Scam?

Roger175

Sounds like good news, but just to add another anecdote:-

Some years ago, friends of my parents-in-law fell for a scam, whereby they were persuaded to invest in the latest wonder-fund on the promise of huge returns. They speculated a few thousand and lo and behold, they made a fortune, the 'broker' phoned them and told them they had doubled their money and should now invest more .... this went on for a year before they finally realised they'd lost the lot (tens of thousands by then).

This was a well educated couple, who kept trying to persuade my in-laws to grab the opportunity and then kept boasting about how much they'd made and telling my in-laws how stupid they were for not having grasped the opportunity. In the end, it actually ended the friendship since they were so embarrassed about it all.   

The key point is that if the OP's relative did make the payment, he might well be persuaded that he had made £40k profit and be tricked into repeating the mistake.

mebu60

[Deleted User] said:

Thanks everyone for all your comments.

Good news at last!  I had emailed my relative various links from this thread, along with the clip by @Rollinghome which is almost exactly the same scam with which he has been targeted.
I tried to phone this morning but he was out, obviously on the way to ask his bank to transfer the money to Indonisia (believe it or not)!  
My relative was beginning to 'see the light', and the bank suggested he see their scam adviser, who told him it was 99% certain to be a scam, and refused to agree to doing the transfer.  Which everyone had been saying all along.
He told them about the contract which he had signed, but they said - as everyone else has been saying, that it is meaningless, advised him to block the number which he is going to do.
However, someone is phoning him tonight about the transfer which he says he will tell them is not going to happen.  Then block the number, along with any others who try to contact him
Thanks everyone for your input and links, I think we've won at last!

Well done the bank!

Would be interested to know which banking institution. 

400ixl

Scary that it got so far even with you being aware and warning that it is a scam. Good to hear the bank have managed to persuade him it is a scam and well done to you for your efforts.

Shows how convinced some people can be and how these scammers can really play on peoples ethics and beliefs.

MeteredOut

I'm still a little concerned the OP's relative will be talked around during the call this evening. I'd be doing everything possible to convince them to block the number before then.

Sg28

Its a very bad idea to engage in any further communication. They will impress on him the urgent need to bypass the bank and they will likely have a script of very compelling reasoning for doing for. Western Union won't be as helpful as his bank were. 

aroominyork

Sg28 said:

Its a very bad idea to engage in any further communication. They will impress on him the urgent need to bypass the bank and they will likely have a script of very compelling reasoning for doing for. Western Union won't be as helpful as his bank were. 

Totally agree. They might say that based on the contract he signed they have already bought the shares in his name so he has to pay for them etc. I agree they will have a script ready to go - a script which they know convinces people like your relative to change their mind and send the cash.

Swipe

Tell the relative to just hang up the phone without saying anything when they call later.

sausage_time

I'd also advise them to be extremely alert to other attempts.  Those crooks have the victim's name and number (plus any other information that was disclosed as part of this awful scam - might we worth asking that to heighten awareness of what they know).  The crooks also know they have someone who can be manipulated, so there is a high chance they will try and come in via a different scam/route.  Question everything, trust nobody.

Ivkoto

Tell your relative to watch "The Beekeeper" with Jason Statham
https://g.co/kgs/VbGRnYU

Exodi

[Deleted User] said:

It seems like the more we try to convince him, the more he wants to prove us wrong!

A bit of a digression but one of my guilty pleasures is watching this show about romance scams. I shudder to think how many hundreds of hours of experiences I've watched.

The reason I mention this is because it struck a chord with what you said. While you'd be forgiven for assuming that people would be reaching out to a show that investigates romance scams because they think they are involved in a romance scam, and thus would appreciate the research team confirming their suspicions that their loved one may not be who they say they are, you would be wrong!

The vast majority of people contact the show solely motivated to prove everyone/their relatives wrong. It is clear in the introductions and initial private conversations that they have given no thought whatsoever to the possibility that they could be wrong.

I don't know the physiologic reason for it, but it's clear to me from watching people react, that it is nearly impossible to convince someone that they are being scammed if they are not open to the possibility.

In relation to this thread, I suspect that the only reason he was drawing attention to the contract, was because it seemed the easiest way to shut you up. He doesn't care what you think about it, he believes in his heart that he knows better. He has already romanticized about what he'll be spending the money on.

Nonetheless reading your final post, I wouldn't count the chickens before they hatch, if we're honest with ourselves the only reason he didn't send the money was because the bank refused to let him, but I doubt this will be the end of it.

The fact he wants to speak to the scammers again instead of blocking them straight away is a giant red flag. This behvaiour happens in romance scams ("I'm going to tell him I know he's scamming me and make him apologise") and you can be 100% sure they will both never give him closure and also do all they can to reassure him that the bank was wrong and it's because of some other reason, and has he heard of western union or bitcoin?

Media has conditioned me to expect happy endings from things, but I genuinely fear that this will not stop until he has lost his money. I'm already expecting that after he sends the £4k, they'll tell him they have £40k for him a few months later (which he may even brag to you about), which they'll release if he pays the 'taxes' on it or the 'transaction fees'. It will never end.