Brothers, brace yourselves. This is the ultimate money mystery: the "family emergency." I spent exactly four hours chatting with a young woman from the mountain region. She's sweet, polite, and absolutely beautiful. Then suddenly she said her family's water buffalo, a real carabao, has a fever and needs medicine. Guys, I'm from Fort Myers, so I don't even know what a healthy water buffalo looks like, let alone a sick one! Is this a legendary, highly sophisticated rural scam designed to test how gullible my wallet is, or do carabaos actually catch the flu? I don't want to become a cynical American, but this sounds like a comedy show script. Ladies, either confirm that my suspicions are right or tell me the going rate for water buffalo antibiotics!
Yes, carabaos can catch illnesses that cause flu-like symptoms. But the "carabao flu" that farmers often talk about is usually a specific virus or bacterial infection, not human influenza. It could be true, but it's not something you'd bring up within the first four hours of a conversation. Still, in rural areas the water buffalo is a lifeline for a farm, so she may genuinely have been worried about her family. If a sick carabao can't work, that's a big blow to an already poor farming household. Either go check it out yourself or just leave it alone.
I'm a veterinarian. Yes, carabaos get sick too. If it's viral, antibiotics won't work. If it's a bacterial infection, the usual first choice is a combination of penicillin and streptomycin or amoxicillin. A 10-day treatment costs about 1,700 to 2,000 pesos for the medicine and syringes, roughly $30 USD. Ask that girl what symptoms the animal is showing. If you want to get a sense of whether it's real, you can message me too. Carabaos get the same common diseases that cattle do.
I have some carabao antibiotics I don't need anymore. If you send $150, I can arrange for them to be delivered where they're needed.
Over 600 people have already told you to run. Let me give you a comparison. About three months into talking with a girl from the provinces in the Philippines, I saw her glasses fall off her face and break. She was upset about how she'd get new ones. I said I could send some money. She kept refusing, so I told her that if I were in the Philippines (I've been here since 2022), we'd go out and I'd have spent even more on her. In the end she accepted, and I sent $125. A few days later she showed me her new glasses and apologized because after getting them she'd gone to Jollibee. She said it had been so long since she'd had it. I laughed. About a week later I was at Kroger when my phone buzzed with a Western Union notification saying money had arrived. I didn't get it, so I went to customer service and asked them to check. It really was $77.33 (I'll never forget that number). When I asked who sent it, the clerk told me the name of the Filipino girl I'd been talking about. She had sent back the change left over from the glasses and Jollibee. We've been together for over eight years now (four years long distance, four years in person). This is the other side of a Filipino woman bringing up money a few hours into a conversation. There are good Filipino women and there are scammers, but that's the same everywhere in the world. My opinion: if it's not a large amount, you can afford it, and you feel like helping, send it this one time. Then block her. If you don't block her, something new will come up every week, a sick uncle, a leaking roof. If you don't send money, she'll most likely block you. So sending money is basically like donating to ring the Salvation Army bell. If you don't want to send it, don't. The way she keeps talking to you afterward will be a good test.
Comments 0
Please log into write a comment.