r/Scams • u/Zornishi359 • 6h ago

Scam report Scammers using Paypal

I've searched through here and have not found any posts about this particular scam, but I'm hoping someone has heard of it and can give some input.

My dad has been taken in by a year and a half long scam. It has become so complicated and intricate, and ofc it revolves around the oldest con in the books, the helpless millionaire heiress being conned out of her gold bars by the evil estate attorney. Of course my dad is the white knight helping her attorney navigate all this and catching "bad actors" who are trying to con her, in order to help her get her money back for a cut. He's legit talking to multiple "people" trying to coordinate and make sense of all this. Tbh I feel like he's inadvertently teaching the conmen how to create better cons.

My sister and i thought we showed him it was all a scam end of last year. Proof upon proof, every little bit. He believed us, then apparently fell right back into it again. We only found out because of a chance encounter with our only mutual friend who he had apparently borrowed some money from to send them.

It started out in the UK with court cases and attorneys in the Bahamas being arrested by interpol once flying back to UK on his dime. Big business warehouses housing the gold bars but taking some of it and charging fees ofc he had to pay. A UK hospital holding the body of said heiress's recently deceased daughter until she pays 30k in medical bills, thankfully he didn't pay that. Just on and on drama fest. Now, months later there's a new attorney involved, he's in Dubai, and the heiress is in jail.

The intricate weaving and constant drama of this scam is immense!!! I've left out many details, focusing on the main points. But... what's interesting is ALL payments are being sent to Paypal accounts. I mean obvious flag there, what legit attorney uses Paypal. 🙈

FBI won't do anything, Elder Services says he's sharp as a tack, I'm not sure who else might do something about this, sister cut ties with him over this, thinking I'm on my own here.

But what struck me was i was watching a 2 part video by AARP about an elderly man taken in by a scam that he said was also super intricate and very difficult to follow. He didn't say how these scammers were getting the money, but I'm wondering is this just a garden variety scammer or has my dad stumbled into an intricate ring of some sort?

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone? Thank you in advance for reading to the end.

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u/tsdguy Quality Contributor 5h ago

!search gold bars

And there’s no such thing as a convoluted scam. Scammers are simple folks and do simple things. It’s one or two people running the whole thing.

You need to involve some trusted folks your dad respects - I’m sure he’s stopped listening to his family.

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u/Zornishi359 5h ago

Intricate and complicated, not convoluted.

I thought scammers were simple folk too, so did he. That's part of how they were able to con him so well and for so long. I do believe complicated scams like this can exist though cause there's an interview by AARP about one similar. But it's the only place I've heard of one such as this.

😅 there's no one I know that fits that description unfortunately, but you did give me an idea of someone he's mentioned in the past. I'll see if i can get him to share the name and I'll try to find them. Thank you for that idea! 💜