yep, VERY sad

Submitted by Lina (United Kingdom), Jan 29, 2009 at 07:21

Hi Angie, thanks for responding. Well, I'm very observant and I've known quite a lot of North Africans/muslims - from scammers to regular people - so I suppose it's given me a chance to observe certain patterns.

Yes, the fact that he showed no interest in your knowledge of Arabic was very revealing really. Scammers don't care much for you learning their language or even your IQ, as long as they learn all the right European words ("I love you", "sweetheart", "passport") that's all that counts. I've even heard of cases where cassettes of scam conversations are passed around to give inspiration to other cheats. Sad, right. So you could say that instead of learning languages for personal education, or going to school, they learn the art of romantic scamming.

If a man is genuinely interested in the woman, he will be enthusiastic about her learning Arabic, & teaching her about his culture. If he doesn't tell her much about his culture, or only selective parts, it's a warning sign. In a lot of Muslim circles, there are two ideas of women: virgin & whore, even some women can be incredibly bitchy about other girls if she's too "friendly" or dresses "indecently". And these men will test you to see which image you fit into.

Well Moroccans are a mixed bunch, their viewpoints are all over the place. They are generally nice & funny people, especially the Berbers, & quite romantic but they learn to think with their head rather than their heart. Some Moroccans can be quite ruthless when it comes to money. I even saw really young Moroccan women working as escorts in Casablanca, and male sex tourism (not female) is quite common there. And it was quite sad because these women were being verbally humiliated by some flashy barrister, & when I went to the ladies' room one of them was in there crying. So you wonder how desperate they must be, both male & female, to land up in these situations. I suppose I'll never know what it feels like to grow up in a 3rd-world country, so I can't see it from their perspective.

I've known pious Moroccans who respected women & prayed from 4am, and then I've known others who don't pray, eat on ramadan & get drunk at Christmas parties wearing party hats (lol!)... but they still don't eat pork.

Also, if people think that Moroccan scammers only target westerners they'd be wrong: my Moroccan stepfather was recently scammed by Moroccan doctors, & his sister was scammed by a Moroccan in London.

Very true regarding older women, there are exceptions but they are rare & depend on the family. And I think one of the only ways that a relationship with a younger N. African man would work is if everything is two-sided. In a lot of these cases it's the woman paying for everything, putting her heart & soul into everything - while the man's just sitting back babbling the same old romantic mush. These men land up thinking they're God's gift to women - don't let them think that, show him that what really impresses you are his values, not his pretty face & pecs.

I think most online relationships spell trouble, the only exception on here in my opinion is Lisa, who I feel has found a good man. You will find good Moroccan men online, but most are young, unemployed guys with acne who play with women like fiddles - I've even watched them do this first-hand.

I think one problem is that some of these scammers are pampered & given the upper hand from childhood, & told that they can have anything they want, & when they reach adolescence & they can't get a job & most Moroccan girls run away from them they become frustrated & think the world owes them everything.

Well I think everything happens for a reason, & experiences with these weird scammers should make you stronger, not weaker. I'm not a traditional religious person, but if anyone's going to hell it's them.

All the best to you

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