Money or Love :  The Use of Relationships And Emotion As Tools of Deceit

The power dynamic shifts wildly when dealing with online relationships.   As women and at times men catfish unsuspecting people and use those people’s emotions to manipulate money for them. 

It’s the oldest con in the book using their feelings to manipulate them into a position to extort money from them both by using their loudness and desire for companionship.   At times, they also mock threats such as legal issues that could occur if they refuse to cooperate.

The ingenious part of this is that the person doing the manipulation can remain anonymous and use a false persona as the person conducting the sting on the unsuspecting mark.

Many times, the person performing the con will be catfishing completely.  As a man pretending to be a woman and a woman pretending to be a man.

The Internet has become the mean streets for the lawless.  As such, they have little compulsion to act ethically and will prey on the weak and unsuspecting.

With extreme threats of violence and legal woes unless the mark agrees to acquiesce and pay the con artist to not allow such heinous things occur in effect charging protection money for the marks cooperation.

Once so targeted and successful.   They keep coming back using fear , intimidation, or the love of the mark for leverage to continue taking money from the mark indefinitely.

What makes this an insidious scam is that the unsuspecting mark believes what they are experiencing is real. It’s all just a play setup solely to extort money from them on a regular basis.

Generally, it’s allowing the mark to believe they are in a relationship with a model, ex porn actor, or other desirable individuals.   Their by bypassing normal logic and inhibitions to get what they want, which is money.

Occasionally, they use other such figures as military members, doctors , financial investors, and other persona.  Though the goal remains the same to separate the mark from their money.

Conclusion:  The internet has become the next wild west for criminals, con artists, scammers, and others who prey on those who are weak, naive, lonely, or unsuspecting.   As such, it becomes perfect targets for such criminal elements.

The answer is having the critical thinking skills and common sense to question everything.  And never be afraid to call them on such cons.  Walk away regardless of your feelings. Because generally, your intuition is correct.