The English translation is below
このブログは主に、日本語を学んでいる外国人のみなさん向けで
あることもあって、私はアメリカのTumblrという SNSも利用しています
なので日本に興味のある外国の方からメッセージが
届くこともあります
もちろん日本人を狙ったロマンス詐欺がはびこっていることは
百も承知なので、とりあえずは疑ってかかります
最近やり取りしたメッセージが、典型的な“the 詐欺！”という感じ
だったので、これはみなさんにもシェアして注意喚起したいと
思います！
私のアカウントをフォローして、メッセージをくれたのは
自称アメリカ、テキサス出身のPaulさん
現在は仕事で大阪へ来ているとか。
ここもポイントなんですが、日本に馴染みがあるアピールと、
あと、将来結婚しても日本に住めると思わせる手口らしいです
私の名前や住んでいる所を聞いてきたので
名前は日本人によくある“◯子”とし、
東日本在住と答えました
そしたら「仕事が終わったら、そちらに行ってみたいな。
その時は案内してくれるかい？」
。。。なんてド厚かましいことを言ってきます
この展開の早さも要注意！
結婚して子供がいるか聞かれたので
「結婚には興味ない」とバッサリいきます
私はロマンスは求めてないと、遠回しに伝えたつもり
なのですが
そしたらきたきた〜♪ 4年前に妻を亡くし、仕事をしながら
2人の娘と一生懸命生きてきた。。。
これは同情を誘うお決まりのパターンです
widowはけっこう多いみたいですよ
2人の娘も、子供をダシにして後にお金をせびるツールっぽい
このSNSを人に勧められて最近使い出したんですって
共通の趣味を通じて人と繋がるのはいいことだと思ったそうで
でも私は「妻を亡くした悲しみは4年じゃまだまだ癒えないでしょうね」
と返信します「まだ新しい出会いは早いよね」という意味です
趣味を聞いてきたので、語学好きはすでにバレているとして、
決して一緒にはできない“ピアノを弾くこと”をセレクト（笑）
実際ピアノは好きなので、嘘はついてません♪
「彼女は私たちの心の中でずっと生きているからさ」
。。。みたいな感じで、どうやら新しい恋に前向きです
しかも自分はpolyglot（他言語話者）だと返してきました
ここは後でしっかりツッこんでいきたいと思います
それから趣味を羅列してきたのですが、スポーツとか音楽とか
ざっくりしすぎです。共通点を探すために、
数打ちゃ当たると思ってるのでしょう
スポーツもゴルフも一緒じゃん
最後の質問で「あなたが成し遂げたことで、最も誇りに思うのは
何ですか？」なんて、就活で「学生時代、あなたが1番力を
入れたことは何ですか？」みたいでイラっときました（笑）
なんでアンタにアピールする必要があるのか〜〜
では、何ヶ国語できるのか聞いてみます
嘘つけ〜(笑）いくら何でも盛りすぎでしょ
スゴイ！と思わせる経歴にするのも、詐欺の手口です
医者とか、会社のCEOとか装うらしいですね
ちなみにコレがどれだけスゴイ人か人口の割合で言うと
polyglotといっても、一般的に5カ国語ぐらいですよ
そんなに言語操れるのなら、リアルな世界でいくらでも
コミュニケーションとれるでしょうに
翻訳機が進化してることと、詐欺はグループで行っているので
その言語ができる人に交代するのかもしれません
最後の、オーストラリアで。。。というのもポイント！
世界中を飛び回っている設定で、この先連絡が遅れても
時差のせいにするつもりです
もはや詐欺だと分かっているし、英語で返すのもめんどくさく
なってきました。ただ、ブログで注意喚起しようと思ってたので
決定的な証拠が出るまで続けてみるつもりでいました
さて、Paulは日本語ができると言っていることだし、
この辺で日本語の土俵に引きずり出して〜
サッサとボロを出してもらいましょう(ニヤリ）
次回は日本語でのやりとりです♪
This blog is mainly for people who are studying Japanese,
so I also use an American social media platform called Tumblr.
Because of that, I sometimes receive messages from people overseas who are interested in Japan.
And since I’m well aware that romance scams targeting Japanese people are widespread,
I always approach such messages with caution.
Recently, I exchanged messages with someone whose behavior was a textbook example of a scam.
So I thought I should share it here as a reminder for everyone to stay alert.
The person who followed my account and sent me a message
was a man calling himself Paul, who claimed to be from Texas in the United States.
He said he’s currently in Osaka for work.
This is another key point: scammers often try to make themselves sound familiar with Japan,
and also imply that they would be able to live in Japan in the future if they got married.
He asked for my name and where I live,
so I told him a common Japanese female name ending in “-ko,”
and simply said that I live in eastern Japan.
Then he said, “When I finish work, I’d like to visit your area.
Would you show me around when I do?”
…which was unbelievably forward.
This kind of rushing things is another red flag
He asked whether I was married or had children,
so I replied quite directly that I wasn’t interested in marriage.
I thought that would make it clear—at least indirectly—that I wasn’t looking for any kind of romance.
And there it was.
He told me that his wife had passed away four years ago,
and that he’d been doing his best to raise his two daughters while working.
This is a classic tactic to win sympathy.
Apparently, claiming to be a widower is very common among scammers.
And the “two daughters” part often ends up being a setup—
a convenient tool to ask for money later.
He said he had just started using this social media platform because someone recommended it to him,
and that he thought it would be nice to connect with people who shared his interests.
But I replied, “The grief of losing a wife doesn’t heal in only four years, does it?”
—my way of suggesting that it was far too early for him to be looking for a new relationship.
When he asked about my hobbies, I decided to mention something he clearly couldn’t join me in:
playing the piano.
It’s something I genuinely enjoy, so it wasn’t a lie—just a safe choice.
He replied with something like, “She will always live on in our hearts,”
which sounded as if he was already eager to move on to a new romance.
He also claimed to be a polyglot,
which is something I definitely want to comment on later.
Then he listed his hobbies — sports, music, and other vague things.
It felt like he was just throwing out anything that might stick,
hoping to find some common ground.
And really, “sports” and “golf” aren’t exactly different categories.
His last question was, “What is the thing you are most proud of achieving?”
It felt just like a job interview question: “What was your biggest achievement as a student?” —so frustrating!
I mean, why on earth should I be bragging to him?
Anyway, I decided to ask him instead: how many languages he can speak.
Yeah, right! 😆 That’s way too much to be believable.
Exaggerating accomplishments to impress others is another common scam tactic.
Scammers often pretend to be doctors or company CEOs, for example.
By the way, if you put this into perspective in terms of population,
people who could actually achieve something like that are extremely rare.
Even for a so-called polyglot, five languages is about normal.
If he could really speak that many languages, he could communicate freely in the real world.
With translation technology advancing, and scams often run by groups,
it’s possible that they switch to someone who can speak the required language.
His final mention of being in Australia is another key point.
By pretending to travel all over the world, he can always blame delays in communication on time differences
By now, I knew it was a scam, and honestly, I was getting tired of replying in English.
But since I wanted to warn my readers on the blog, I decided to keep going until I got some definite proof.
Since Paul claims he can speak Japanese, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to drag him into the Japanese arena—
and quickly catch him making mistakes. 😉
Next time, the conversation continues in Japanese
