My [23F] best friend [22F] fell for a ridiculous scam, how can I get through to her?
She's been my best friend since middle school. We've continued to be super close since then- roommates in college, meeting up at least once a week, etc. She's like a sister to me.
A month ago when we were talking on the phone. We were isolating because there was still a lot of covid in our state then. She said she had to tell me about the coolest thing, and described one of the most ridiculous things I think I've ever heard. She said some nature preserve in Africa had been working on breeding pygmy giraffes, and they succeeded, and she was going to get in on it early as some kind of combined investor/purchaser. By giving them some money, she'd be one of the first to receive a pet pygmy giraffe, and would also be entitled to receive a certain percentage of the company's profits. I really thought it was a joke- the concept was just so absurd, so I just kinda laughed and said it was hilarious. I guess she thought I meant the concept of a pygmy giraffe was hilarious, not the entire thing, I'm not sure. Anyway we moved on and talked about other stuff, and she didn't bring it up again.
Until we met up in person for the first time in a while yesterday at her place. We were hanging out and she said she had to show me pictures of her new pet. She showed me what I can only describe as a typical Nigerian Prince scam type email thread, but even more ridiculous. Complete with pictures, maybe photoshopped, maybe just a baby giraffe, I have no idea, of "her" pygmy giraffe. She's already sent them FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, and she's going to be sending them another two thousand after her next few paychecks come in because they ran into some "unixpected problems" shipping the giraffe and needed some extra money to work things out with customs, also assuring her it would entitle her to a greater share of the profits.
I didn't know how to react. I just told her she was being scammed, not to send them any more money, and to call the police and her bank to see what can be done. She got upset and insisted it was real, and asked if I thought she was dumb. I didn't know what to say, I just kept repeated it was a scam and there was no way this was real. Eventually she started crying and told me to leave.
I've tried calling her and she's not picking up. I've texted her a couple times, but she's just leaving it on read. I'm not sure what to say, how can I get through to her? I'm really worried about her.
)
