# Fictional sample: romance scam SMS thread
# Reconstructed as a message log. Names and photos are invented.

[Day 1]
UNKNOWN +1 415 555 0142: hi, is this Nina? got your number from the hiking group sheet,
hope that's ok. I'm Daniel, the one with the terrible green tent.

NINA: Wrong tent. Mine was blue.

DANIEL: Blue tent, noted. I'm the disaster with the stove then. Sorry to open with a
confession, I burnt the rice AND the pot.

NINA: lol. That pot was beyond saving.

DANIEL: It really was. Anyway, I'm on a rig rotation out of Aberdeen for the next six
weeks, so my phone hours are odd. If I go quiet, that's why. Not ghosting.

NINA: What do you do on a rig?

DANIEL: Subsea inspection. Cameras, mostly. Diving when they let me. Pay is obscene,
marriage prospects are terrible, hence the hiking group.

[Day 3]
DANIEL: photo attached: rig deck at sunrise
DANIEL: this is my office for the week. don't laugh at the hard hat hair.

NINA: That's a view.

DANIEL: The view is the only good part. The food is criminal. I'd trade it for that pot of
yours.

[Day 6]
DANIEL: honest question. do you believe people can meet the right person at the wrong time?

NINA: Depends who's asking.

DANIEL: The man with eleven more weeks of rust and a deadline. I'm 41, I've done the
ambitious thing, and I'm tired of doing it alone.

NINA: That's a lot for a Tuesday.

DANIEL: I know. Blame the satellite wifi, it makes me sentimental.

[Day 10]
DANIEL: voice note, 48 seconds
DANIEL: sorry, windy. basically: I told my sister about you. She says don't mess it up.

NINA: You have a sister?

DANIEL: Two. Both worse than me. You'd like them.

[Day 14]
NINA: I tried calling, it rang out.

DANIEL: Rig blocks voice during dive windows, only data gets through. Text me instead.
DANIEL: You know what I like about this? You don't ask for anything. Everyone here wants
something.

NINA: I want you to come home on time.

DANIEL: Careful. Say that again and I'll start planning a kitchen.

[Day 18]
DANIEL: bad news. Contract's been held over, another five weeks, and they're docking pay
for the delay. It's a cash flow thing, everyone's caught in it.
DANIEL: I'll be honest, it's tight. I can cover rent but not the storage unit and not the
flight I'd already booked.
DANIEL: Not asking, just telling you where my head is.

NINA: How tight is tight?

DANIEL: About 900 short for the month. My bank is offshore, transfers take nine days, so
it's useless right now.

NINA: Can't your sister help?

DANIEL: She could, but she's just had a baby and I hate asking. Honestly I'll manage.

[Day 19]
DANIEL: turns out I won't manage. The storage unit goes to auction Friday if it's unpaid.
That's my mum's furniture.
DANIEL: I hate doing this over text. Could you front 850 and I'll send it back the moment
the bank clears? I'll even send the account details the company uses for the crew fund,
it's the same route everyone pays into.
DANIEL: You'd have it back before the 2nd. I'd rather owe you than the auction house.

NINA: Send the details.

DANIEL: You're a good thing, Nina. I mean that.
DANIEL: photo attached: screenshot of a bank detail page
DANIEL: reference is CREW-DL-118. Send it marked that way or it gets lost in the pool
account.
DANIEL: and tell me when it's gone so I can stop panicking.
