I'm totally amazed

[thekfc]

ya my understanding is that Atlanta had a whopping 10 YES ten snowplows. i wonder why they have soooooo many on hand???

sanders & snow plows don't really cost that much if you already own the trucks & i am sure the own plenty of big heavy dump truck.

pig

Yeah but how often do they get snow?
We up north usually get more snow a day than they get in an entire year. This year is an exception for them and many of the people/institutions do not know how to handle it or even drive in it.

[Jedironin]

Or do like NYC and attach the snowplows to the garbage trucks.  
As far as driving in it, I doubt many people have actual snow tires on their cars. If I lived down there and "might" need snow tires 3 days per year... I probably wouldn't have any either!

Piglett- love the new avatar!  

[piglett]

Yeah but how often do they get snow?
We up north usually get more snow a day than they get in an entire year. This year is an exception for them and many of the people/institutions do not know how to handle it or even drive in it.

Or do like NYC and attach the snowplows to the garbage trucks. 
As far as driving in it, I doubt many people have actual snow tires on their cars. If I lived down there and "might" need snow tires 3 days per year... I probably wouldn't have any either!

I guess it comes down to this the people running Atlanta figured that could spend their budget elsewhere & get away with it ..... i guess playing the odds didn't turn out very well for them this time. I know a guy who decided to buy a place in Florida, it's a nice place but has NO DAM HEATER. his stove is running on natural gas so i told him call the gas place & have them put in a small vent through the wall heater. hell 20k / 30k  btu's would be good rite now due to the fact that when he wakes up in the morning he says he can see his breath. 

Piglett- love the new avatar! 

hey thanks 

[william3rd]

Well- she's been here about two days now- or not. All the world wonders. . . . . 

[william3rd]

Hey guys- Bill was on last night after 10PM. I dont know what that means but. . . .  C'mon dude. . . . give us the glad tidings!!!

[euforia51]

Hey guys- Bill was on last night after 10PM. I dont know what that means but. . . .  C'mon dude. . . . give us the glad tidings!!!

I noticed this too, but I didn't say anything about it. I gotta believe he'd post positive if she was here and he logged in. He seemed way too excited and rightfully so. I hate to think otherwise, but I have my doubts at this point.

[Dan Las Vegas]

The suspense is killing me!!!!!

[z_k_g]

The suspense is killing me!!!!!

I died yesterday!  Resurrected quickly tho!

Bill, where are you?

Zulu

[Bill_McC]

Long story and not a happy ending. She never left the RP. I met every plane from Detroit for 24 hours until I couldn't take it anymore. The hardest part was not knowing what had happened. I now know that shes alive and well and at home. She had all the documentation and she had the visa and the tickets. I saw all of it with my own eyes but she had lied on her application and they stopped her in Manila before she ever got on the plane.

A word of advice for any and all. Go there and meet them. This seemed way too good to be true as the thread topic says, and it was. Fortunately I'm only out what it would have cost me to go there and find out what I now know.

If/when I get my head around all of this I'll post more detail... Maybe

Bill

[euforia51]

Well damn, Bill. I will be the first to say I am sorry this didn't have a better ending. And I couldn't try to pretend to know what you're feeling at this point. We were all hopeful as you have probably read by now. So what's next? Are you going to continue this with her and try again? I imagine there might be too much to sort through right now to be answering any questions. And really, I just wanted to give a kind word.

[z_k_g]

Long story and not a happy ending. She never left the RP. I met every plane from Detroit for 24 hours until I couldn't take it anymore. The hardest part was not knowing what had happened. I now know that shes alive and well and at home. She had all the documentation and she had the visa and the tickets. I saw all of it with my own eyes but she had lied on her application and they stopped her in Manila before she ever got on the plane.

A word of advice for any and all. Go there and meet them. This seemed way too good to be true as the thread topic says, and it was. Fortunately I'm only out what it would have cost me to go there and find out what I now know.

If/when I get my head around all of this I'll post more detail... Maybe

Bill

Bill,

Sorry Buddy.....I was trying to give you hints......

Zulu

[Bob_S]

Damn.  Cruisin' along nicely and suddenly blinded by a storm of red flags.  I'm sure you're thinkin' What the eff am I going to do now.  That she would lie to them on the application is a bad sign, and that she would leave you hanging at the airport and not let you know sooner is also a bad sign.  Crash and burn?     I am curious what the lie was that got her through that far.

[Jedironin]

Awww man... I'm sorry to hear this Bill.  

You know we're here for ya.

[michaelb]

That is really sad, Bill. We were all hopping for good news. You'll have to make your own decision about if you want to continue with her.....but something to keep in mind if you do, the consulate officials don't like being lied to and they probably have very long memories (and computers and paperwork to refresh them)......I wouldn't bet much on her chances of ever obtaining another visa, like say a K-1, if your relationship were to progress to that stage.   

[william3rd]

Now why would they stop her at the airport before she gets on the plane? That makes no sense at all. She has the passport and has the US visa in the passport. That gets her to the US. The consulate is then out of the picture.  Doesnt get her in but gets her over here. THEN they (our immigration) would (maybe) catch her lies.

How much did you pay out on this? Did you pay for that plane ticket? Or flash money?

A variation of fat Yuri. . .Fat Felipe with a real woman scammer?

Sorry to hear about it. Crushing to be waiting and find out she never came. How come she didnt call or email or text?  

[thekfc]

Sorry to hear that Bill.

I do not what the entire story is or why they stop her but the two reason I see for them to refuse her boarding are (1) if she cannot pay the travel tax/international departure tax & (2) if she did not have her CFO sticker but that ONLY applies to immigrant visas & she have a B/2 Tourists visa (non-immigration) so that would not apply to her.

Take your time to tend to your wounds.

[Capstone]

First Bill let me first say that I am very sorry to hear about this - we were all really hoping that she had in fact beaten the odds and would be able to visit you.

Like others have already said her story of why she did not get on the plane just does not make any sense at all. There would be no one at the airport to stop her from getting on the plane once a visa has been issued. There is no US immigration that needs to be navigated through at a foreign airport and the airlines do not run a visa through any type of database to verify its validity - they simply verify that the visa does exist in the passport. If she were to have been denied the use of a visa after its issuance it would have been at her point of entry into the US - not in Manila.

I am afraid that there never was any visa issued but rather a clever ruse took place by a very experienced scammer. The biggest piece of evidence pointing to this goes back to what she showed you over the webcam - a B-2 visa with an issue date of Dec 27, 2010. The only problem with this is that the Embassy in Manila was closed on December 27th in observance of Rizal Day which means that there were no visas issued on December 27th - the visa shown over the webcam was a fake.

[Ray]

OK folks, I have been biting my tongue long enough.

I figured from the start that this whole story was BULL SHYT.

All this nonsense about medical exams gave it away. There are no medical exams for visitor visas!

And I totally agree with William…it makes absolutely no sense at all that she would be stopped at the airport from boarding the plane with a valid visa. It doesn’t work that way. There was no visa, or she would have flown out.

Yes Bill, she obviously was lying from the start…or is it YOU who was lying to us??

I hope that Bill isn’t pulling our chain. But if he isn’t, then he has been had pure and simple. Why do we ALWAYS tell folks to NEVER send money to a girl you have never met? If Bill is being straightforward with us, then he got taken.

Did he send money for a plane ticket? If so, then she pocketed the money and stayed there. This sounds like the typical scam where some dummy falls for a pretty face and sends the money so she can come over on a visitor visa and rock his world for a few weeks.

If Bill saw the visa, then I ask that he post an image of it here.

If Bill saw the plane tickets, then I ask that he post an image of them here.

If Bill is legit, then he has my sympathies, but until then, I don’t know who to believe. Something stinks to high heaven and me thinks the men of this forum have been had with another bull shyt story.

Remember what’s-his-name (Matt?)and the orphaned girl and the Dinda scam??

Ray

[william3rd]

First Bill let me first say that I am very sorry to hear about this - we were all really hoping that she had in fact beaten the odds and would be able to visit you.

Like others have already said her story of why she did not get on the plane just does not make any sense at all. There would be no one at the airport to stop her from getting on the plane once a visa has been issued. There is no US immigration that needs to be navigated through at a foreign airport and the airlines do not run a visa through any type of database to verify its validity - they simply verify that the visa does exist in the passport. If she were to have been denied the use of a visa after its issuance it would have been at her point of entry into the US - not in Manila.

I am afraid that there never was any visa issued but rather a clever ruse took place by a very experienced scammer. The biggest piece of evidence pointing to this goes back to what she showed you over the webcam - a B-2 visa with an issue date of Dec 27, 2010. The only problem with this is that the Embassy in Manila was closed on December 27th in observance of Rizal Day which means that there were no visas issued on December 27th - the visa shown over the webcam was a fake.

Probably a forgery. If so, spread the word far and wide about this one- you may save someone else money and heartache.


The Russians used to pull this stuff alot- there are several anti-scam sites up. Don't be afraid to put her up. Oh, and please please please don't listen the violins playing for the privacy of the poor girl; she isn't worth it and she has no right to privacy.

[z_k_g]

Everyone,

We all are guilty, lets accept responsibility as a group.  

Typically Ray would have gotten into Bill's assh*le and tore apart that story with haste, he would have jumped on Bill and ripped the whole scenario to shreds and made Bill put it together until it made sense.  

W3 would have started drilling down every detail of the Visa process and started his lecture on the Fat Yuri scams and its derivatives.

We failed him. We didn't give him the proper tools or advice he needed to avoid this mess.

I'm also guilty so, I'm not excusing myself.  For a week i hinted around my suspicions with questions and some gentle probing.  But I was too wimpy to be the bad guy.

Well, we all wimped out, we all wanted this to be true, and because of all of Bill's proof and his insistence that she was honest and straight forward we backed off and allowed this sh*t to happen.

Bill also hurt himself by not telling us the whole truth and relying on his "judgment".   He sent this young woman thousands maybe and broke rule #1 that you learn on P-L, never send money.  That's a newbie mistake and but we should have done our duty regardless of what he felt.

We all know that "If its too good to be true, then it probably is"

We knew it was smelly, but we encouraged him.

We gotta do better.

Bill, I'm sorry.

Zulu

[Researcher]

          There's not alot that can be done when someone is "gaga" over someone(even if it is a scam).If they believe it's legit the you will risk only pissing them off and they will follow through anyway.We use to refer to them as "hopeless".The chips will fall where they may.The best benefit is to those just begining this journey by clueing them in on scammers from the start.IMHO, that is the best chance of not getting scammed because once you are in you are in(usually). And scammers are EVERYWHERE, not just one country.

   Hopefully Bill will get past this.I hope he returns to share his experience with the newbies.

  Sorry to hear about this Bill, best of luck to you in the future.

   Researcher

[piglett]

Everyone,
We all are guilty, lets accept responsibility as a group.  
Typically Ray would have gotten into Bill's assh*le and tore apart that story with haste, he would have jumped on Bill and ripped the whole scenario to shreds and made Bill put it together until it made sense.  
W3 would have started drilling down every detail of the Visa process and started his lecture on the Fat Yuri scams and its derivatives.
We failed him. We didn't give him the proper tools or advice he needed to avoid this mess.I'm also guilty so, I'm not excusing myself.  For a week i hinted around my suspicions with questions and some gentle probing.  But I was too wimpy to be the bad guy.Well, we all wimped out, we all wanted this to be true, and because of all of Bill's proof and his insistence that she was honest and straight forward we backed off and allowed this sh*t to happen.
Bill also hurt himself by not telling us the whole truth and relying on his "judgment".   He sent this young woman thousands maybe and broke rule #1 that you learn on P-L, never send money.  That's a newbie mistake and but we should have done our duty regardless of what he felt.
We all know that "If its too good to be true, then it probably is"
We knew it was smelly, but we encouraged him.
We gotta do better. Bill, I'm sorry.
Zulu 

correct we are all to blame, I at 1st saw a couple of flags maybe they were red maybe just orange, someone said "oh come on pig, Bill is a stand up guy" so instead of being a d*ck i shut my swine hole & hoped for the best like the rest of us. I didn't want it to be a scam, I wanted it to be real! well i guess wanting it to be real didn't make it so....did it.

Bill you are not the 1st & you sure will not be the last to be sucked in by a scammer. come on back once you have licked your open wounds
don't let this one woman keep you from finding a high quality wife to spend the rest of your days with. there are millions of single Asian ladies that would give anything to be your bride.


take care
pig 

[Ray]

Everyone,

We all are guilty, lets accept responsibility as a group. 

Typically Ray would have gotten into Bill's assh*le and tore apart that story with haste, he would have jumped on Bill and ripped the whole scenario to shreds and made Bill put it together until it made sense. 

W3 would have started drilling down every detail of the Visa process and started his lecture on the Fat Yuri scams and its derivatives.

We failed him. We didn't give him the proper tools or advice he needed to avoid this mess.

I'm also guilty so, I'm not excusing myself.  For a week i hinted around my suspicions with questions and some gentle probing.  But I was too wimpy to be the bad guy.

Well, we all wimped out, we all wanted this to be true, and because of all of Bill's proof and his insistence that she was honest and straight forward we backed off and allowed this sh*t to happen.

Bill also hurt himself by not telling us the whole truth and relying on his "judgment".   He sent this young woman thousands maybe and broke rule #1 that you learn on P-L, never send money.  That's a newbie mistake and but we should have done our duty regardless of what he felt.

We all know that "If its too good to be true, then it probably is"

We knew it was smelly, but we encouraged him.

We gotta do better.

Bill, I'm sorry.

Zulu

HUH?

We are all guilty and responsible for someone getting taken to the cleaners? You can speak for yourself but leave the rest of us out of your guilt trip.

As Researcher pointed out, a guy who ‘thinks’ he is in love is not going to listen to common sense from anyone. He will do what he will do and neither you nor anybody else is going to convince him to do otherwise, so get off this personal guilt thing. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE!!

If a guy chooses to ignore the simple rule to not send money to someone he hasn’t met, then it is solely HIS responsibility if he gets scammed, NOT MINE. And it's HIS money so he can do with it as he wishes.

These men who come here are not little children who need your constant handholding. They know what they are doing when they insist on sending money and when they reject any and all advice we give. The responsibility ultimately lies with THEM.

Ray   


 

[z_k_g]

Ray,

I'll clarify my statement.

Responsible for not being honest and direct.

Ray you already admitted this in your own post:

OK folks, I have been biting my tongue long enough.

I figured from the start that this whole story was BULL SHYT.

All this nonsense about medical exams gave it away. There are no medical exams for visitor visas!

Yes Bill, she obviously was lying from the start…or is it YOU who was lying to us??

Ray

I agree 100%, I am not responsible for anyone's bad choices.

I don't feel guilty for his bad judgment and miscalculations, he is a grown man and he has to live with his decisions.

But we didn't do what we should have done, be direct regardless of his optimism, tell him that the visa was bull and hammer him on all the red flags that kept popping up like daises, and just tell the guy that this woman was a hard core scammer and not participate in the circle jerk of well wishers.

We all knew it was too good to be true.

Bill made the decision, plain and simple.  Not one of us had the balls to stop the silly well wishing, break rank and be truthful!

Ray, go back and just read the posts.  Instead of looking critically at his situation we were giving him ridiculous and silly advice about food, clothing etc.  At one point we were even suggesting alternative flights out of Detroit for connections to Atl, so she could get through customs and catch her flight!  

We call ourselves a peer group to help guys navigate through this tough venture.  

Well, we failed to even to help this guy when we knew he was screwing up.

That's not a guilt trip, that's the truth.

Zulu

[Bill_McC]

This is no ones doings except my own. None of you were involved in the 8 months of talking, none of you saw the work that went into the visa application, none of you talked to her family, none of you know her. None of you could have convinced me that this was a scam. I was on my guard and I did question her and it took a very long time for her to gain my trust. I had full intentions of going there to meet her but she insisted on trying to get the visa. I didn't think it had a snow balls chance of being approved, but it was. None of this is a scam. The fact is that she lied to get the visa and she was caught at it just like I would have caught her had I gone there.

Theres a lot more to this than your typical scam. Theres a lot that I'm not going to tell here. The visa was real, I saw it; the tickets were purchased and in hand, I saw them. She was stopped at the airport for lying about her paper work or she would have been here. What she lied about I'm not going into. Leave it at this, It's a LOT better that this happened with her there than had she made it here and I found out what I now know after she arrived.

Yeah I was taken in by a beautiful face, yeah it cost me the price of air fare and the visa application fee. Its no more than I would have spent to go there and find out what I now know in person. Going there would have been a hell of a lot cheaper emotionally. Standing at the gate for all of those flights with my hopes up and then having the huge let down that she wasn't on this one again and again was the difference in this versus me going there. She didn't scam me, she flat out lied to me.

Go meet her there no matter how much you trust her. Keep your heart and your emotions in check and under control. Eight months is a lot of time to get to know someone and to get to know their family but it isn't enough. Meet her in person face to face before you send any money. I'm not giving up. Shes basically a wonderful person and in fact when I do eventually go I wouldn't mind meeting her but anything more is out of the question. This lesson cost me what I had budgeted to go there and meet her and this would have turned out the same had I gone. The only savings would have been my emotional ups and downs at the airport.

Bill