Is this the stupidest woman in New Zealand?
June 8th, 2009 at 9:28 am by David FarrarIs this the stupidest woman in New Zealand?
She agreed to tell her story to stop other lonely Kiwis falling victim and said her nightmare began when she created a profile on match.com on March 12.
Soon after she received a message from a man claiming to be an orphan widower with no family. He replied: “I want to develop a friendship that will hopefully turn into something meaningful and lasting.”
For two weeks he phoned her up to three times a day, chatted online and quickly told her he loved her.
The man said he was an American-born geologist who lived in New Zealand but was overseas on business.
“It was like a cloud of love, attention and affection that had engulfed me,” the woman said. “I left myself wide open, I was in love.”
So far so good. Nothing wrong with Internet dating or even falling in love.
On March 26, he told her he was bringing millions of dollars-worth of gemstones back to New Zealand but said the documents verifying them as genuine had been stolen.
He asked for $5000 to cover the cost of replacing the documents and the next day said he needed $7000 more.
At this stage warning bells should have not just been ringing, but very loudly. If someone you have never met wants $5,000 that should tell you what their motive is.
On March 30, he said he needed extra money to get home, and wanted to buy the woman a Gucci bag as a thank you. He sent a link for the bags so she could choose a colour.
Over the next two months he requested various amounts, the largest being $320,000 which he needed to get his passport back from Hong Kong Customs. He told her he had been pulled up on his way back to New Zealand and asked why he didn’t have paperwork for the gems.
I’m sorry but there is no excuse for anyone who does that. How can anyone think a passport retrieval costs $320,000 – let alone agree to send that amount of money to someone they never ever met. The scam wasn’t even a very clever one. I would expect most ten year olds to be more saavy with their money.
Her children are “devastated” and “angry” but police told her no crime had been committed “because I willingly gave the money”.
Sad, but true – it was not stolen – she gave it way. Mind you I would have thought there might be some fraud involved in his representations.
Senior Sergeant Dave Glossop said the woman is intelligent and it shows almost anyone can be sucked in. He said the amount was astounding and should be a big warning to others to be wary of cyber-predators.
I’m sorry but she is not intelligent. Or if she is, only in the most narrow academic definition. I mean she sent $680,000 to a man she hadnever met. Now sure I can understand someone being conned say $5,000 to fly their Internet lover over, but to just hand over $680,000 – mind staggering.
This isn’t actually a cyber-scam story. The cyber was incidential. It is just an old fashioned con.
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June 8th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Talk about throwing good money after bad. Any chance of inviting this woman to my poker game?
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Ouch.
Vote:Think your being a little mean here DPF.
Maybe she was just that lonely.
June 8th, 2009 at 9:50 am
BK Drinkwater
I think she is busy at the Labour party conference that night. She has been invited as she is the only person on the planet who makes Cullen look like a prudent financial manager.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 9:54 am
BK Drinkwater
Cancel that, Labour found out it was her own money she gave away and they have started a campaign against the “rich bitch”.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am
How come I never meet women with $620K spare cash to give away. Fuck, she didn’t even get laid.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Yes, well, soon this man is destined to be in a plane crash and wake up to find himself trapped on a mysterious island with 40 fucking annoying strangers and a smoke monster.
Who’ll be laughing then?
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Two questions spring to mind: does she have any money left? And can I have her email address?
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I’ve had several of these scamsters contact me on NZDating in the past – they’re very easy to spot and I can’t quite fathom how any intelligent person could be taken in by them. They simply don’t pass the smell test. What gives most of them away is that they will claim to be New Zealanders living overseas, but their grammar is simply not that of someone with English as a first language. Oh yeah, and that they ask you for money. I warded one off by saying that at that price I could go down to a knock shop and have change left over. Which holds true even in the unlikely event that one might be genuine.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I feel for her. Thousands of people here just got scammed by Dr. Worth, Christine Rankin and Melissa Lee!
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am
This is a story repeated only too often (even if only part of it is true). These lowlife scum who prey on vulnerable women (and men), make me ashamed to be a member of the human race.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I guess the difference for us guys is that when we get a message out of the blue it is very likely to be a scammer. Women do not generally make the first move on dating websites.
However, women do get dozens of messages every day from horny net geeks and it must sometimes be difficult to sort out the scammers from the rest. In fact, these messages would make a refreshing change from the one-line “u wanna fuck?” ones and photos of penises.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Painful to read fully so skipped past most of it cause I knew where the story was heading, yep not bright at all…
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 11:55 am
She would only rank as the second “stupidest woman” in New Zealand.
The undefeated and undisputed “stupidest woman” in our country is Mad Cath Delahunty.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
What big bruv said – in buckets full!
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Unlucky in love Big Bruv? It shows .
Vote:Ive all ways relied on quantity not quality. I let those who are ‘strikingly beautiful’ take all the flak while I snap up the quiet & honest ones
June 8th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Precisely. But the police love to append “cyber-” to every crime (ignoring the fact it’d have been committed by letter and telegram a century ago) because it allows them to sit on their asses eating donuts while surfing porn and dating sites and looking for “predators” (another wonderfully emotive term they’re fond of throwing around).
Fact is, I know of at least one bloke who has a habit of meeting women in person, falling for them, marrying them, and losing half his chattels within six months when they divorce him. No cybering involved there… there have been dating scams all the way back to Cyrano. Probably there were cavemen lying about the size of their mammoth.
But there are entire “cyber crime” squads nowadays and the only time they catch anyone is when they pretend to be what they’re not and entrap someone equally as stupid as this woman. They don’t prevent any actual crime for occuring, they just add to the total.
Colonel Masters: If anyone asks for a photo of your appendage, I suggest responding that you’d be happy to oblige, but you don’t have a wide angle lens
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
David you can’t just declare this woman to be New Zealand’s stupidest….such a prestigious title requires nominations, finalists and nationwide poll.
This case is tragic yes but there are much more worthy contenders.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
It could have been worst at least she gave it away if. Cullen had found out about her stash the thieving bastard would have taken the lot.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
To answer the question; no. Unfortunately there are many who are more stupid.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I nominate Liz Shaw!
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I think the story also said that her house (and possibly life) was debt free before this debacle started, but now heart decisions mean she has considerable debt.
For anyone thinking of propositioning her, know that she has enormous capacity to give.
Stupid = YES. Hopeful = SADLY.
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Fortunately, there’s a happy ending to the story as it looks as though she will be able to make back all the money and more, having received an e-mail with an almost unbelievable offer from a Nigerian businessman…
Vote:June 8th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
surely Jacqui Dean has to be a contender as well?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/38005
although…
It really is incredibly incredibly dumb to mortgage your house to pay someone you never met 320k to “get their passport back” because you’re “in love” with them. I mean _really_. That’s Darwin award material.
How Dave Glossop can say she’s intelligent is beyond me.
Vote:June 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
adc: likewise Sue Kedgeley:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0110/S00440.htm
Vote:June 9th, 2009 at 11:10 am
lonely and stupid.
Vote: