How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've
known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the
Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd
or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with
him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and
also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp
from working. That is his main, hopefully his only way of communicating
with them. IIUC he would still have the chats that are there now, but he wouldn't be able to send new messages, by wifi or any other way.
Would there be an error message that blamed the HOSTS file, or
would the user just be left confused? He probably has never heard of the HOSTS file but if the error message mentions it, he'll figure it out and
undo it. He's smart (but gullible).
If he takes the computer to a repair shop**, will they likely find
the problem? And pretty quickly? Once someone tells him the HOSTS
file was edited, he'll know I was the one, and he may hate me forever. I would miss him, but more importantly, he needs friends He's turned
against anyone who argues with him about the scammers, except, so far,
his parents. **He is scared to drive now and doesn't, but may be
able to find someone in walking distance, who works at home. Might not
even charge him if it doesn't take a long time.
and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the lying scammers).
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp
from working.
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've
known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the
Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd
or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the >lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of >dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with
him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and
also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid >encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp
from working. That is his main, hopefully his only way of communicating
with them. IIUC he would still have the chats that are there now, but he >wouldn't be able to send new messages, by wifi or any other way.
Would there be an error message that blamed the HOSTS file, or
would the user just be left confused? He probably has never heard of the >HOSTS file but if the error message mentions it, he'll figure it out and
undo it. He's smart (but gullible).
If he takes the computer to a repair shop**, will they likely find
the problem? And pretty quickly? Once someone tells him the HOSTS
file was edited, he'll know I was the one, and he may hate me forever. I >would miss him, but more importantly, he needs friends He's turned
against anyone who argues with him about the scammers, except, so far,
his parents. **He is scared to drive now and doesn't, but may be
able to find someone in walking distance, who works at home. Might not
even charge him if it doesn't take a long time.
On 1/25/2026 7:19 AM, micky wrote:
and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the
lying scammers).
But Whatsapp for the PC doesn't work standalone, there needs to be
a paired smartphone (or is he using an Android emulator on the PC).
Who has control over the Smartphone? If the parents have the smartphone,
they can read the chat with the scammer (I don't know if it is legal)
and take action if necessary.
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp
from working.
If he wants the PC to use Whatsapp but Whatsapp isn't working at all,
he will look for an other solution.
And maybe the server address is
hard coded into the code, so modifying the HOSTS file has no effect.
If he doesn't know much about computers and Whatsapp, you could just
block the chat with the scammers. As I understand it, he can still
send messages to the scammers but not receive anything from them.
He can undo the blocking by a single mouse click, but only if he
know, that there is something like blocking chats.
If the scammers have sent pictures, you could use Google to search
the web for this pictures (I suppose they don't take this pictures
themself but just copy them from the web) to show him that the
scammers are lying.
In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Sun, 25 Jan 2026 13:00:55 +0100, Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote:I would call.
On 1/25/2026 7:19 AM, micky wrote:
and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the >>> lying scammers).
But Whatsapp for the PC doesn't work standalone, there needs to be
a paired smartphone (or is he using an Android emulator on the PC).
Who has control over the Smartphone? If the parents have the smartphone,
they can read the chat with the scammer (I don't know if it is legal)
and take action if necessary.
He's been using a flipphone, and apparently some NokiA flipphones can
run whatsapp, but not his. I'm glad I asked about amartphones and his parents gave me an old one, broken glass, broken case, 0 battery charge,
but it's got whatsapp and all his chats.
His parents don't know what to do.
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp >>> from working.
If he wants the PC to use Whatsapp but Whatsapp isn't working at all,
he will look for an other solution.
He could go back to the phone. Neither phone has a sim but they both caa
use wifi. So I'd have to do something in both places. He doesn't get
out of the mental ward until Wed night or Thursday, only 3 days.
And maybe the server address is
hard coded into the code, so modifying the HOSTS file has no effect.
If he doesn't know much about computers and Whatsapp, you could just
block the chat with the scammers. As I understand it, he can still
send messages to the scammers but not receive anything from them.
He can undo the blocking by a single mouse click, but only if he
know, that there is something like blocking chats.
I just tried blocking someone on my whatsapp, and when I did that, a
green oval with the words Unblock appeared at the bottom of the chat,
and just one tap unblccked them. He'd have to be blind not to see it
If the scammers have sent pictures, you could use Google to search
the web for this pictures (I suppose they don't take this pictures
themself but just copy them from the web) to show him that the
scammers are lying.
So far, I'vw only had time to look at the papers his parents showed me,
that I photograhed. It includes pictures of both sides of a drivers
license or identity card of the lawyer whose office allegedly prpared
his donation paper, that he signed. It's blurry so I can't see exactly,
but the picture matches her picture on the web and she is a lawyer with
a preetty big job, but none of this means she's really involved, someone could have copied the license. I will call or email her, not sure which
is better, but it's Sunday and I only have her work phone, and email.
In article <5pdank193tdbe7g8ium0jrvbrnqars4q5s@4ax.com>, NONONOmisc07 >@fmguy.com says...
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've >>known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the >>Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd
or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the >>lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of >>dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with >>him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and >>also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid >>encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp >>from working. That is his main, hopefully his only way of communicating >>with them. IIUC he would still have the chats that are there now, but he >>wouldn't be able to send new messages, by wifi or any other way.
Would there be an error message that blamed the HOSTS file, or
would the user just be left confused? He probably has never heard of the >>HOSTS file but if the error message mentions it, he'll figure it out and >>undo it. He's smart (but gullible).
If he takes the computer to a repair shop**, will they likely find
the problem? And pretty quickly? Once someone tells him the HOSTS
file was edited, he'll know I was the one, and he may hate me forever. I >>would miss him, but more importantly, he needs friends He's turned
against anyone who argues with him about the scammers, except, so far,
his parents. **He is scared to drive now and doesn't, but may be
able to find someone in walking distance, who works at home. Might not >>even charge him if it doesn't take a long time.
What jurisdiction is this - UK?
Legally, does he have "capacity"? If not, then it would be normal for
his finances to be under the control either or a nominated
friend/relative or the local authority (Council) under either a Power of >Attorney or (more relevant) a "Deputyship" (something as it happens I've >been asked to take on for someone with dementia). If he is genuinely
not capable of making his own decisions (which must include some bad >decisions) then those options ought to be pursued if not already in
place.
If he does have Capacity, and is simply making bad decisions, I think
your only option is to continue to seek to persuade him. I'd use
Perplexity (or another AI research tool which is good at giving
references to follow up) to find case studies of these or similar
scammers. If you're in the UK then the BBC (iPlayer) series "Scam
Interceptors" is a very good and persuasive watch. With things like this >people learn best from multiple examples rather than a single logical >argument. But if you are going to "argue" with him, you need somehow to
tap into his emotional investment in what he's trying to do, and perhaps >divert this to a genuine charity. To persuade anyone of anything, you
have to be seen by them as "reasonable", and that usually means finding >something you can agree on before introducing an alternative view.
Good luck!
--
In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Sun, 25 Jan 2026 14:50:19 -0000, Philip
Herlihy <nothing@invalid.com> wrote:
In article <5pdank193tdbe7g8ium0jrvbrnqars4q5s@4ax.com>, NONONOmisc07 >>@fmguy.com says...
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've >>>known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found >>>him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the >>>Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd >>>or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use >>>whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the >>>lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of >>>dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with >>>him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and >>>also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid >>>encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
I thought I could add a line to the HOSTS file which would stop Whatsapp >>>from working. That is his main, hopefully his only way of communicating >>>with them. IIUC he would still have the chats that are there now, but he >>>wouldn't be able to send new messages, by wifi or any other way.
Would there be an error message that blamed the HOSTS file, or
would the user just be left confused? He probably has never heard of the >>>HOSTS file but if the error message mentions it, he'll figure it out and >>>undo it. He's smart (but gullible).
If he takes the computer to a repair shop**, will they likely find >>>the problem? And pretty quickly? Once someone tells him the HOSTS >>>file was edited, he'll know I was the one, and he may hate me forever. I >>>would miss him, but more importantly, he needs friends He's turned >>>against anyone who argues with him about the scammers, except, so far, >>>his parents. **He is scared to drive now and doesn't, but may be
able to find someone in walking distance, who works at home. Might not >>>even charge him if it doesn't take a long time.
What jurisdiction is this - UK?
Legally, does he have "capacity"? If not, then it would be normal for
He hasn't been legally declared incompetent, but this is the 3rd (or
more) time he's been involuntarily committed to a locked mental ward.
They only hold someone until they settle down. They change the drugs
he's taking, which iiuc he does take willingly. He knows he's a mess.
his finances to be under the control either or a nominated
His parents are both Ph.D.s but they seem to have been sluggish on this,
or maybe he was much better since he first gave away money and they
didn't think they had to worry. Now they they are trying to get his disability insurance paid to them instead of him. But that will take
weeks..
Just got a phone message. He wants me to check if his bank
balance is still below zero. But he gets a deposit I think every month, alnthough not necessarily on the first of the month. and while it's
supposed to be for him to live on, he lives with his parents who provide
all his living needs.
friend/relative or the local authority (Council) under either a Power of >>Attorney or (more relevant) a "Deputyship" (something as it happens I've >>been asked to take on for someone with dementia). If he is genuinely
not capable of making his own decisions (which must include some bad >>decisions) then those options ought to be pursued if not already in
place.
If he does have Capacity, and is simply making bad decisions, I think
your only option is to continue to seek to persuade him. I'd use >>Perplexity (or another AI research tool which is good at giving
references to follow up) to find case studies of these or similar >>scammers. If you're in the UK then the BBC (iPlayer) series "Scam
The USA.
Interceptors" is a very good and persuasive watch. With things like this >>people learn best from multiple examples rather than a single logical >>argument. But if you are going to "argue" with him, you need somehow to >>tap into his emotional investment in what he's trying to do, and perhaps >>divert this to a genuine charity. To persuade anyone of anything, you >>have to be seen by them as "reasonable", and that usually means finding >>something you can agree on before introducing an alternative view.
Yes. It's hard to not spout, "But they are liars." Which is what I said
a couple years ago when his parents learned about an earlier payment he
made. This month he pointed out the identity cards he's received
pictures of. The lawyer is a real, apparently respected lawyer in
France, and the othe paety is Spanish. I have to go look her up now.
Good luck!
--
So far, I'vw only had time to look at the papers his parents showed me,I would call.
that I photograhed. It includes pictures of both sides of a drivers
license or identity card of the lawyer whose office allegedly prpared
his donation paper, that he signed. It's blurry so I can't see exactly,
but the picture matches her picture on the web and she is a lawyer with
a preetty big job, but none of this means she's really involved, someone
could have copied the license. I will call or email her, not sure which
is better, but it's Sunday and I only have her work phone, and email.
He could go back to the phone. Neither phone has a sim but they both caa
use wifi. So I'd have to do something in both places. He doesn't get
out of the mental ward until Wed night or Thursday, only 3 days.
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've
known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the
Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd
or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with
him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and
also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> writes:
He could go back to the phone. Neither phone has a sim but they both caa
use wifi. So I'd have to do something in both places. He doesn't get
out of the mental ward until Wed night or Thursday, only 3 days.
Must you give the phone back to him? And even if you do, what if you
delete his Whatsapp account and feign ignorance of what's happened?
Assuming his chats are mostly with those scammers. He'd need to create a
new account with a different phone number and might not be able to find
those scammers and they might not find him, at least not right away.
Then again, if they found him on Facebook, you might have to delete his Facebook account too. That might also contain more important stuff like photos. Or maybe change his password so he can't get on there. Might
work for a delay.
So far, I'vw only had time to look at the papers his parents showed me,I would call.
that I photograhed. It includes pictures of both sides of a drivers
license or identity card of the lawyer whose office allegedly prpared
his donation paper, that he signed. It's blurry so I can't see exactly,
but the picture matches her picture on the web and she is a lawyer with
a preetty big job, but none of this means she's really involved, someone
could have copied the license. I will call or email her, not sure which
is better, but it's Sunday and I only have her work phone, and email.
On 2026-01-27 10:06, Anssi Saari wrote:
micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> writes:
He could go back to the phone. Neither phone has a sim but they both caa >>> use wifi. So I'd have to do something in both places. He doesn't get
out of the mental ward until Wed night or Thursday, only 3 days.
Must you give the phone back to him? And even if you do, what if you
delete his Whatsapp account and feign ignorance of what's happened?
Assuming his chats are mostly with those scammers. He'd need to create a
new account with a different phone number and might not be able to find
those scammers and they might not find him, at least not right away.
A deleted WhatsApp account can be created again from scratch on the same >number, I believe. Maybe putt a password to it.
If the lawyer says that they did not do this, and tell him this, he
might listen.
Then again, if they found him on Facebook, you might have to delete his
Facebook account too. That might also contain more important stuff like
photos. Or maybe change his password so he can't get on there. Might
work for a delay.
On 2026-01-25 07:19, micky wrote:
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've
known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the
Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd
or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the
lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of
dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with
him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and
also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid
encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
How about telling the authorities at the ward?
In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Tue, 27 Jan 2026 10:15:16 +0100, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2026-01-25 07:19, micky wrote:
How to stop friend from being scammed.
I hope you can help me. My friend, the son of friends, is 38 and I've
known him since he was 2. He's been giving money to scammers who found
him on Facebook. He won't believe they are lying to him about the
Pakistani orphans.
Right now he's in a locked mental ward at a local hospital. For the 3rd >>> or more time over 10 years, and told me to get his laptop and use
whatsapp for the PC to continue relations with his friends (that is, the >>> lying scammers). When he gets out, he will try to send them hundreds of
dollars from his Social Security Disability.
However this goes, it may well end up ruining my 35 year friendship with >>> him, even if I do no more than argue with him, but I want to do more and >>> also minimize the risk to our relationship. (I have his parents' avid
encouragement.)
I welcome suggestions and I'm asking if my plan is reasonable:
How about telling the authorities at the ward?
He was committed involutarily about 10 days earlier, but I guess since
he's not violent, a threat to himself or others, after they decided
that, they had to let him change to a voluntary committment, which he
did** and then he had to say he wants out, and then they have to let him
out after 72 hours.
**His parents thought the ward was delaying giving him the form to
change to voluntary. Maybe wo. I knew a girl 45 years ago in Brooklyn,
NY, a nice girl who committed herself, I don't know why, and then wanted
out. I went to visit her once in the locked ward, and maybe we talked
on the phone, and I told her "You're volutary. Just say you want out"
and she said, 'I've done that more than once, but each time they use the
72 hours to talk me out of it, and they succeed.' But after a while
she did get out.
BTW, while she was in, her mother died, and because she was in the
city's care, NYCity provided for free an attendant to go with her to the funeral and burial in New Jersey, which probably took 90 minutes each
way plus an hour or two for the funeral etc. Easily 5 hours. NY also
had then, 45 years ago, and I'm sure still has free paychiatric counselingtherapy for 2 or 3 sessions for everyone, in a hospital not
too far from one's home. That is there are quite a few locations spread
out over the 5 boroughs. Because the citizens and the government of NYC
care about the welfare of its citizans. I don't know what is avaiiable
in other cities in the US, including my own.
BTW, while she was in, her mother died, and because she was in the
city's care, NYCity provided for free an attendant to go with her to the
funeral and burial in New Jersey, which probably took 90 minutes each
way plus an hour or two for the funeral etc. Easily 5 hours. NY also
had then, 45 years ago, and I'm sure still has free paychiatric
counselingtherapy for 2 or 3 sessions for everyone, in a hospital not
too far from one's home. That is there are quite a few locations spread
out over the 5 boroughs. Because the citizens and the government of NYC
care about the welfare of its citizans. I don't know what is avaiiable
in other cities in the US, including my own.
There are quite a few opportunities for counseling here, but there
aren't enough staff to treat everyone who needs it.
A lot of the street people, that might be the root cause for
them being on the street. It isn't always just a drug problem,
and the drugs are a way of handling it, for the people out there.
Part of the reason for "caring", is to ensure the right people
are present for each kind of job. For example, if you don't
look at the mentally ill at all, and they're wandering the
streets, sooner or later there will be police interaction.
In one of the cases here, a policeman shows up and doesn't
know what the call is about, he hits the mentally-ill
man with one punch... and kills him.
They try to educate the police about mental illness. My
sister was taking "abnormal psychology" at her university,
and there were three policemen in the lecture hall
taking the course. That's so the policemen can tell
their flora from their fauna when patrolling the streets.
I think we may actually have progressed to a couple cars
with mental health professionals on board, and they can
be sent on 911 calls, instead of dispatching police for
every call. If weapons are involved, then the police will
roll up too. Where the guy got punched, there were
no weapons there, and the person was just being unruly.
If the mental health people had showed up, there
would have been an opportunity to tell the policeman
to chill a bit.
Paul
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