Eh?

claire16c

unoriginal_uk wrote: »

This screams of the fact that the 27 year old may not actually exist.... but is actually 'the mother' and will end up being at least 20 years older....

...she can hardly use the excuse of not being able to drive, especially in the USA where everyone drives - they teach you in school for crying out loud.

Nethertheless I still think him going out there to see her (with the back up of having booked a hotel for himself provisionally for the first night near the airport, and suggesting they meet in the airport for lunch first to get to know each other a little in person before going anywhere in case things go sour) is a better option than him paying ridiculous amounts of money to have a free all expenses paid holiday to the UK.

Exactly. Even very poor people have cars. I've been on buses there & they're full of crazy/homeless people.

Just finished watching catfish. At the end of the show the presenters tell you tips to catch a catfish & no 1 was don't believe anyone who won't use a webcam! The guy notes how even his nan can use one!

lufcgirl

I'm watching it online! It's so interesting though.

This 'model' is really a 14 year old girl. It just goes to show OP, you can be anyone you want to be online. It's like Facebook, all that is is the life you want people to see you having.

claire16c

unoriginal_uk wrote: »

What channel are you watching that on? So need to catch this show now....I have never seen it before!

MTV. The guy who is the presenter was duped by someone, he made a film about it which i think channel 4 showed a few weeks back but i missed it. Now he helps other people. I'm sure last nights episode is repeated a couple of times this week.

unoriginal_uk

Waaa it doesn't seem to be on until 11pm tonight......must set it to record!!

Pechow

I've flown out to meet people from online before, I've had people from online come to meet me before, and known lots of people who have done the same. I'm actually in a relationship and living with someone I originally met online, four years and still going strong! From what's been written here, I'd be very wary of meeting this woman. It doesn't sound like a scam to get money or anything like that, but there are a lot of alarm bells ringing.

First and foremost being her refusing to show herself on webcam. To me, this sounds like she's not being quite truthful about what she looks like-maybe she's overweight, maybe she's older, maybe the photos sent weren't of her at all. Once she's in the UK there's no backing out, so if this is the issue, then perhaps she thinks he'll have to accept her in person when he can reject her over webcam. She could well be genuine, but in your son's position, I'd be buying her a webcam before getting her a ticket and cutting contact if she still refused to show herself.

Secondly, her drama filled life story-kids she doesn't want, drug addicted mother, etc. Maybe she's very open, maybe not. It isn't uncommon for people to make up stories like this for sympathy or attention online, so I'd be doing things like looking to see if she has a Facebook profile, then seeing if she acts the same way and says the same things on there. This has nothing to do with any stigma against mental illness or anything like that, it's just something I'd be keeping in mind and double checking, as it's so common to lie online.

Thirdly, her kids. I would not be talking to someone who was openly saying she doesn't want her kids. Not going to go further into that, but I think most of us can agree we wouldn't want to know someone who treated their kids that way. Even if she kept her thoughts private she'll still act negatively towards them, consciously or not, and thinking about that is really sad. I wouldn't want to be getting into conversations about how "I wish I never had my kids" and "How do I get rid of them", especially not with someone I'd want a relationship with.

How/where online did they meet? Or was that written and I missed it somewhere?

Watto30

To the Op, just had a thought, has your son actually spoken to this girl over the phone?? I appreciate phone calls overseas might not be cheap but might be worth your son asking for her number if not already done this and see what her response is and if its not favourable then that tells you all you need to know, if she is a genuine person who is supposedly applying for a passport and prepared to travel to the UK then surely she would want to speak to him over the phone, typed words are all good and well but hearing someone's voice is a different matter

Online relationships can and do work out, I met my OH online nearly 7 years ago and still going strong, so it can have a happy ending but just dont want to see your son get ripped off or hurt if this is a scam

Johnny_Barnes10

unoriginal_uk wrote: »

Waaa it doesn't seem to be on until 11pm tonight......must set it to record!!

Snap, just set to series link

OP, your son shouldn't be entertaining the idea of not seeing this woman over webcam/facetime etc before flying her over. Looks ain't everything, but if she's rotton he'll be stuck with her for the week - or maybe even longer! :eek:

tea_lover

Watto30 wrote: »

To the Op, just had a thought, has your son actually spoken to this girl over the phone?? I appreciate phone calls overseas might not be cheap but might be worth your son asking for her number if not already done this and see what her response is and if its not favourable then that tells you all you need to know

Exactly - and ideally he needs to get a landline number for her, then he can at least check it's for the area she says she's from (although I appreciate not everyone has a landline these days, I don't).

SailorSam

Watto30 wrote: »

To the Op, just had a thought, has your son actually spoken to this girl over the phone?? I appreciate phone calls overseas might not be cheap

Overseas phone calls can be cheap, in fact i think they can be free. But this brings us back to Skype. If the lady didn't want to talk on camera there is always the option to just speak.
There's a world of difference when someone has to give you an instant answer if you ask something, than if they have time to give a written reply.

Blackpool_Saver

a lot more research is required before doing this, a hell of a lot