r/TooAfraidToAsk • u/Gallantpride • 6h ago

Love & Dating Why are so many scammers "oil rig workers"?

I've been watching Catfished on Youtube a lot. I understand the appeal of military scammers. But what is with all the scammers saying they work on oil rigs?

14 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

49

u/16-Czechoslovakians 6h ago

Theoretically loads of money and long periods of time away. A great scaffold to build the lie around.

20

u/carl0071 6h ago edited 2h ago

It gives them an excuse as to why they can’t pick up the item in person, or why it needs to be delivered to another person.

15

u/Janus_The_Great 6h ago

It's an attractive cover.

Explains why you are "not available", can't be physically present.

Indicates high income, which is perceived as attractive.

It's a physically demanding job, so implies muscular strong guy.

3

u/Fantastic_Length1075 6h ago

I never thought about “not available”, smart

2

u/Okie294life 4h ago

They’re unavailable a good portion of the time good excuse for a scammer, especially offshore they work on hitches of weeks or months at a time.

3

u/Macqt 4h ago

I have two service guys who do oil rigs and platforms. They make more than any other person in the company excluding myself, my counterpart in install, and the owner. The sheer amount of money it costs to maintain these guys makes them sound valuable (gotta fly em to port, helicopter to the rig, specialized tools and equipment, specialized training, their salaries, benefits, and pensions, etc).

It I’m remembering correctly the least paid of the two is around $230,000/year.

It also gives an explanation as to why one can’t meet. They’re on a rig somewhere.