Yikes!!! There are some truly gullible women in this world

[CatWoman]

I've never watched Dr. Phil before, but his teaser got the best of my curiosity.

There are scores of women right here in America who fall in love with scam artists out of Nigeria who take them for every thing they have.

Most of the time the women have never even met the man. They correspond via instant message, chat rooms and telephone.

[SoCalDem]

1. There are desperately lonely women everywhere..

and unfortunately naivete goes hand in hand with loneliness sometimes.

My late mother in law got sucked into the evangelical sipderweb, and that silly woman who had NO money, gave way more than she could afford to:

That wonderful family man..Jimmy Swaggart
and that sweet couple...Jim & Tammy Fay
and Schuller
and falwell
and Robertson..
etc.

you name 'em, she donated to them

her checkbook register read like a
Who's Who" for religious slimeballs

[CatWoman]

2. holy moly!!!!!

I remember when Jim and Tammy Faye went down, and Falwell muscled them out.

came out that their dog had an air conditioned doghouse!!! :wow:

probably courtesy of your MIL.

[Art_from_Ark]

21. And who can forget Swaggert's tearful confession about his times

in New Orleans: "O, Lord, I have sinned..."

[niallmac]

4. They espose such holy values and then line their pockets

with the limited savings of our elderly.
Is there a more exquisite example of hypocrisy?
So much slime, so little time.

[Starlight]

5. My cousin quit his job and uprooted his family to join Billy Graham back in the 70s. 6 months later

he quit, disillusioned, after seeing how "un-christian" the whole scam really was. And people generally consider Graham to be one of the good ones. :eyes:

[CatWoman]

10. wow

I thought billy graham was a good guy, too :scared:

[Starlight]

22. The goal is to collect money, not help people.

[mattfromnossa]

24. There are desperately lonely men everywhere too...

Glad these scams are being exposed.

[TheWraith]

3. The world wouldn't be in the state it is, if so many people weren't gullible. NT.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Sort of off the subject, there's a very funny site about those Nigerian emails:

http://www.scamorama.com/

[Maddy McCall]

7. Internet romance is something I've never understood.

It's one thing to "meet" someone on the internet, and to move into a "real life" relationship before making big decisions about one's future.

But some people "meet" on the internet and plan futures together, when all they know about each other is what is presented through IM, email, or phone conversations.

I think it's insane.

[supernova]

8. I agree w/ you Maddy

It's fine to meet on line but you have to spend time together in person for any real relationship to develop.

Though it is possible to develop very intense feelings for all kinds of self-revelation that can occur online. Esp true if you are of the cripplingly shy variety. Although I'm that way myself, it's easy for me to type whatever I want to say. But I've learned over the years to make them take it off line to see if there's anything "there."

edit: I feel so sorry for these people. *sigh*

[CatWoman]

9. heh

no wonder.

one look at that frog is enough to send Casanova running and screaming :)

[SoCalDem]

13. Actually it's a fairly recent (and western) idea for people to know each other

before they marry.

A hundred years ago men and women corresponded by mail..sometimes for years before they met.

Sometimes a "meeting of the minds" is more powerful than the physical attraction.

How many people never get beyond the :

he's too short
she's too fat
he's got goofy glasses
she dresses too frumpy
he's not athletic
she's got small boobs

etc

and how many times have people gotten together because there's a "spark" and they have NOTHING in common

[Berserker]

23. I have met

some very wonderful women on the internet. Some I have met in person after talking for awhile and I am a better person for having them as friends.
People you meet on the internet you get to know from the inside out and not the other way around.
So to me it's not insane. There are assholes in this world no matter how you meet them.

[Chomp]

11. lol....Whenever I see a "scam" story

on the TV or net, I never interpret it as a "scam" story, but rather as a stupidity/gullibility story.

[mondo joe]

12. Some of them even fell for THIS guy's lies.

[hsher]

14. What does it say about our American men, when...

American women have to resort to IM-ing imaginary princes and diplomats an entire world away, just to get their "romance and cuddle" jones on?

What a lonely place is this America!

Edited to add:

But then again, isn't this the female version of lonely American men IM-ing and marrying foreign escort brides?

What is it we're not giving to each other, that both sides clearly want or need?

[acmejack]

15. It is a lonely place.

We haven't the community we once had, it is a victim of being in our cars and our high speed way of living. No one has time for the old fashioned modes of entertainment, such as dances and functions where you got to talk to people.

Jobs are more solitary, the opportunities to meet people are so much more limited. Unless you want to hang out in bars and meet drunks what are you to do? Go to church? Which many do incidentally...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. It sure is.

But then, I have not a lot of faith in how we modern Americans perform the courtship ritual. Too often, we turn away from the person in front of us, he or she who really cares, because of some vague and diffuse sense that someone else, anyone else, is gonna be "the one".

We make these huge constructs out of illusions and then attempt to live in them. Then, we piss and moan when they fall down around us.

It's all rather sad, and not a little bit silly.

[Demeter]

18. The Men Who Go For Foreign Brides Are Looking For Mindless Fools

to manipulate and exploit. The women looking at foreign men are hoping to avoid the mindless fools around them at home.

The human race is basically doomed. It is split in two incompatible sexes. And then, there's the GLBT folks, adding to the confusion.

[951-Riverside]

16. I want a piece of that action!

and forget the money I'll take the sex. :D

*oink* *oink* *oink*

[MercutioATC]

19. Don't be alarmed...I'm a freelance gynecologist.

Any takers?

[SoCalDem]

20. I know you.. You have a partner, don't you?

The guy who has a "health mobile" and goes door to door, offering free breast exams:rofl: