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These scammers are ruthless and will work around the clock to lovebomb their victims. It is a ruthless scam especially on facebook and dating apps. I've gotten plenty of phony profiles of actors on my friends request page. I delete them all. I had joined a dating site some years ago and had a scammer contacting me. I think there were at least three people on this scam. They actually work in shifts. Finally, I blocked these people because it became a nuisance with getting texts all day and night. I found out later that some of these scams are actually part of an broader international crime ring called; "The Black Axe."

My suggestion is to take your mother's phone with no access to internet. Contact your Attorney General's Office and report the scam. Your mother is a vulnerable adult and should not be taken advantage of in this manner. She will need her money for her care and not passing it on to criminals to support their families.
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A good friend’s mother has done this extensively and is out many thousands of dollars. My friend going to mom’s bank and alerting them, taking away her smart phone in exchange for a limited access phone with no internet, and limiting her access to money has finally stopped it. Her mother was and still is bitter over it, but my friend considers it fully worth it. Mom is now protected financially. It’s not truly over as mom still looks for ways around it. She asks caregivers to take her to get a new phone, threatens to open secret bank accounts and email addresses, and is very resentful. But her behavior is as unreasonable as it is unrelenting. It’s a job to stay on top of it. You cannot reason with mom, but you can act, as long as you’re prepared for anger and an ongoing process. I wish you the best in such a difficult situation
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You can’t control what a parent does unless they been diagnosed with dementia AND made you their power of attorney. All of this advice to take away her phone etc is not allowed if she’s an otherwise competent adult.

Speak to the doctor again and ask for thorough cognitive testing, not a mini test but a full work up. If you can get her to go and she’s diagnosed mentally incompetent then you may use your POA (if you’re designated as such) or you can go to court and apply for guardianship.

A step you can take for now, if she agrees, is signing her up for a credit monitoring and protection service. You can tell a little fib and say your job is paying for employees and their families or something similar, so you can see if she’s losing more than just gift card money.
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Bulldog54321 Sep 16, 2025
She can still take the stuff away. So instead of trying that first, you go straight to spend $50k in the court system?
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Physically go to her house and take her phone away and give her a dollar store flip phone to use in the meantime with no internet etc.

Get her a prepaid credit card and let her use that.

She clearly has either mental illness or dementia (her good judgement is gone).

Is she diagnosed with dementia or does she have Mets to her brain from the breast cancer?
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I think this is a police matter, they deal with it quite a bit. Ask them! They might be able to track the source and keep other elderly people safe. If your mom owns a house, I'd be looking into whether or not she still owns it, title company? I bet Russell Crowe has an India accent. The only other option is to possibly block the caller? I think you can but after the police get their information,they can help you with this too,hopefully. Sorry about her health and hope all goes well. If they catch him, Moms going to get depressed. Now,this might sound silly but I saw a little "Pandy" bear online for about $30+ and it's AI generated to hug and such. Maybe as a recovery gift from Russell with a card saying "goodbye,I can't go on deceiving you, I have plenty of money, (bet he does)think of me with your new little friend,Russell" Then she'll have something to remember him by and won't feel so bad? Was going to say something about his wife but thought she would throw your gift away.
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Give her a different phone, one where numbers in and out can be blocked, like the RAZ Mobility phone I have for my Mom. No more nuisance calls, no texting, no internet. Your Mom won't be able to be reasoned with. You will need to accept there may be fallout from this: angry Mom, time wasted "contacting Russell Crowe" (really?? He seems to be a jerk in real life...)

No doctor is going to solve this problem except to diagnose her with something (like dementia at a level that requires the intervention of a PoA).

Are you her PoA? If not, this may be a tricky situation to get under control. You can try taking screen shots of her texts and presenting them to her bank and giving them a heads-up that she is being scammed. They are often helpful in these situations.
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Suzy23 Sep 21, 2025
Good advice about the screenshots.

I have a friend whose 80-something mom was swindled out of her entire life savings and her house and car by a similar scam. The mom STILL believes this Prince Charming is a real person who is going to materialize and marry her any day now.

My friend ( her daughter and only child) tried to get court ordered guardianship because the mom had no will/ DPOA and no diagnosis. The mom went through court-ordered testing for dementia and it was found inconclusive. She’s now living in a slum motel on nothing but her meager Social Security and eating the motel breakfast plus whatever junk food she can afford from the convenience store next door. Really sad.
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suggestion get your mom to text Russell Crowe about her upcoming surgery (no specifics) and point out to him that it would be good publicity for him to visit an elderly woman with cancer while she's recovering from surgery. Odds are that Russell will find an excuse etc. and not be able to visit. Sour the relationship between those two and your mother will likely get the hint. As long as she isn't sending money to Russell then there's nothing to do except let her. Is she mailing the cards? If so then get her to show you the card has no money before she sends it and make suggestions like "mom I can mail that card for you while I'm out running errands" and then don't mail it. If she's sending money and it stops suddenly those texts will get frosty quickly.
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JoAnn29 Sep 16, 2025
I think by cards OP means gift cards. There is no exchange of money. Gift cards can't be traced.
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Really not much you can do. Does Mom have Dementia? Ask her, if she really thinks that as famous as Russel Crowe is, he needs gift cards? Dr Phil had a whole program of this. It becomes a mental thing, its like brainwashing. The person really believes it and they don't think rationally anymore.
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Beckyjane Sep 21, 2025
Please watch episodes of Catfished (or contact) or call her state's attorney general. Most of these scams originate in West Africa
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