I have met a girl online and wish to bring her to the USA. We have talked on the phone and via video chat. All documents are in order but they say she needs $3,000 (USD) in hand to travel.
Is this true?
-
83Adding 'scams' tag.– Gayot FowCommented Dec 24, 2016 at 22:45
-
19Please do not write in all CAPS, it is see as screaming and hard to read for most people.– Willeke ♦Commented Dec 24, 2016 at 22:50
-
6And this is yet another reason why I choose to remain perpetually single.– NZKshatriyaCommented Dec 25, 2016 at 16:45
-
18@NZKshatriya no problems with being married/engaged/haveing a girlfriend/boyfriend. A problem is with being stupid. Why would anyone believe a person whom you have met online and chatted for a few hours (most probably minutes)? What kind of special things do you (am an not talking about you, it is about a person who believes in this scam) possess so that a person would fall in love with you in a few minutes. Most probably none except of the potential to extract money. So no surprise that this special person will do this sooner or later.– Salvador DaliCommented Dec 26, 2016 at 1:29
-
4Yes yes, we humans are equally scammy and equally scam-able, no matter the gender lol.– NZKshatriyaCommented Dec 26, 2016 at 8:32
|
Show 5 more comments
3 Answers
I'm from Nigeria but live in the US now. This has scam written all over it. Do NOT send her a dime! All you need to travel is your ticket, passport, a visa, and maybe a few dollars.
-
11You also need a visa, but that can't be helped by having cash from an unexplained source at hand.– o.m.Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 10:09
-
8I used to have an entire folder devoted to nigerian scams..........had about 700 different emails, kept them mostly for laughs. Now my area for fun is dealing with the calls from india/pakistan saying "my name is *****, I am from Microsoft, I have been monitoring signals from your computer." I'm a Techie, Linux Pro certified......I end up getting them yelling/screaming/cussing at me.....its fun. Commented Dec 26, 2016 at 8:34
No, this is a well-known scam. It is absolutely characteristic of this type of criminal fraud that the fraudster invents a series of reasons to send them money - usually by wire-transfer or similar means.
See also
- Travel
- Personal Finance & Money
- FBI
UK Police
Dating or romance fraud is when you think you’ve met your perfect partner online, but they aren’t who they say they are. Once they’ve gained your trust, they ask for money for a variety of emotive reasons.
Once the fraudsters are confident that you have enough sympathy and desire for them, they will tell you about a problem they are experiencing and ask you to help out by sending money. For example:
- they’ve arranged to visit you but need money to pay travel costs, visa costs etc. Or they’ve paid for a plane ticket which is then stolen
- a family member or someone else they are responsible for is ill and they need money for medical treatment.
Once you send them money, the fraudsters will keep coming back with more reasons to send them money.
answered Dec 24, 2016 at 22:49
-
7Even if it wasn't a scam, it wouldn't work: sudden increases in funds on hand tend to make immigration officers suspicious.– MarkCommented Dec 26, 2016 at 4:46
-
4If it is not a scam, you should be sending an affidavit of support - in which you make a legal commitment to sponsor the visa applicant's travel.– emoryCommented Dec 26, 2016 at 16:07
Aside from the obvious answer by RedGrittyBrick (‘this story just screams “scam” with every fibre’) there is a second reason why this cannot be true.
Immigration officers and visa approvers don’t just require visitors to have access to a certain amount of funds $x. They want to know
- which funds you have
- how you acquired them
- what your ratio of income/spendings is
- whether the entire story checks out
From a visa processing centre’s point of view, somebody saying ‘I can afford this trip, I have $3000 in cash’ is just as good as saying ‘please perform a thorough background check on me and my accounts, it is very likely that I got this money non-legitimately.’
There are a number of questions and answers on this site that relate to the topic and funds parking is one of the most-stated key words in that regard. Many visa applicants that see themselves as genuine travellers attempt to enhance their chances of visa approval by just parking a large amount of money in their account without explanation. And the standard answer by the visa processors is ‘We cannot be sure that you have access to those funds during your trip’ or some variation thereof (including rejecting the visa).
Arriving at the actual immigration check at your first port of entry to the United States with $3000 cash in hand is really just a variant of funds parking and will raise about 6000 red flags with the immigration officer. Thus, they will likely go back home with those $3000 unless they can prove it’s legitimately their’s (very hard) or the immigration officer can find a reason to confiscate the money (and still send them back).
-
2I agree with everyone's assessment that this is a scam, but I do have to say I have had a contradicting experience, albeit 20 years ago. Whenever I would travel through Canada (e.g. from the lower 48 to Alaska, or mainland Alaska to Juneau) I had to show that I had enough funds to cover my expenses while in Canada. I remember finding it offensive that I had to have 100 CAD (or a credit card) to make the trip to Junau, which requires driving only 5 hours through Canada... Maybe it was the long hair... Commented Dec 27, 2016 at 12:20