00:00When did you have no choice but to break the bro code?
00:02When I discovered the real reason my roommate was acting so weird about his new girlfriend.
00:06So my roommate had been dating this girl for like six months.
00:08Never met her, never saw her, but he was constantly on his phone giggling and blushing like a middle schooler.
00:13She's just really private, he'd say whenever I ask to meet her.
00:15She's not ready for that step yet.
00:16Okay, weird, but whatever.
00:18People have different comfort levels, right?
00:19But then things got really strange.
00:21He started buying expensive gifts.
00:22Designer purses, jewelry, fancy perfume.
00:25We're talking thousands of dollars on his credit card for someone he'd never actually met.
00:28Dude, where are you getting this money?
00:30I asked.
00:30I've been saving up, he said, but I knew he was broke.
00:32He'd been eating ramen for weeks.
00:34Then I noticed he was taking out loans, like serious loans, personal loans, credit cards.
00:37Even asked his parents for money claiming it was for textbooks.
00:40She's worth it, he'd say dreamily.
00:41She's the one.
00:42One night I heard him on a video call giggling.
00:44I can't wait to meet you in person, baby.
00:46Vegas is going to be amazing.
00:47Vegas?
00:48He was planning to fly to Vegas to meet this girl he'd never seen in real life?
00:51That's when I got suspicious, I mean, really suspicious.
00:53So I did something that definitely broke the bro code.
00:55I looked at his laptop when he left it open.
00:57And what I found was absolutely ridiculous.
01:00His girlfriend was actually a 45-year-old guy from Romania who was running one of the most
01:04obvious catfish scams I'd ever seen.
01:06The photos were clearly stolen from some model's Instagram.
01:09Different backgrounds, different lighting, obviously professional shots.
01:12But here's the thing that made it even worse.
01:14The guy wasn't even trying that hard.
01:15The profile said she was 22 and in college, but some of the photos were obviously from
01:19like 2015 based on the clothes and phones she was holding.
01:22My roommate had sent this person over $8,000 in six months.
01:25The messages were hilarious too.
01:26Broken English everywhere.
01:28I am very much loving you, my darling boyfriend.
01:30And pleased to send money for plane ticket to see you, my love.
01:33But my roommate was completely convinced this was real love.
01:35I tried dropping hints.
01:36Doesn't it seem weird that she never wants to video chat?
01:39She's just camera shy, he'd say.
01:41Not everyone needs to document everything like our generation.
01:44What about meeting halfway?
01:45Like literally anywhere.
01:46She's got family stuff going on.
01:47Her grandmother is sick.
01:48Every excuse in the book.
01:49The breaking point came when I found out he'd borrowed $5,000 from his dad, telling him
01:53it was for a medical emergency.
01:54His dad called me, worried sick.
01:56Is he okay?
01:56What kind of medical bills is he dealing with?
01:58I couldn't lie to his father about a fake medical emergency.
02:00So I broke the bro code.
02:01I showed his dad everything.
02:02The fake profile, the obvious stolen photos, the ridiculous messages, all of it.
02:06His dad was speechless.
02:07Then he started laughing.
02:08Then he got mad.
02:09He borrowed money for this?
02:10I thought he was dying.
02:11We sat my roommate down that night.
02:13His dad was there.
02:13I was there.
02:14And we basically did an intervention.
02:15Show us a recent photo of you two together, his dad said.
02:18My roommate couldn't, obviously.
02:20Call her right now and ask to video chat.
02:21He tried.
02:22She's, her phone camera is broken.
02:23Okay.
02:24Then ask her to hold up a sign with your name on it.
02:26That's when he finally started to realize what was happening.
02:28His face went through like five different emotions.
02:30Confusion, denial, anger, embarrassment, and then just pure devastation.
02:34But she said she loved me, he whispered.
02:35Son, his dad said gently, people who love you don't ask for money before they've even
02:39met you.
02:39We helped him report it to the authorities and got some of his money back through his bank's
02:42fraud protection.
02:43He was embarrassed for weeks.
02:44But honestly, he thanked me later.
02:46I would have probably sent him my entire college fund, he admitted.
02:48Now he jokes about it and has way better dating sense.
02:51Remember when I almost flew to Vegas to meet a Romanian guy named Dimitri?
02:54Plus his dad still brings it up at family dinners and holidays.
02:56Remember that time you thought you were dating a supermodel from Instagram?
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