DEAR ABBY: My grandson, "Tom," who is in his mid-20s, has become caught up in a "love affair" with an unknown person on the Internet. He never dated during his teens, although his mother told me he once developed a crush on a girl who broke his heart when she rebuffed him.
Now Tom tells me he has found his "true love" online. He says she has told him she's unhappy in her marriage and would divorce her husband if she could afford to do so. I asked him how he could know it was really a woman and not some guy playing a joke on him. He answered, "Grandma, no one could say the things she says to me if she didn't really feel them in her heart."
How can I convince him that this may be nothing more than a cruel scam? -- WORRIED GRANDMA IN ILLINOIS
DEAR WORRIED: Your grandson appears to be naive, inexperienced, and unaware of how many people don't tell the whole truth about themselves online. Warn him that if "she" asks him for money to pay for her divorce that it could indeed be a scam. Remind him that even if it's not one, she is cheating on her husband by carrying on an emotional affair with him. And he shouldn't jump in with his whole heart until he knows with whom he's having the pleasure. But you can't safeguard him from being hurt regardless of how much you might wish to do so.