Am I being set up??

[klz002]

Am I being set up for a scam?  

"I am doing well Ken so far...Have a lil problem financially but i already setle it by pawning my jewels..LOL...life is hard right now....but havent lose hope afterall... I still have to get that jewels as long as i have the money to get it....My family needs it so bad this week coz my sister has been hospitalized....I've been so busy taking care my sister and my brother too.."

Darn!  I like this girl a lot!  But, alarms are going off in my head.

Am I being overly paranoid?

[Bueller]

No, you are not being overly paranoid. Chances are excellent that she is trying to play you, and you are right to be suspicious. I take it you have never met her in person?

[Humabdos]

Am I being set up for a scam?  

"I am doing well Ken so far...Have a lil problem financially but i already setle it by pawning my jewels..LOL...life is hard right now....but havent lose hope afterall... I still have to get that jewels as long as i have the money to get it....My family needs it so bad this week coz my sister has been hospitalized....I've been so busy taking care my sister and my brother too.."

Darn!  I like this girl a lot!  But, alarms are going off in my head.

Am I being overly paranoid?

RUN TIMMY RUN!  Gold digger gold digger!
Hum

[Ray]

You're being played like a fiddle...

[Montrealer]

If I were you I would respond with something like this.

I hope your financial situation gets better.

And then continue with a normal conversation.  If she replies and brings it up again, then most probably she's a shark and she thinks your the whale.  However, if she drops the subject and continues your chats then you may be safe.

Getting to know someone is an intense occurence and not every aspect there going to share is going to be rosey.

If you are going to proceed to continue chatting then proceed with extreme caution and never send any money, especially for a woman that you are only talking with by email and have never met personally.

[klz002]

Here's the situation: we are on IM, and when signing-off she says she can't check her email every day, because internet access is expensive.  (She was on a Cam at the time, in a public place, so I believe her.)  So, we agree to snail mail.

The problem here is that, to surprise her, I sent her a $10 check on my first letter to her.  Now I'm worried that if she is a scammer, she'll try to alter or "wash" my check to increase the amount.

Moral of the story ...... NEVER send a personal check to someone you don't know really, really well.

[Ray]

to surprise her, I sent her a $10 check on my first letter to her

Did that check clear yet? I doubt she will be able to cash a personal check over there.

Don't send money to someone you never met. If she doesn't have the money for Internet Cafe charges, find someone else to write to. And don't expect the ladies over there to be available on line every day. It can get expensive for them and very few have home computers with Internet access.

[Montrealer]

Personal checks are hell to cash in other countries, so don't be surprised if it never gets cashed.  If you want to send her a little something to cover internet charges, just send a $10 bill.  Worst case scenario is it gets lost and you lose $10.

As for her washing it, I don't think the average person is smart enough to do that.  I know I can't.

[Noah]

Pawning her jewels???   Oh man, that is a good one! I never knew any girls with real "jewels" all the years I lived in Asia.  

When I was living in Thailand before, I saw there were actually cheat sheets for Thai girls that were scamming western men.  It was photocopied, and passed out to girls in Phuket.  Sickness and hospitalization were the main ways to ask for money.  I guess next she'll tell you her family's buffalo is sick!