has nothing to do with this scam. I know Dr. Phil had caught many using a fake photo. The person in the photo has been scammed, too.
No man worth his salt would ask a woman to pay for his needs. Ask her would she date someone in town who would ask her to pay for dinner and the movies every time he wanted to go out? Ask her to buy him clothing/jewelry?
Be sure not to spend a single penny of your money on her.
We have a neighbour who supposedly is of sound mind but has fallen for romance and investment scams. The bank froze his accounts to investigate and he fought with them to have his money released to the scammers. Doubled down that the lies were truths. Nobody could convince him otherwise. I think deep down he knows he’s being defrauded but his life is dull and it provides excitement.
For example, Keanu had like 40 followers and was following about 400 women, all my age and similar looks. I had one pic of myself I accidentally posted, sence I'm so technically Smart. Haha.
So anyways it was obvious not Keanu Reeves.
I doubt if that helps but all good to know anyways
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