[Enchantra]

I recently joined up to an internet dating site that is affiliated with Match.com. I had a few guys contact me that didn't pan out, no loss. A week an a half ago I get contacted by this guy that supposedly lives an hour from me and he seems very sweet and sincere.

So we chatted online via email and YahooIM. However some things became clear pretty fast - he was overly affectionate for someone I had just met, and started acting just a hair possessive as well. Red flags went up in my head.

The tip off was that he said right now he was on business over in Africa so we couldn't meet up till he got home. Then other information he gave me wasn't adding up either. For someone supposedly born and raised in Australia and living in the states he wrote English like it was his second language, not his first. I used to correct term papers written by those who had English as a second language - some were from various countries in Africa and I recognized patterns of speech that denoted that.

So I started my own investigative work so I could turn him in. Two can play this game. I got ahold of his "local address." I plugged it into Google Earth and it lands me in the middle of an intersection. The only phone number he could give me was international, and when I threw it into Google it wouldn't even bring up a Country Code. He claims to be rich, have three houses, one in Syracuse, one in California and one down in Australia, his wife supposedly died three years ago in a car accident and his Parents have been dead five years - and this guy is only 35?

So last night I logged into the dating site and I reported him as a possible scammer. I've removed him from my Yahoo IM and made it so he can't see when I'm online. Now to see what happens. I won't be a victim of this nut.

Have any of you had people try this with you?

[mudman]

yep! Romance scammers is the term used on the net, I had a gorgeous hawaiian girl complete with pictures( copied from the internet) and a profile contact me at "Myspace" wanted to be my friend, after we started talking over myspace email she suggested Im'ing, then personal emails, she loved me, wanted kids and marriage, wanted to visit me, problem is she needed money for the plane ticket,about $1500.00, i was cautious about that, she assured me and over she wanted to move to the US , marry and have my babies,just needed the money to get here, I didn't even know this person!

I looked up her friends and contacted one of them, talk about stupid! the idiot didn't even bother to delete the scammed friends,one who had fallen victim to the scam replied with a web address,said I needed to check it out before going any further with this person,he was scammed for several thousand dollars, he caught on when she didn't arrive at the airport!
Sure enough her name was there, "Cecelia Johnson" is what he/she called theirself, he/she has tried to contact me under different aliases and run the scam, the person is a Nigerian national, seems these scams run from Africa, it's well organized and involves dozens of people working in an office environment much like telemarketers!If it seems too good to be true,it ain't!

[Ed Merc]

These types of scams are not new and, unfortunately, not rare either. I think what is a more recent trend is targeting women. It's old hat to snag men with this type of thing. It's amazing how often I get emails from someone "in Russia" or some other country just dying to meet me... and I don't even participate in social or dating sites.

Enchantra, don't loose hope. A positive note, I met my finance on Match. We get married next spring. So it can work. There are decent people out there. Continue to be selective and keep your wits about you. You'll be okay.

Good luck,
Ed

[jkl]

Take a cruise. I met my wife-to-be 57 years ago on a ship bound for Hong Kong -- she was 14 I was 15. This June we will have been married 50 years.

[Roobz]

Africa is a hot bed of internet scams. Nigeria being the most prolific

Couple of months ago i was trying to sell my old netbook. i was getting a little ticked off with ebay because there prices seems to be going up and up, now they want 10% of the final value fee. plus a listing fee. and then paypal take a nice cut aswell. and ebay own paypal. so i looked for an alternate means to sell my item.

Over here we have a website called Gumtree. its like craigslist in the US. people can put adverts up for just about anything and it doesnt cost to post an advert and Gumtree charge no commision or listing fees at all. so i thought hey why not.
Within 10 minutes of my listing being live i had loads of emails.
here is where it gets interesting.

I was being contacted by a man who supposidly lived over here, but was in Africa on business. he was offering a substantial amount more than what my item was worth. so naturally it gets your attention. he claimed it was his brothers birthday and he needed to find him a gift very quickly and was willing to send me the money via paypal as soon as i accepted his offer. Now im not new to trading online and im no fool when it comes to scams. so the second i started to read his email i was on to him.
but this guy had some very subliminal techniques to try and earn your trust. He would sign all his emails with 'Officer' xxxxxxxxxxx and the address he wanted me to ship the item to was the local 'sheriffs' office, basically he was trying to fool me into thinking he was a police officer and therefor seem trustworthy. but what made me laugh was right at the very bottom of all his emails. it would say 'sent from my I-phone' i found this hilarious! if your sent a message from a genuine Iphone it reads 'sent from my Iphone'. another technique giving off the impression of wealth and success in an effort to gain trust....how pathetic is that!

Anyway heres how the actual scam goes down, if you agree to accept the offer which is very tempting because its alot more than the item is worth. infact i was offered more than the item was worth when it was brand new! .
They will send you the money straight away to your paypal account. So then you think oh great now i just send my item to Nigeria and the deals done.. but here is the sting. they get your item in the post. but they claim they never do. they go through paypal claiming they never received it and eventually paypal refund them the whole amount. so they get your item for nothing! and you get well and truely scammed.

Whilst my item was on 'Scumtree' as its now known i got 3-4 of these scam attemps all operating out of Nigeria claiming to be British away on business. it was just crazy. i will never use Gumtree again. and advise everyone not too. it seems to be full of scammers. il pay the extra ebay fees for the protection and peace of mind. Gumtree offers no protection, no buyer/seller feedback hell you dont even need to sign up, its a scammers paradise.

Just keep your witts about you guys

[mudman]

on a positive note,
I met my girlfriend on myspace, yeah doesn't sem likely does it, people often are not real on social networks, everybody usually pretending to be somebody else, but she was real and a great christian girl, a school teacher at a Christian school in North florida, over the months we talked through emails, then I'm's, and though I was a bit reserved, finally over the phone, she had a Shaklee business meeting in Vero Bch, about 20 miles north of me one weekend last year ,we arranged to meet ,just to say hello and discuss the bible and just talk, we did, did it again weeks later and a year has passed and we are a couple,spending time together when we can meet,still talking on the phone and sending lovely mutual comments over at Myspace.

[Will Heath]

My email address is all over the web, with the forums, the contests, the sales, and such anyone can grab my email address and many scammers and spammers do. I have seen the most outrageous scam attempts, from poor rich girls having trouble getting their deceased parents fortune, to people wanting to give me millions just for the privilege of depositing a few in my bank account. Asian wifes, deranged fans, who's who books, college degrees, Viagra deals, and anything else you can imagine. I report and junk them all on sight.


Good for you Enchantra!



Will

[Roobz]

Everyone gets spam mail Will. theres not much that can be done about it tho. other than being carefull who you give your information too. but even the biggest companies sell off our information to advertisers who then spam us with there junk.
i tend to get it in waves. one week of Viagra pills the next week the latest in deep fat fryers. then as you said i get the congratulations you have just one $1,000,000 kind of scams. what pisses me off is there our some people out there that are so stupid that they actually fool for these phishing attemps and follow it up trying to chase money that does not exsist..only to loose money and at times alot more.

just incase people are not aware. in your hotmail account (and others?) you can mark these emails as phishing scams instead of just deleting them.

[Enchantra]

jkl, on 03 November 2009 - 09:56 AM, said:

Take a cruise. I met my wife-to-be 57 years ago on a ship bound for Hong Kong -- she was 14 I was 15. This June we will have been married 50 years.

*snaps her fingers* Now if only the money tree in the backyard would actually thrive and grow I might have cash for a cruise! Nice idea though if I could do it. I could use the vacation if nothing else.

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Just keep your witts about you guys

That won't be a problem. I'm not one to trust easily. I'm anal enough about this that when I'm talking with a guy I throw their name into Google whether I think they are a scam artist or not, and have gone as far with one to order a background check. The guy I did the background check on? He apparently didn't exist, but when I looked him up on Google I found out he had been involved with an escort service among a host of other things. When I find as many descrepancies in a person's age as I found with his online it tips off problems. He was history.

As for this current loon job, scammer or not, he's history. His possessive and over-amorous behavior online without meeting me were enough for me to not want to deal with him anymore. I've had more than my fair share of guys with control issues. I don't need another one.

Thanks for your support guys. It's nice to know others have some good feedback on how to deal with these nuts. Right now I'm sitting here giggling because I'm logged into YahooIM and I can see this nut logged in waiting for me, but I know he cannot see me logged in. I wonder how long it will take him to get the picture he's been discovered?

[Joe Pelonio]

Keep these links handy and report them. I don't suppose they will ever all go away but you get some satisfaction in helping stop one.

I use this one to help fight spammers here:

http://www.stopforumspam.com/

And here's a couple of other good ones:

http://www.consumerf...g/reporting.php

https://tips.fbi.gov/

[Roobz]

Just thought i would let you guys know. AVG 9 came out a few days ago and since i upgraded i have yet to recieve any junk mail.

its well worth the upgrade. the free version is just awesome

[Bonsai Tyro]

I get spam from my own E-Mail address!!! So does my fiancee. Any E-Mails I get from myself automatically get sent to the SPAM folder.

MY sister met a guy over the Internet and ended up marrying him. Turns out he never divorced his first wife. She had a hell of a time getting things straightened out after that one. I'll never use an online dating site. I can find someone to take all my money just as easy down at the local bar!!!

[Roobz]

thats the spirit Tyro

[Enchantra]

So the Lunatic this morning sent me an email sounding all worried wondering why I hadn't been online. I read it and he was so sicky sweet I wanted to gag. So I emailed him back and here is what I wrote:

Quote

I have come to several conclusions over the past few days based on information given, and then based on things that made no sense. You are NOT who you say you are.

I am 99% sure you are some Nigerian or other African scam artist. I just figured it out before you got me wrapped around your finger and asked for some insane amount of cash for some reason related to a sob story. Your typing even shows patterns of someone with English as a second language. Sadly as a scam artist you picked the wrong person to victimize - I don't have cash, and I have a brain and believe in using it.

I want you to NEVER contact me again. If you are for real you have to be one of the most Desperate and mentally unsound possessive people I have ever met. No one will ever tell me who I can and cannot talk to, and if I am talking to friends and other people online it is truly none of your damn business. You have exhibited this behavior in conversation a few times now and that behavior signals a person with possessive and jealous tendencies, if not even abusive tendencies. I refuse to ever deal with this again from a person.

Please do not contact me in any way again. Do not call, text, mail, email, IM or anything else. I believe in using the legal system and I will get a restraining order. I don't even want to see a response to this email.

Adios.

I do believe that is about the meanest letter I have ever written to anyone. I didn't think I had it in me. Must be the Full Moon we had a couple days ago. The nut deserved it.

As of this morning the dating site had removed his profile based on the report I sent. I have saved all contact from him for evidence if they need it. I hope they nail him to the wall.

[Enchantra]

I don't friggin believe it! This guy had the audacity to create a new profile on the dating site and contact me again. How did I know it was him? The timing, the fact that he never looked at my profile before sending me a message like the last twit, and his profile wasn't completely filled out just like the last one. So I blocked this nut again, and reported the new profile to the dating service. Good grief.