Hi,
This is a long story so I'll try to keep it short.
A relative of mine has met a young lady living overseas through a dating site which me and my family believe is a scam. He has been sending her money and she promises to come to Australia to be with him but something always stops her and she keeps putting it off.
They haven't Skyped but he has spoken to her through the phone. We all believe that it's a fake account however he refuses to believe it and keeps sending her money. He now owes money to his friends and is asking family members to lend him large amounts of money. He also believes that he is the "only one" she is speaking to, which I doubt.
In order to prove that she is a fake, we created our own account using a made up name, details and a random photo found on a public website to contact her to show him that she is talking to other men and hoping that would wake him up a bit. We private messaged her just saying "hi" but since realised that this could be against the law so deleted the account immediately (it was only active for less than 24hrs).
We didn't use the profile to harass any other members, including her, and did not create it with an intent to commit a crime or scam. It was only intended to show him that she is in fact speaking to others in the hope that he will realise she isn't "committed" to him.
My questions are:
1. Can we now get into trouble for the fake account which we deleted and didn't use to harass or commit a crime? What should we do?
And 2. What should we do about the scammer? Can we report her or does he have to do it? Is there any chance of catching the person since they live overseas?
I understand what we did was wrong but we hoped that it would stop him sending thousands to this scammer. We realised the mistake and tried to fix it straight away.
This is a long story so I'll try to keep it short.
A relative of mine has met a young lady living overseas through a dating site which me and my family believe is a scam. He has been sending her money and she promises to come to Australia to be with him but something always stops her and she keeps putting it off.
They haven't Skyped but he has spoken to her through the phone. We all believe that it's a fake account however he refuses to believe it and keeps sending her money. He now owes money to his friends and is asking family members to lend him large amounts of money. He also believes that he is the "only one" she is speaking to, which I doubt.
In order to prove that she is a fake, we created our own account using a made up name, details and a random photo found on a public website to contact her to show him that she is talking to other men and hoping that would wake him up a bit. We private messaged her just saying "hi" but since realised that this could be against the law so deleted the account immediately (it was only active for less than 24hrs).
We didn't use the profile to harass any other members, including her, and did not create it with an intent to commit a crime or scam. It was only intended to show him that she is in fact speaking to others in the hope that he will realise she isn't "committed" to him.
My questions are:
1. Can we now get into trouble for the fake account which we deleted and didn't use to harass or commit a crime? What should we do?
And 2. What should we do about the scammer? Can we report her or does he have to do it? Is there any chance of catching the person since they live overseas?
I understand what we did was wrong but we hoped that it would stop him sending thousands to this scammer. We realised the mistake and tried to fix it straight away.
