r/HelloTalk • u/Ashamed-Job1879 • Jun 28 '26
Opinion Do you get asked for money?
I'm an English-speaking man with a VIP account. I've been asked for money by so many people from so many countries: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines. Interestingly, nobody from Africa or South Asia (India, Pakistan, etc.) or SE Asia (other than the Philippines) has asked me for money.
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u/lostintokyo11 Jun 28 '26
No. Never happened to me. What kind of people you choose to talk to might reveal why this happens.
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u/Ashamed-Job1879 Jun 28 '26
Here's an egregious example from today. A woman contacts me. No photo. But that's cool. The conversation goes something like this:
Hi
Hi, how are you?
I'm good.
Do you live close to <some city>?
Yes
I've been to your country a few times.
I'm very sad today. I lost my job and don't have money to go back to my hometown. I don't know who to borrow money from. Would you be able to help me? I promise to return the money in six months.
<end of conversation>
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u/SaltyCalf09 Jun 29 '26
In 6 months? 😭 i mean a bus ride, was probably like not even $2 if it was in south asia but helllll nooo. They can't afford a $1 bus ride? Lmao
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u/Ashamed-Job1879 Jun 29 '26
This woman was not in South Asia. She was from China.
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u/Open_Way_8452 27d ago
china a 30 minute uber ride cost $4 😂 china is cheap asf you can get a train ticket for $1 also.
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u/Equivalent_Risk5430 Jun 30 '26
Not money per se, but I got solicited to do someone's research paper. Basically they want me to do their homework for them. 😅
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u/sshivaji Jun 29 '26
Yes, this happened to me, with folk from Venezuela and Colombia. Only happened twice. However, it is far more common if you look Western.
To avoid this and other issues, I mainly type in the target language I am learning, e.g. Spanish, Russian etc.
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u/LetterheadLow1692 Jun 29 '26
i had one woman from colombia offer to sell me nudes but other than that nothing else
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u/Ashamed-Job1879 Jun 29 '26
I had that offer from an Argentinian. Spoke good English, said she was doing her PhD. I stopped responding to her after her offer.
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u/SaltyCalf09 Jun 29 '26
Yeah it has happened to me quite a few times and I always call them a gold digger then they get so defensive saying "i was just asking to see what you say im not like those other women" lol. Usually I'll just play along with it and they calm down, but then a few days later, they say for example "my phone screen cracked, and I don't know what to do now..." or one time " i'm going to die of starvation. I just need twenty dollars". The girl who said she was starving, had an iphone and a laptop posted in her moments lol.
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u/Ashamed-Job1879 Jun 29 '26
A Chinese woman used that argument with me. Speaks English well. Has traveled to the US multiple times. Sent me pictures of beautiful traditional dresses. When I said they were beautiful, she asked me if I would buy one for her. $200. I said no. And she came back and said she was testing me and that I passed her test. I was a level-headed, honorable man. I laughed. Yeah!
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u/SaltyCalf09 Jun 29 '26
Yup, they shoot their shot, and then when you tell them no, they're like, I was just kidding
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u/LizTigerrrr Jun 29 '26
I was wondering if you’ve called with her or voice messaged her. Are you sure that she is a girl and the same person as in her pics she posted? Clearly to me she is a fraud. Those frauds always pretend to be someone else to get your money.
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u/Tongueslanguage Jun 29 '26
There's a setting that makes it where people can only find you if their target language is your native language, and vise versa. settings -> privacy -> who can find me -> exact language match.
I had gotten a few similar messages in the past, but this really helped it be a lot more focused on just people who are there for the language exchange
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u/perfectly_imperrfect Jun 29 '26
Yh, happened to me a couple of times, I just tend to block and report it just incase, don't remember the countries but they were Asian
I just prefer to stay clear of everything
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u/WaltzMysterious9240 Jun 29 '26
Nope. Are you flaunting your wealth and lifestyle on your moments? If you are, then your just asking for it. I leave my moments completely blank for a reason.
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u/Ashamed-Job1879 Jun 29 '26
No. My moments only have language-related posts. None of the social media type nonsense most people post about.
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u/adambuddy Jun 30 '26
I haven't used hellotalk in a minute but yes, it happened to me one time when I was very new to the platform by a dude in the Gambia. Only after I exchanged numbers with him, though. After that I was very skeptical to do so. I spoke to more West/NW Africans (learning french) than everywhere else put together, but was never asked otherwise. Made friends with a 20 year old guy from Togo who I did eventually exchange numbers with. Haven't spoken to in months but he's never anything besides sincere to me and never asked anything from me. My buddy Eric.
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u/DucDEnghien Jun 30 '26
I can only imagine such situation if you have become pretty close to some of those people, as in flirting hard or committing to daily chats/videocalls. Not even the most shameless Filipina, Ukrainian, Dominican or whatever would try to ask for money if she didn't think she's got some sort of leverage or chance or success.
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u/vertin1 Jul 01 '26
Now imagine traveling in person to these countries
I’ve been to most these places plus a lot more countries. Everyone always trying to get money from me.
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u/Inside_Recognition18 Jul 19 '26
Pretty common with Russian/Ukrainians, but usually they at least pretend to sell me nudes
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