For context, my friend, 26 female, born and raised in Sydney, has been with her boyfriend, 31yr old Colombian male, for around 2 months now. Met our clubbing. I believe he has been here for 3 years.
I have met him and seems really nice and genuine, seems really in love with her, I'm really happy for her.
But this morning she sent me this message from his sister that has me super worried it's all a set up. I told her even if true do NOT share bank accounts. But I am doubting it very, very much that it's true
What do others think? Is it a familiar tactic by foreigners to gain visas??
https://i.redd.it/bkhmlw9nh8rd1.jpeg
27 Comments
Absolutely a scam. Also your friend needs to slow down. 2 months and he already “really loves her”? Classic lovebombing.
Of course it’s a scam.
Open the joint bank account, the money will get withdrawn and you’ll never hear from that person again.
Scam 100% I have been through the visa process for myself and none of this crap went on with our families. This is so weird and toxic.
If you ever have to ask…
Be kind to your friend. It may be that she’s at her most emotionally vulnerable. Logic and reason may not appeal to her. But assurance of care and love may get through. If she’s terrified about losing love, or not being loved, she’ll need a lot of reassurance.
Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. Do not do this. Do not open the bank account, do not pass go, do not collect 31k.
The way to test this – if she is unsure – is to bring it up with him, and discuss going to an immigration lawyer *together*. If he swerves at that, it’s absolutely scam city.
I’d be telling her to speak to her parents about this. And he’s clearly desperate to stay in Australia and will say and do anything. Tell her to not help in anyway. Might not be a scam but it’s definitely not appropriate for a 8 week ‘relationship’
Who the fuck shares the contact details of their very new partner in a relationship with family members?
I second the suggestion that they go to an immigration agent together.
Its a very obvious scam.
I have friends that had genuine partners get partner visas and in no way did it happen like this. Immigration will want proof of a genuine relationship aka photos, videos, will ask intimate questions on the nature of the relationship, and seek at least 2 statements from close friends or family to personally vouch for the authenticity/strength of the relationship and have them verified by a JP. Even then they will ask questions. They will not buy a 2 month relationship.
Do NOT get registered, share a bank account, or send money, and seek advice from a lawyer or an immigration expert. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
So open a joint bank account and get them to put *their* money in it since they have it ready to go?
SCAM
[https://ivisatravel.com/australia/c/australia-visitor-visa-for-colombian-citizens](https://ivisatravel.com/australia/c/australia-visitor-visa-for-colombian-citizens)
The only mention of financial obligations is:
“Proof of financial capability, like personal bank statements from the last 3 months showing consistent income and savings.”
Mentioning a large amount of money like the $31k is a common scammer trick to keep engaging you until you reach as close to it as they think you are capable.
The playbook here would be to open a joint account and they contribute a small amount but claim over and over they need more so they ask you to deposit say $15k and they will do the same but with a bad cheque, the money from the bad cheque will appear in the account for a few days until the bank catches up and reverses the “credit”, by which time they have withdrawn you own deposit, so you’re out the $15k you deposited and the 15k they deposited never existed.
Report your friend’s BF to the police (or DFAT?) as they definately have a number of people on the hook for this same scam.
Absolutely DO NOT do it. Registering a relationship is a huge thing – it’s akin to marriage in terms of legal significance so it has financial and enormous legal ramifications (e.g. wills/inheritance). I wouldn’t open a joint bank account with someone either – I wouldn’t want him to suddenly open up a massive overdraft on the account without my knowledge and then possibly jump the country leaving me on the hook for all of the $$$. Absolutely not. Cannot stress this enough. It isn’t even touching on the whole visa situation / potential scam.
The whole scenario doesn’t even make sense – why would having 31K in a joint bank account make any difference to your boyfriend’s visa application (that I am assuming is completely independent to your relationship and not e.g. a partner visa)? Why can’t their sibling just deposit the cash in your boyfriend’s existing Australian bank account? Why is your friend’s assistance even necessary. I would tread insanely carefully here as it sounds almost like your boyfriend is trying to submit a partner visa application on your friend’s behalf (as registering the relationship and having joint bank accounts are examples you can give to the government for proof that your relationship exists). What visa is your friend’s boyfriend currently on and what visa is he trying to get onto?
Side note – if your friend’s boyfriend was genuine and serious about asking for your assistance in any way he would approach your friend DIRECTLY without involving his sibling, wtf?! Just think about it for a second – if this person wants to have a long and fruitful relationship with your friend, they need to start building communication skills. Their sibling can’t do it for them. They should be telling your friend about their visa issues, not a third party. It’s throwing up so many red flags. 2 months into my relationship with my now-husband, I didn’t even have an independent way to contact his sibling and vice versa, as we had only met each other once or twice. It’s just weird all around.
Its not even that easy to get a relationship visa you can’t just register the relationship you have to prove months/years of a relationship together with photos and lifestyle. Them being in a relationship together won’t have any impact on other visa applications.
I don’t think its a scam personally I reckon they are just stressed out and trying every possible angle. Just tell her to be careful and don’t get pressured into moving faster than she is ready for.
Yeah nah, run away.
Emotional manipulation
And this is why scam’s work. This is so obviously a scam it’s crazy. If there’s people looking at that wondering if it’s a scam, there are people not even doubting it and going along with it.
I’ve come across this several times and the result is always the same. Once PR is attained you’ll quickly find your friend quickly understands what’s going on.
I remember registering for a de facto partnership. But not showing money. Don’t do it.
I have sponsored someone under the partner visa. It was nothing like this.
Firstly, if he’s been here 3 years then why does he need her help now? They are either going for a partner visa or they are not. If it’s any other sort of visa then them having a shared account is irrelevant to that visa.
Secondly, if it is a partner visa the process would look very different. They would have already submitted a lot of relationship history, which they don’t have.
Thirdly, it seems very far fetched the sister would contact your friend without the boyfriend’s knowledge. How? Social media?
I get she likes this person but he had a certain visa status before they met and it is entirely his business.
Apart from the scam potential, what if one day your friend actually wants to sponsor the love of her life to come here and it’s denied because of her involvement in this?
The best response I think would be, I understand your concern, I care for your brother but we have only been together a short time and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise his migration pathway so it’s best I don’t get involved.
Then pay very close attention to how his behaviour towards her does or does not change.
I don’t even have to read anything besides the title of your post. Yes.
No way. Think, would you open a joint account after two months of dating another Australian? Exploitation at its best.
I am in a committed relationship with my fiance and as a part of the partner visa when we had applied, we had opened a shared bank account and also registered as a “civil partnership” to demonstrate we were together.
It is standard practice and basically on the tick list of the requirements, when you apply for a partner visa..
When you have the joint bank acct you can transfer money into the account as you need, and keep it seperate from your standard transaction account.
But if It was only 2 months in that’s very fast, we have been together for years, and for love.
It’s a serious (min 4 year) commitment to get the visa, so I hope they are not taking advantage of her
I’m not Aussie but my wife is. We have always kept an eye on the visa application situation for me. As far as I know, the joint account with that amount of money is bullshit.
There’s a few for me to pay, some paperwork and a long ass waiting time.
Contact immigration if you want confirmation. This definitely sounds fake
Red flag.
Dump and block him.
If his sister cares so much about him staying, she can go figure that out herself.
My partner and I just got through the first stage of Partner Visa. This ain’t it. It sounds so scammy wtf.
Super common scam.
Come on, anyone planning to propose after a two month relationship has an agenda that only benefits themselves.