Well, I've been talking with this guy online. Not sure how he found me to begin with. But being a "partially" good guy I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course in the back in my head there was always the feeling that this might be an scam attempt. Not that this would have been a new territory for me. So you basically lean back and watch where the journey is going. At first there was not much to raise my suspicion. It's the usual chit chat when you try to get to know each other. There were a couple of instances that did raise my suspicion. If you try to scam someone you usually do that from a position on an equal. But putting yourself in a very vulnerable position was a new way to do things.
This chit chatting went on for days. Nothing particular odd about that. But during that time I realized a certain change. The chit chat became less of a conversation and more of a question and answer game. This was for me the first red flag. But of course it could have been that the person in question just isn't good in keeping a conversation going. A couple of days later I realized a few other odd things. I f I ask any gay man I know the question "when did you come out of the closet", I get a clear answer. Either the time or they say they are still in the closet. But having to ask the question twice and not getting an answer, was quite suspicious. I had to rephrase the question in order to get an answer. That was the second red flag. At this point I really was interested to see where that was going and how the scam was supposed to work.
It didn't take long for the next red flag to occur. Suddenly the gay persona changed completely. There was this sudden change for a proud and self-sufficient gay man to basically a good christian wife, who just wants to please his man. This is a really step change to be taken seriously. And actually very unattractive. When I asked the guy what he was working, I was being told he worked part-time in construction. I found that somewhat hard to believe. Especially with having a certain disability. This just didn't go together for me. And his working schedule didn't quite match either, at least not considering the time zone he was supposedly living in.
I still wasn't quite sure how the scam should be working. I had an idea, but thought this would be really a bold move. So having become a little too suspicious I did a little checking. The first thing that didn't match the story was the phone area code. The code provided was a code from upstate NY and by his own account he had never ever been there. So I asked him about how he met his last boyfriend. Well lets just say the story I was being told was just odd. I've dated many guys and I have dated guys with disabilities in the past. But the way this guy allegedly met his Ex...well it just doesn't happen that way.
With that many red flags I did what an accountant does best. I applied basic accounting techniques to the situation at hand. I didn't let myself get emotionally involved. I just asked the question what can be substantiated. So I did a little checking. Regardless who you are, as soon as you use social media, you're leaving an electronic footprint. And the footprint that could be substantiated was very slim. To put it another way it was barely existent. The FB feed was very short, and of all gay man I know on FB nobody uses his FB in that odd of a manner. So, I was pretty much convinced that he was a scam artist.
The next thing I was told was of a personal nature. And that story was so ludicrous it was beyond anything I had ever heard. And of course it was something you can very easily find proof of. And no there wasn't any mention of that incident.
So finally came that day with the scam attempt. It was after my cost analysis class and the guy pro probably thought it would be a good idea to start the scam attempt. He was getting bad news on the phone. And just said to Gina now someone had a bad accident or needs to have emergency surgery and he needs money. Apparently I've become such a powerful Gay that I can read minds. :)
Of course his mom had to have an emergency operation and she was the only member of his family left and he needed to come up with 2 Grand. I just asked him where his mom was supposed to have that surgery. And she was supposedly having it in a country where I know for a fact that they do have a public health service. And all operations, meds and hospital stays are being paid for by the government. I told him flat out that he was a liar. Since this story doesn't make sense to begin with. Then he tried to play the same game with the meds and again it was an easy task to tell him that this pure nonsense. After that, and I really was waiting for that, he tried to play the religious card. That was even more funny, since playing the religious card on an Atheist will never ever work. Then he got mad and told me he had nothing to say to me anymore. And I told him not to get mad at the guy who caught him in an scam attempt.
I really thought that would have been the end of it. The very next day told me that he sold all his jewelry, routed the money abroad and his mom did have emergency surgery in time. I just had to call him out on it and tell him that this is very unlikely in the time frame he had provided. After that I never heard a word again.
What lesson can be learned from that never ever try to scam an accountant. And this story will surely make a great anecdote when hanging with friends.
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