Is this a scam?

Pollycat

REDSHOES said:

DCFC79 said:

OP

So let me get this right, you posted asking for advice and at some point before the next post your friend had bought the tickets to Dubai and paid out other costs ?

Yes. That's right!!

But why?

Didn't you tell him you'd asked for advice on here?

Did he tell you he was going to buy the tickets or did he just tell you after he'd bought them?

And...

Pollycat said:

You said in your first post that you didn't trust the email. Why did you then 'fall for it'?

Why did you agree to go?

REDSHOES

Pollycat said:

REDSHOES said:

DCFC79 said:

OP

So let me get this right, you posted asking for advice and at some point before the next post your friend had bought the tickets to Dubai and paid out other costs ?

Yes. That's right!!

But why?

Didn't you tell him you'd asked for advice on here?

Did he tell you he was going to buy the tickets or did he just tell you after he'd bought them?

And...

Pollycat said:

You said in your first post that you didn't trust the email. Why did you then 'fall for it'?

Why did you agree to go?

It's a long story and I won't go into that in detail!
I didn't realise he was asking me to go to Dubai with him until I re-read the message the next day.
I thought It was something this 'legal team' had sent him and that's why I posted it .....and I kept telling him It was a scam!
I asked him If I could post It on this site and he agreed. He'd also sent me a link to the company, and another link advertising this company had won against the company that originally scammed him. That's what he thought I was posting!

prowla

Why would he pay someone at the other end for the tickets, when you can buy them for yourself?

Tokmon

prowla said:

Why would he pay someone at the other end for the tickets, when you can buy them for yourself?

This is one of many things that makes this so ridiculous... I'm really having a hard time believing this is real.

REDSHOES

Tokmon said:

prowla said:

Why would he pay someone at the other end for the tickets, when you can buy them for yourself?

This is one of many things that makes this so ridiculous... I'm really having a hard time believing this is real.

The story is - he was scammed by a company some years ago which has always bugged him, so he engaged the company Payback Money about 5 months ago. He read an article that they had succeeded to win the money back from these scammers - and he was subsequently taken in by this!
Initially he didn't tell me he was dealing with 'Payback Money'  but they told him that he and several others were entitled to 5 times back the original investment + damages. They also told him that for their services they would need 10% up front... which he paid at the onset of all this.
He was due to fly to Dubai some weeks ago to pick up the money from a Dubai court, but It got cancelled due to Covid restrictions. Then apparently the rules changed to allow people abroad on business reasons and to include to 'fulfil legal obligations' on the forms.  He was also informed that he would need to take a companion with him in case he got a positive Covid test whilst in Dubai - then the companion would be his legal representative to go to court and collect the money!!!!
After paying the 10%  he then took out insurance with Payback Money who told him that would pay for all flights, hotels, taxi's etc.
In fact he paid for my supposed 'flight' - over 2k business class, and he also paid for 10 days isolation after we arrived back in the uk in a government backed hotel. They said he could reclaim those costs after return to UK, but his flights had already been paid. Now I don't know if he'd paid for his own flights earlier and maybe they'd told him he could claim that back after too!!
I asked him how much he'd lost. He said about 15k!
I know this sounds suspicious. As if he could be scamming me, but he's never asked me for a penny and he's told me he never would. I know he has money (not millions by any means) but he's worked hard all his life and has accrued this. Also his parents passed away fairly recently and he's received inheritance from them.

So that's the story in a nutshell!!

[Deleted User]

He needs to employ a company to get his money back from the first two companies who took his money.

Tokmon

REDSHOES said:

Tokmon said:

prowla said:

Why would he pay someone at the other end for the tickets, when you can buy them for yourself?

This is one of many things that makes this so ridiculous... I'm really having a hard time believing this is real.

The story is - he was scammed by a company some years ago which has always bugged him, so he engaged the company Payback Money about 5 months ago. He read an article that they had succeeded to win the money back from these scammers - and he was subsequently taken in by this!
Initially he didn't tell me he was dealing with 'Payback Money'  but they told him that he and several others were entitled to 5 times back the original investment + damages. They also told him that for their services they would need 10% up front... which he paid at the onset of all this.
He was due to fly to Dubai some weeks ago to pick up the money from a Dubai court, but It got cancelled due to Covid restrictions. Then apparently the rules changed to allow people abroad on business reasons and to include to 'fulfil legal obligations' on the forms.  He was also informed that he would need to take a companion with him in case he got a positive Covid test whilst in Dubai - then the companion would be his legal representative to go to court and collect the money!!!!
After paying the 10%  he then took out insurance with Payback Money who told him that would pay for all flights, hotels, taxi's etc.
In fact he paid for my supposed 'flight' - over 2k business class, and he also paid for 10 days isolation after we arrived back in the uk in a government backed hotel. They said he could reclaim those costs after return to UK, but his flights had already been paid. Now I don't know if he'd paid for his own flights earlier and maybe they'd told him he could claim that back after too!!
I asked him how much he'd lost. He said about 15k!
I know this sounds suspicious. As if he could be scamming me, but he's never asked me for a penny and he's told me he never would. I know he has money (not millions by any means) but he's worked hard all his life and has accrued this. Also his parents passed away fairly recently and he's received inheritance from them.

So that's the story in a nutshell!!

So all he had to do was tell the company that he wanted them to be his legal representative if someone else can do it and then he didn't need to go... but there are so many warning signs in this story it's a shame he didn't have anyone sensible to tell him how foolish it was and obviously a scam.

Just like the old saying goes "a fool and his money is soon parted"

mobileron

Think he needs re educating where money is concerned,is he aged or daft?

prowla

REDSHOES said:

they told him that he and several others were entitled to 5 times back the original investment + damages.

ALARM! BELLS!

REDSHOES said:

They also told him that for their services they would need 10% up front... which he paid at the onset of all this.

ALARM! BELLS!

REDSHOES said:

He was due to fly to Dubai some weeks ago to pick up the money from a Dubai court, but It got cancelled due to Covid restrictions. Then apparently the rules changed to allow people abroad on business reasons and to include to 'fulfil legal obligations' on the forms.  He was also informed that he would need to take a companion with him in case he got a positive Covid test whilst in Dubai - then the companion would be his legal representative to go to court and collect the money!!!!

Think about the logic - if he got COVID, then his companion would likely have it too...

REDSHOES said:

In fact he paid for my supposed 'flight' - over 2k business class, and he also paid for 10 days isolation after we arrived back in the uk in a government backed hotel. They said he could reclaim those costs after return to UK, but his flights had already been paid. Now I don't know if he'd paid for his own flights earlier and maybe they'd told him he could claim that back after too!!

Where would these costs be being reclaimed from? The original scammer? Would they have the money or would they have already spent it?

REDSHOES said:

I asked him how much he'd lost. He said about 15k!

Ouch!

REDSHOES said:

I know this sounds suspicious. As if he could be scamming me, but he's never asked me for a penny and he's told me he never would.

Hopefully not, but have the suspicion-o-meter on standby, just in case.

REDSHOES said:

I know he has money (not millions by any means) but he's worked hard all his life and has accrued this. Also his parents passed away fairly recently and he's received inheritance from them.

Well, at least that's good then.

JamoLew

Deleted_User said:

He needs to employ a company to get his money back from the first two companies who took his money.

I will do it for £5k upfront