TWO ESSAYS ON INTERNET SCAMS

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Author's Notes: I wrote the two essays seven years ago to warn our compatriots about the proliferation of Internet scams, of which unsuspecting Filipino women are frequent victims. Those scammers are still around and have not changed their ways. I still receive reports about how they have been victimizing those hapless and clueless Filipino women. I am putting them on my blog to put everything on record and open their eyes to realities. Some Pinays did not like what I wrote. They even bashed me. I stand for whatever word I wrote in the two essays.

FOREIGN HUSBAND SEEKING PINAYS

I am inclined to believe that most Filipino women, who seek foreign husbands through social networking sites like Facebook, are sad ladies, who have not learned independence in their lives. Some are retired prostitutes, while the rest are nuts.

Let me prove my point.

These sad ladies are mostly unattractive to decent Filipino men. Either they are too old, too fat, or too ugly for their taste. They cover their lack of attraction to decent Pinoys by rationalizing that Pinoys are worthless, irresponsible, penniless, or any of those negative things. One could hear them saying In Tagalog: "Mga walang kuwenta sila (they're worthless)."

When you hear a Pinay saying those words, you can always be sure that no decent Pinoy in his right mind would take her as wife. A Pinoy might as well commit suicide than marry her.

Because of their well-camouflaged desperation, they haven't developed the self-esteem and confidence to carry themselves into meaningful relationships with their compatriots. They naively believe that foreigners are the unsuspecting substitutes, who can fill in the vacuum.

But this is not the case. Those foreigners are equally astute to marry these hopeless Pinays. If ever they marry these asinine Pinays, they make them their convenient maids, caregivers, or sex slaves in exchange for some pittance.

They take their Pinay wives to some parts unknown, since they know they are the perfect and uncomplaining partners, who are more than willing to take those menial jobs.

Lately, this thing seldom happens.

What happens now is that cyberscammers, mostly Nigerians, Indians, Pakistanis, and Malaysians, pose as their American and British suitors (Caucasians, not black), who cajole them to give their hard earned money in the name of love.

Then, they disappear.

These sad ladies are losers, who for their need of warmth succumb to the glib tongues of these foreigners.

The retired prostitutes are a different breed.

They were once a bitch and, ergo, will always be a bitch.

Their modus operandi is simple. They pose sexy photos, almost undressing themselves, to attract those foreigners, most of whom are the jobless and penniless, or the lowly or gutter kind.

When marriages are consummated, it's anything goes. The foreigner husbands end up at the mercy of these opportunistic bitches.

They milk their foreigner husbands, who in most cases, give their pensions and retirement money to their Pinay wives. These Pinay wives send the money to their families back home.

The hapless foreigners end up subsidizing the families of their Pinay wives.

The wackos are a different kind. They are either gays, who pretend as women. When they get the confidence of these foreigners, they milk them without mercy and disappear. Other wackos are confused and they don't know what they want in life.

Let's be vigilant against these Pinays. We must also be vigilant against those foreigners, who are out to exploit our women. Many people here would not like what I have said. But this has to be said.

SOME EXPERIENCES ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Those social networking sites like FB allow everybody to glimpse at every facet of human existence, which includes its strength and frailty. Allow me to give some examples.

In a social networking site, a middle-aged Pinay posted her profile photo that bordered on the scandalous, if not outright offensive and ridiculous. Taken in the privacy of her bedroom, her profile shot showed her lying down on a bed with only a white towel draped over her naked body. Her pair of sagging boobs were almost visible.

She wore a naughty smile on her face, as if she was inviting every true blooded male to three rounds of bedroom gymnastics.

Her profile data indicated she was single and unattached, or a typical "frozen delight," who was still waiting for her Prince Charming to pluck her from that miserable state of spinsterhood and unwanted celibacy (i.e. by circumstance and not by choice).

While her picture showed her in a compromising pose reminiscent of the sex siren Marilyn Monroe, she got plenty of lines on her face and sagging muscles on her body.

She must be five or six years older than her self-declared age of 48. She is past her "expiration age," but one couldn't help but marvel at the effrontery to show some daring poses.

In short, she was an embarrassment.

Was this her way of hooking an unsuspecting but stinking foreigner to be her husband? Was this her way of hitching a ride to that proverbial last trip to the moon?

In this age of permissiveness, we could hardly be judgmental on the morality of publicly showing oneself in skimpy clothes or daring poses.

But we could tell some Pinays that if they resort to this despicable behavior, they should have something to show, which include a beautiful body and a pleasant countenance. Anything short of the bottomline is embarrassing.

Unfortunately, that woman had a hideous face that only her mother would love.

I swear to high heaven that had she been a sister or a relative, I would not hesitate to slap her or kick her on the butt to wake her up. She had shamed the country by making herself a buffoon before the international community.

Another unforgettable experience pertains to a Pinay, whose message says: "I can be your best friend, but I can be your worst enemy (sic)."

This Pinay had yet to gain some friends, but she was already declaring something that was short of a war. Her pugnacity reflected her orientation as a fishwife, whose gallivanting husband had presumably left her for younger grass.

Establishing friendship does not require belligerence. What is important is to establish goodwill with people one wishes to befriend. It's equally important to draw the impression that they are on the same page.

How about those Pinays, whose taglines went like these: " My brain is bigger than my tits"; "I am not what you think. I am deadlier than men (sic); and "Taste me if you wish"?

Touche! as the French would say. Or aray! in Filipino.

Pinays are wonderful. They always make our day.

We can laugh and laugh until we can cry and cry in the end.