Online dating is a big interest for many internet users and also is a large business industry. As such it also has a high potential for dating scam. Predators hunt where the prey is and the bigger the place, the better the potential for fraud to become a success. Looking for a partner online is not any different than any other search – search for a house, a second-hand car, a new mobile phone or any other similarities. In one simple yet important detail they have a common point: there always will be some people who will try to take your wallet on a date, not you.
Many people who are aware of the potential dating scam online, the first thing they have in mind is Russia. While it is true that many dating scams have the origin in this country or neighbor countries, it is not the Russians who invented dating scam, further only about 5% of all online dating services/persons are predators. As you see chances for you becoming prey of the real scammers are less than one in ten. Your common sense should stay alert and prevent you going to the wrong neighborhood and in addition to that we will discuss and reveal some of the tricks women or men are using to acquire their targets. Most of the con artists in online dating are female or pretend to be one, so we will reference the scammer as a “she”, but indeed you may replace it with a “he”. Be aware of the fact that there are some individuals out there who may try to extract from you some amount in cash playing on your feelings, but you must not become paranoid about it!
Marriage fraud is not an invention of the internet, nor is it new to this world. It is as old as mankind is. What Internet has brought new is the possibility of using typing to express feelings that requires much less actor skills than face-to-face communication. Paper can bear anything. Even a phone conversation can give you more clues of what’s really going on, but many times a direct conversation is avoided for rather obvious reasons. It’s either because the person on the other side is a scammer with poor talent and conversation skills, or a potential legit date who is shy. Unless you want a shy woman or conservative one, which in turn will most likely become a pain in the arse, you should avoid both. We now will have to look for some clues inside the text:
- The contact originates from a free personals site where anyone can place her ad for free
- It was not you who initiated the conversation; you received a letter from a lovely female who was interested in you. Her description of the partner is always very broad that will fit anybody – “kind and intelligent man, age and race don’t matter”
- Correspondence is always through email and letters are sent regularly sometimes even periodically and often, every day.A new picture is sent with almost every letter and the pictures are often numbered in sequences like (1, 2, 3…)
- She never asks about your job, possessions or the state of your finances, neither uses the word “financially secure” in her description of the prospective partner. We all know a girl wants to be financially secure and this question is an important one she would ask you if she was honest
- In her letters she talks a lot about trust, honesty and sincerity
- She does not answer your particular questions though she eagerly states she welcomes your curiosity. Any kind of secrecy should be avoided
- Her financial situation is very bad and she lets you know from the very beginning how little she earns, including the size of her salary even though you never asked about it. She pretends be a student
- She doesn’t remember what you have written. Actually, she may even not relate to the content of your letters at all, because she is too busy responding to other potential victims. The emails she writes are pre-written and sent to multiple recipients, with only few words changed along with your name
Scammers are not eager to give away their contact details. Having a postal address and phone number in addition to the email address is very important. Be sure to check them out if they are correct.
A VARIATION OF THE PROCESS
With methods described above the con artist will try to establish a thrust bond between you. Initial contact between victim and scam artist is to take the step in starting a relationship. Somewhere along in your conversation she explains that she currently is away in another country and that will not be returning to the States for another two weeks. As you dig and get to know the girl you find out more information about this hot girl. Her parents died in a tragic accident and she has no family or friends who can help her stateside and during the trip she was abandoned by her previous boyfriend in said country with no money to get home. Your next decisions will have impact on your future, with outcome almost the same. If you send the money, the contact will disappear, along with your money. If you don’t send money, the contact will be broken, but your finances will be left unharmed.
SUMMARY
There are a number of variations on the same basic scam. Usually the trick is to tell you a sad story on why she needs money. In some cases the scammers may be the one to create a profile on a dating site and wait for a potential victim to contact them. Typically, the profile will include a photograph of a very attractive young woman who will have no trouble attracting would-be suitors. Con artists may also strike up a conversation with a potential victim via an internet chat room or instant messenger like msn or skype. If you begin corresponding with a person with a view to a possible romantic relationship, remain cautious even if the relationship seems to be progressing very well. These scammers are very skilled at building trust and know how to make vulnerable victims fall in love with them. Regardless of the strength of your feelings towards a correspondent, you should view any requests for money as highly suspicious.
Avoiding being scammed is, in fact very easy. Don’t send money. If you suspect a scam or would like to report one, you may visit websites like:
Scammers use similar patterns or even same names and other personal information again and again. Therefore, you may even be able to expose a scam by conducting Internet searches through google on the names used by the scammers or key phrases from their emails.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
I was browsing through the web and found your website interesting. I have gone through the dating scams on the website and my boy friend whom I was dating online was trying to do the same and I sent him $500 last week. I could easily make my mind that I am a victim of online dating scam.
‘Onlineguards’ an antiphishing company alerted me about this first but i ignored it at first for which i had to pay.
I think Onlineguards has stuck to their word – to eradicate cyber crime from the face of the earth.Good work onlineguards,keep up!
April 15th, 2008 at 6:06 am
I wish I had reviewed this site two weeks and 1500.00 ago. I fell for an internet scammer by the name of Mike Wisdom from the UK from a Craigslist online personal. He told me every sob story in the book and still continues to contact me. What for? I have no idea, but ladies be forewarned. Send money to a relative or someone who really needs it that you know if you know. I wish I had of. I could have enriched the life of someone who mattered. Remember dont be fooled by words like sweetie, babe and I love you. Love equals actions and for the internet scammer, you’ll find none.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Read more about professional dating services premiersingles.com scam/fraud at
http://www.complaints.com/2007/october/19/Ultimate_Singles_aka_Ultimate_Introductions__Jaso_152832.htm
June 21st, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Mike Wisdom is an internet dating scam artist.
He stole 2500.00 of my money with his lies! He uses 7-8 different pictures of himself that are not him
keep your money ladies..,.mike wisdom is a scammer
Posted by Valecia
July 6th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Guys, no offense, but have you had success with ANY kind of dating? How has your experience been finding dates at local bars?
I am a PremierSingles.com member through StLouisSingles.com. I have attended 4 of their events. I have met some interesting people (guys and girls both) and made some good friends through this service.
I can’t comment on other services because I haven’t used them. Just wanted to share my experience.
Jonathan M
August 10th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Please tell me about Charlie Wisdom email address :”Charlie Wisdom” from UK is a dting SCAMMER or NOT???
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Beware of a guy named Frank Ike a.k.a Frank Rolland. He is a scammer who claims to be an american residing in london. He is a liar and a fraud. His email address is frank_i@rocketmail.com
I was his potential victim but i was too smart for him. He never got a cent from me.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
iv been talking to an american living in london he has given me an adress in kensinton and there is such a place but dont know if thats where he lives i cant check as i live to far away. i met him on uniform dating.com goes by the name of melvin . im so confused now dont know if its a scam as iv’e sent him 100 pounds but he says hes on a business trip abroad and his money stolen i had to send it by weston union .i talk to him on yahoo . have i been scamed?
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Most likely yes. Scammers know where and how to get money, and by telling a heartbreaking story to compassionate women will in many cases yield results (financial in this case).
While there is a slim chance that your “chat buddy” really got in trouble, there is a 90% chance you’ve been scammed. It’s a pretty common type of scam really.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hi. Has anyone out there been contacted or pursued by a kenneth jenks? Sometimes he goes by “K”… he claims to be in the U.K. Please reply, thank you..
January 10th, 2009 at 6:22 am
if you come across someone by the name of melvin gills an american living in london he is a scammer.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Terry Clem Hargreeves from London UK, civil engineer doing work in Benin City Nigeria; internet fraud and scammer needed cash after on-line talking for 4 wks…………email tery_clem01@yahoo.com
is a 100% scammer; states he is 3 yr widowed with 10 yr old daughter!!!
all lies…………….beware
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I think I’m being scammed right now by somebody going by the name Ann Winslet from London who volunteers for the Better Life Foundation.Pics sent show her to be blonde..they are all numbered a0, a1, a2 etc. Never replies to specific questions. The modus operandi is exactly what you described above.
Be warned..
February 15th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
tery clem gave me the same widow and raising a 9 year old daughter, Lucy story. He was quite charming but came on too strong and said he loved me at 3 weeks of messenger (Ist Red flag). He asked me to close my Match account because he didn’t want to lose me to another man (2nd Red Flag). He asked me to send a Wii game to his daughter in Nigeria ($450.00 w/sh) because he forgot to bring it from London and his daughter was bored while he was at work. He said he couldn’t get one in Nigeria. He promised to get the money back to me (the final and obvious RED flag). I searched the internet and found this site. Sorry, Terry, that’s all I needed. No one should ask for money or favors like this so early in the relationship/non-relationship. I’m out. Thanks Bustathief!!!
February 21st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Beware of a guy named : Henry Hanson Summerville. He is on a greek site advertising he is a sensitive good trustworthy person.
I wish I had read this page 2 weeks ago as I had fallen prey to a man who promised me marriage after 4 months and he is in Ghana and had a dealing with gold and needed some help. I went a borrowed money from friends and family as he could not get money from the UK (where is daughter is or the USA Portland where he lives. I send a large amount of money to him and promised he will be coming on the 14th of February 2009. I waited at the airport for 4 hours and he disappeared with the money and set me up waiting.
I just wish I know where to report this man and try to recover this money back from him to pay family members and friends back.
I am still in shock as I never expected it from him after so many months of a very nice relationship and promises.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 am
Terry Hargrave Ken gave me the same sob story as above however his wife died 3 years ago in child birth and his parents died 10 years ago, told me i was a vision, the only woman he could ever love, blah blah blah etc
I also met him on match.com maybe i should contact them and let them know that a scammer is using their site to con vulnerable women
February 24th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Hi all, I am writing a book specifically on women who get scammed by men through dating sites. I met a women on a plane to London that had unknowingly fell victim to a scam, she was so nice and so sucked into the whole story it was difficult to convince her that she was getting scammed.
Because of this experience, I am researching this type of fraud (that often never goes reported by the victims). I would appreciate if anyone that has fallen victim to this would contact me. All info will be kept purely confidential, but I would like to publicize this type of scam more widely so we can prevent this happening to others.
email: eddie at bovak dot com
February 28th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Scammers from BlackandWhiteSingles.com
These guys should be ashamed of themselves. These men tried but no man will EVER scam me out of my hard earned money. I have posted the following information on other scam prevention websites along with the pictures sent and reported them to the FBI.
Scammers:
1. Tino Headwhite (Asked for $2900)
tinoheadwhite@yahoo.com
In Canada by way of New York and Arizona
Stated Profession: Engineer
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: Son
2. Alex Vega (Asked for ($10,000)
alexvega1960@yahoo.com
In England by way of Texas
Stated Profession: Engineer
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: Son
3. John Schneider (Asked for $5000)
majorjohn@yahoo.com
In England by way of New York
Stated Profession: Engineer
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: Son
Welcome to IC3
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
To file a compalint with the FBI:
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
IC3’s mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes. read more >>
Filing a Complaint with IC3
IC3 accepts online Internet crime complaints from either the person who believes they were defrauded or from a third party to the complainant. We can best process your complaint if we receive accurate and complete information from you. Therefore, we request that you provide the following information when filing a complaint:
Your name
Your mailing address
Your telephone number
The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual or organization you believe defrauded you.
Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded.
Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
I just need to correct the person Henry Hanson Summerville ’s name as he contacted me and busy making arrangements to repay all the money that he borrowed. He is indeed a good person but because of certain circumstances he could not get to me and could not make contact with me. I just want to correct and make his name clean again.
He is a respected person.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
i am in the process of finishing up with my scammer. so much money, so much grief. i learned he was not even the person in the picture. how sad, to be so taken in. so hard to beleive the world is not an evil place. theres not even a safe place to meet people, the world just got smaller for me. i wish i could speak w/others about this, that is the only way i know to share my pain. but again, no trust on the internet. My scammer used the name MARK WILLS, he has been staying at Zamza Guesthouse and working with a man named Samuel Addotey. I think he is in over his head, not to mention bad karma. Im disgusted and shocked at how many men and women are taken so advantage of. god help us all.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Terry Clem from London, civil engineer is a scammer. He lied that he was in Spain and needed help with a tax situation. He was not infact in Spain. He was adamant that he needed some Euros and when it was obvious that he would not succeed, he never contacted me again. He was online for 2 weeks very charming and romantic. His pictures show him to be mildlt retarded I have to admit!!! That is why he is still scamming even after four women have exposed him. I doubt that he has a daughter named Lucy and I don’t think he is British or German. He sounds west african or jamaican. He is looney!!! now you know.
April 12th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I must say that my mouth has not gotten off of the floor yet after reading all of the preceeding messages. I too was scammed by Tino Headwhite, whom I “met” on Black and White Singles.com. He was as smooth as they come. I had only been on the site about a week when I met him. I instantly had red flags up about him as he never initially wanted to talk on the phone. Yet, he was always online…I mean always!! I would check back at all hours of the day and night and he was always there and he never wanted to talk on the phone. He professed all of this great life enduring “love” for me almost instantly. I have no one to blame for all of this but myself because I knew better but I allowed him to con me and to smooth talk me and I actually began to feel sorry for him. I mean, we were supposed to meet up in Atlanta after he came back from Malaysia. He provided me with e-confirmations of his flight schedules and purchases both going and returning to the states. He had it all mapped out and I just let him explain all of my concerns away and I trusted that maybe I was being too hard on him and that maybe I should give him a chance. Well I gave him more than a chance, I gave him $1200 when he said that he was robbed outside of his hotel in Malaysia and that he was not able to pay his hotel bill and he could not get back to the states. Though I was reluctant, he used every ploy to get my emotions caught up and I eventually gave in to him because I felt sorry for him. He promised to pay me back…sent me text and email messages to “feel better and trust that he would pay me back because he loved me so much he could never hurt me.” Yeah right. That bastard still continues to contact me saying that money means nothing to him, only our relationship. No money has come back to me and it never will! Ladies, BEWARE and AWARE PLEASE!! Also, I must be a magnet for this type of scheme because I too was contacted by Alex Vega, John Arnold, and Ronald Evans…all Engineers, all traveling overseas dealing in oil and gas. All professing massive love very early. I have advised Black and White Singles so maybe they will devise a system to alert all unsuspecting females. I googled Tino and thats how I found this site…he struck long before me…same email, story, everything!! I am filing my complaint also.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Watch out for Jonathan Dolph. He claims to be an American living in the UK but working in West Africa with UNICEF. He has a 15 yr old daughter in the hospital undergoing treatmeant for a car accident that happened 5 years ago. His wife allegedly died in that car accident as well. Both his parents are dead and his sister is 28 yrs old and is a nun. He has pictures that he took from a website called focus agency. http://www.focusagencyhawaii.com/view_male_models.htm. He uses the pictures that are located in commercial and the models name is Casey. When I confronted him about this he says that was during a time in his life that he no longer does that and his nick name is Casey. He tried to get me to send $200 dollars to Joyce Chen in San Francsico and when I did not he got brutal. He told me he loved me within the first week and claimed he wanted to marry me. He deleted everyone from his facebook page. I met him using the application on facebook called Are You Interested. Watch out!
April 17th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
watch for this person his name is federico galonii, an amercian working in nigeria, he needs money right away, oh he wanted to marry me, don’t trust him he is the web site Latinosinglesmeet under lordschoosen his picture is posted with a child, so watch out
April 18th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I have been contacted by Terry Clem. He sounded too good to be true. Thank you to all the women who posted the fact that he is a scammer – saved me a lot of heartache etc. He comes across as very romantic and caring. He told me the same story that his wife and second baby died in childbirth. He also told me about Lucy his 9 year old daughter. Thank you again everyone and others beware !!!!
May 1st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Let me add another scammer to the list…Ronald Evans. He is posting his profile on Black and White Singles. Supposidly he is in oil and gas, an engineer or some sort of variation of this. He is out of the country. He sends a generic email, the exact same one mind you, professing a lot of interest. He needs a dictionary and a few English courses but don’t be fooled thinking that he is sincere. Be aware! He will ask you for a yahoo chat id so that he can begin communications there. Usually, his yahoo account will be something like evans2kn02 or evans2kn01.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I met a man on the site name of Nicolas Sean Morgan, design engineer, has lots of money, said he loved me after a week, and wanted to marry me!! Said he was In London on a contract……hasn’t asked for money yet!! I asked him for proof that he was a real person, and he became very upset…….said that if I loved him why would I question him?? that I should trust him til he arrived back in the states…..talked to him in person, sounded Middle Eastern….there needs to be a web sites that list names and where they puport to come from or live, and the link should be on every dating site……….that would stop alot of the scammers!!
May 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
forgot!! I told him that I was going to send him a suprise, and got his adress…..looked it up on Google maps, and it was a small apartment flat…..no fancy hotel like he claimed!!
May 17th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I met a man who said his name was Matthew McCoy on yahoo personals. We chatted every day for a week. He said both of his parents were deceased and he was an only child. He had to go to London to collect a check for his parents’ estate or something… he wanted to fly back to the states, but needed money since the check for 500 pounds wouldn’t cash for some reason. He wanted me to send him around $600 through Western Union. He said to send it to a man named John Harris who supposedly was a travel agent in London. He kept asking me for my address and phone number… thankfully I recognized right away that it was a scam. Ladies, please don’t be fooled. This man had multiple pictures of himself. Very believable…
May 27th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Can anyone confirm is Charlie Wisdom is a dating scammer? Someone else posted a question about her last year.
June 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I met a guy through a dating site, he told me his wife and young boy died 7 years ago in a car accident while he was at work , only his girl survived , the girl is now in Nigeria and he asked me for money to send her since he is in the sea,and the weirdest thing that she got 2 lines a 14 year girl got one english, one nigerian line , and the english number is reported on WHo CAllS ME SITE “that a poor guy woman are asking for money” . I don’t even think that the pictures he sent me are his and his daughter was so blond as a baby and now she is almost black . Maybe am mistaking but it is not good what is happening.
And i think he is the same man that L.H mentioned
June 8th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I too encountered the same Matthew McCoy as the person named Lucy (May 17th). Same scam, but of course I knew something didn’t add up. People you don’t know shouldn’t ask you for money – at least normal people don’t. And he too said he was from the states but his grammar seemed iffy at best.
June 14th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Thank you for all these information, Terry Clem just told me he will be traveling to Nigeria tomorrow, he is widow and has a 10 years old girl, living in London, so now I know what will be his next step.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I have 2 to add to the pot. god.son01@yahoo – alais Ward Martini and Dennis Ajose. He is a 53 yr old architect, widower, parent deceased when he was 5 live with his uncle in england who is currently in China building a mall with his 10yr daughter. Someone stole 40,000 from his bank and now he has no money to return to his home of MN. Loved me after 1 week, asked me to remove my profile from bbpeoplemeet.com. Never called me a was available by im a lot in the beginning but once he got stranded and I have no money to send him he is rarely available but lo and behold a man named Jude White, 55 widower works for the UN has 12 tr old son, from Italy live in LA has office and apt in NY. email gbati40@yahoo also goes by Joseph White. He is now trying to hook up with me. Both guys pics look like men in their 30’s both men very good looking of course.
Just thought I’d let you gals know about them. You’d think they’d be a little more creative in their M.O.’s Same story different names/faces.
I’m sure it’s probably some real dip running this.
Oh well, at least they got nothing from me. You don’t fall in love after 1 week of IM.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Hello Ladies,
I feel your pain. I too was almost taken for money. My guy name was Anthony Gomez(goviwoo@yahoo.com,Jotan707@yahoo.com) from supposedly Fremont Ca, but doing Civil Engineer work in England for bus station. He told me nice things about himself and his mom. Then the perfect picture started unraveling.
He had to have a surgery and needed money $1200.00. Also, his mom could not give it to him because she was sick and had paid off the barn house. I almost sent the money to a third party as his request but was not able to. He asked me to send $400.00 to a friend in PA. through western union.
I’m glad I was not able to gather the funds to give to him. Please be aware of him. He is on every dating site from UK, Craigslist to CA.
Please be careful women, because we are lonely and looking for Mr. Right we become opportunist for predators.
Take care
July 1st, 2009 at 10:55 am
Hi ladies be aware, Ward Martini a/k/a god.son01@yahoo.com also is now trying to scam $3000.00 for money for airfare for him and his 10yr old daughter from China. Very Romantic said his birthday was same as mine on 6/17, If he tried to do it to ANNE and did not success, now he is doing it to me, but thanks to this site I got the same story about being and orphan at 5yrs old and an uncle raised him in England. What a scammer said he was an engineer/architech and was building a mall in China and someone took $40,000 from his checking account and now it is being investigated by the bank and he has no money to come home. So, ladies be aware of this piece of no good man who is living off good woment with good hearts OH, he also wanted me to donate over $1000.00 dollars to the orphanage of little girls who are unwanted in China, got mad because I donated directly to the orphanage and not to him.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I am being contacted right now by a Guy named Kenneth Jenks that is in the UK and wanting to come home to NC?? He said that he is waiting on a shipment of cars to clear customs in London and even sent me a letter from the port authority saying that he needs to bay the clearence fees before they will clear the cars? I am wondering if it is the same Kenneth Jenks that someone on here is talking about
July 7th, 2009 at 5:15 am
I think that this Terry Clem guy might be using a different name. His name is James Yorke. He is saying that he is an international civil engineer. He lives in Madison, WI and now in South Africa doing civil engineering work. He never asked me for any money but when I called him on the phone, I could tell that he was not British or American but African. I also use a website called http://www.spypig.com. This tracks where the person is and how many times they have read my emails. My email tracked this person in Nigeria. It tracked him twice in Nigeria. Now I know that he was lying because he told me that he was in South Africa. What upsets me so much about this. Is first of all, this sort of thing has never happened to me before. Second of all, this person was very romantic and I really trusted him. I feel very fooled. I didn’t lose any money over it besides calling him. But if I hadn’t called him then I would of never found out. It just breaks my heart though because I as a person I try to be very honest and would never do something like this. So, beware,this Terry Clemen may be using a different name now as James Yorke.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Seems like this Terry Clem is too popular…
He contacted me at match,com in April, sent me a lovely letter, then told me at the second letter his sad story: widow, no parents, 1 daughter, engineer living in London, no friends, just workers. Im 8hrs of difference with London, After four letters we chat a couple times, he said he wasnt anymore at match because he was impress by me!!!! ha, ha…
The strange part was when he told me he wasnt too skill with msn, suddenly logout without an explanation; I had a similar experience before with another guy so i decide to stop having contact with him. Does this pics descriptions are familiar?: (he is blonde, tall, slender) 1) He with a green field background, caring a parachute. 2) He is sitting at the kitchen, behind a table, with half of the pic cut. 3) He is smiling at a patio, near garden bricks.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I have come across several of these “men” who all lost their wives due to some cancer or car wreck….yada yada yada. they all have a son and travel outside of the US for work but live in Florida. LOL
They all want to chat on IM. their facebook profile has NO friends and they all have a “hot looking” man for their profile pic. Are You Interested on facebook is where you find a great deal of them.
I have gotten used to picking up on their stories real fast. They see I am a widow. So, they ask: do you own your home? do you work? how do you take care of yourself and kids? it’s the same crap. broken english in the typing, too. Once I realize who/what they are, I let them know I have dear friends who work for the FBI and that usually makes them disappear.
What a scam. It’s pathetic.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:04 am
anyone heard of a man basketball coach in Nigeria @ univ of lagos. parents died when he was 15 or 16. met him on myspace. uh played with denver nuggets and then went to spain to coach and now in africa. suppose to come back to states in a few weeks. has not asked for money. kinda sounds he has lots of money. no children. he says i am his soul mate? send me a piture…. looks like a model.. all signs he is not real. chat on line almost everyday….help anyone.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 am
Just an FYI don’t reply to any guy named Macus Bently Smith, or Marcus Bently Smith, he is a dating scammer!!! Email he gave was macusbentlysmith@yahoo.com
August 4th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Matthew McCoy has also contacted me…although he has yet to ask me for any money. He has given me the same story…dead parents, in UK straightening out their estate, adopted…blah, blah, blah…he’s been sending me pics, emails, and IM’s now for days. I have been talking to several people lately and they’ve all wanted to meet, and I felt something was up with him so I’ve been googling, etc… forever. He keeps asking me to pick him up from the airport though…which I am not doing, nor had any intention of doing.
Next IM I get from him, I’m going to call him out and see how he repsonds, lol…
Ahh, internet dating.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
More and more dating sites are adopting new technologies that help them keep “the bad guys out.” Device identification is one such technology. It enables the dating service to spot fraudulent behavior by the computer the fraudster is using. Once identified they can keep the scammers out.
I know it works because I just interviewed a co-founder form Chellaul who is a new ThreatMetrix customer. They kicked off 1,500 scammers within the first few weeks.
Dating customers will be glad to know that more and more sites are adopting this technology.
Check out the blog at the ThreatMetrix web site that tells the Chellaul story.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Met David Williams (donecool27@yahoo.com), widowed father of girl aged 10 and boy 12 who are being raised in England while he works in US and travels for business. We talked for a few weeks, grew quickly attached, he sent beautiful flowers, he even spoke to my children on the phone and made them promises of being their new daddy. We had tons in common and trust built quickly. He was off on business one day and he called Monday morning in a panic to say he had just been robbed at gun point & all he had left was a few dollars in his pocket and his cell phone. The manager of the hotel he was suposed to check into was taking him to the police station to make a report yadda yadda. An hour later there was another call the now they were refusing to let him into the hotel as he had no money and could I send him enough to check in for the week until his bank could send him a new card? Hew was supposed to flyt o see me after this trip as I was having surgery and he was bringing his kids and we were going to discuss getting married in detail etc.
Needless to say I sent $700. Thursday comes and th emanager is demanding more money and his workers are striking as he does not have emough to pay them. Can I send more? I refuse and we get into a huge arguement over the phone with my son listening in which upsets him greatly. When he pushes me to take out loans & use credit cards etc to help him I remind him I am about to be off for a month with no income and he obviously has no respect for me demanding so much for me as ill as I was. He made one more bid then I hung up.
He has written a couple more times, apologising and professing his love and undying affection yet after reading here and doing a bit more checking on a few other cites… BEWARE DAVID WILLIAMS of Los Angeles, CA, UK, Lagos, Oil Engineer, Civil Engineer, Widow of 2 children, Belgium born having lost his parent at 17 in England.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Was checking out a guy and happened on this site.
This segment from a writer here furthered my suspicions and ultimately validated that he was a scammer in the extreme.
“Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Watch out for Jonathan Dolph. He claims to be an American living in the UK but working in West Africa with UNICEF. He has a 15 yr old daughter in the hospital undergoing treatmeant for a car accident that happened 5 years ago. His wife allegedly died in that car accident as well. Both his parents are dead and his sister is 28 yrs old and is a nun. He has pictures that he took from a website called focus agency. http://www.focusagencyhawaii.com/view_male_models.htm. He uses the pictures that are located in commercial and the models name is Casey. When I confronted him about this he says that was during a time in his life that he no longer does that and his nick name is Casey. He tried to get me to send $200 dollars to Joyce Chen in San Francsico and when I did not he got brutal. He told me he loved me within the first week and claimed he wanted to marry me. He deleted everyone from his facebook page. I met him using the application on facebook called Are You Interested. Watch out!”
He called himself Arnold Dolph, dolph_1x@yahoo.com single dad of one son 12 yrs. widowed, dead parents… google the name and you will get an address for him in Houston with a phone #.
office in Houston, Tx in a large complex that also houses “virtual” office space for anonymity.
the link listed in the above quoted report led me to the photos he had sent of his son.
the usual MO- Love in the first 2 weeks, charm, intelligence ( use the term loosely
he asked for gifts and money etc etc.
when called him on it, much tap dancing then the goodbye.
followed by my amazon account being hacked and money taken from my bank account via gift cards to amazon. Beware.
sick puppy~
September 15th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Watch out for a Turkish man named Ozzy or Compie Ozgur (real name Ozcan Ozgur). He works in Turkey as an entertainer but trawls Facebook and msn particularly in the winter months looking for his next victims. He uses Zoosk dating and the Are You Interested applications on Facebook. He targets all kinds of women and will claim that he is looking for the right one to settle down with, age is not important and neither is looks as it’s your heart that matters.
His MO is the same as many scammers: early declarations of love, wanting you to visit him or to send money for him to visit you. Truth is he can’t leave Turkey and won’t get a tourist visa so you’ll never see that money again. He also asks for money saying that he will go to jail if he doesn’t pay off his debts and needs a ‘loan’ from you to prevent this happening. Or he will tell you that he needs money to book your marriage celebrations and honeymoon. As he is already married (he always claims to be divorced) this will never happen either.
His stories are many and all lies. He is a conman and thief who you’d do well to avoid. His latest success was getting £400 from a woman who thought she was going to be his new bride. His facebook name is compie ozgur or ozzy.osbald and his emails are legendminatour@hotmail.com and dj.compie_20@hotmail.com
Facebook have closed his account twice for his harrassment of women and for suspected scamming but he just bounces back with another user name and the same old crap.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:05 am
BEWARE GIRLS – TERRY KEN HARGRAVE has moved his target to AUSTRALIA.
On the 6th September 2009, I was contacted by seemee22 on Match.com, the name he goes by is Terry Ken Hargrave, 42yrs old, lives in London. He told me he has a three yr old (Lucy), her mother died three years ago from child birth. His mother died 10yrs ago and father when he was a child. He said he is a Civil Engineer(Contractor)and has a Swedish acsent. He is still on Match.com as neck79 with a different picture but same profile as seeme22. Terry is using this email address terryken64@yahoo.com.
neck79 is still going by Terry Ken Hargrave thou, when he changed username from seeme22 to neck79 for Match.com it also updated a different photo in my in box, that is when my alarm bells started ringing. I told him that I had stopped Match.com but I lied, lucky I did cause now I am making him work for it.
I told me he has a contract in Nigeria and has taken Lucy with him. He keeps asking me to meet him there in Nigeria. Today he asked me for money as he has not got the currency to pay for a tax fee. Last night I googled his whole name and found him on this fraud site. So I have told him that my money is in investments and cannot get it out, he has asked me to ask someone to lend the money ($5000) to me to send it to him.
He is still ringing me and emailing me, I am hoping to work out a way to get him court. I have emailed Match.com about him and letting as many people I know about him.
Karma will get him one day girls!!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
hi ladies please beaware of some1 who goes bt the name of gary goody he is a scammer i found out the hard way he got £10,000 of my money b4 i realised. he said he was a construction engineer from either hull or manchester i fell for it no he was from nigeria i am still trying to find him to get my money back please be aware of him.
take good care ladies
val
September 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I recently met a guy on the dating website interpal.com he claim to be divorced male with a 15 year old son, attending school in china, and he is working on a oil rig in Uk, he asked me for 300usd for his son’s birthday, after 3 weeks of chatting online he told me he was madly in love with me i could not believe that, i have seen about 4 pics of him they look very professional, i have ask him to show himself on cam but he claims he don’t have one, he told me that he was coming back to usa in oct of 2009 as his contract will be done in Uk, he claims to make 150,000 but yet can’t send his son 300usd for his birthday, i asked him for some pics of his son he sent me two pics of some blond headed little boy that looks to be about 8 are 9 years old far cry from looking 15 years old as he had stated, i have chatted with him on the phone about maybe 5 times he don’t sound American at all he sounds European, and yet he say he is 100% Irish American, when we chat online he can’t grasp some of my English slang words, at all he keep saying huh , huh , as if he can’t understand me, he claims to be from California , but when i ask him some local things about California he jump the subject to something different, i have not sent him one red cent and don’t intend to at all.
October 6th, 2009 at 5:25 am
I had a run in with Mr.Tery Clem who claims to be a civil engineer and have a daughter named LUCY who just had her 12 birthday.In june of this year he claimed to have a job in Nigeria. He then ran into problems like
taxes, no family,no friends,no food and always saying how beautiful i am.
I just got a call from a legitimate doctor in Nigeria saying he got my number from tery’s phone. He had gotten robbed and shot at close range.
The doctor may be legit but the story isn’t…he said that I will have to send money to save Tery’s life or let him die. I don’t have to ask what you ladies wanted….so i typed his name and came across this warnings. Oh! Lucy died. how sad…and i met him on match.com. This saves me alot of grief. thank you ladies
October 6th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
ascom.smith@yahoo.com is a scammer. Found a site that has 90 pages of pictures and MO’s scammers use. I now demand a picture and go check it out internet-love-scams.org Check it our I was very enlightened.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
here’s another one. LOL wife died of cancer, has a dauther almost 3, working outside the country in republic of benin right now but says he lives in Eden, NC. Same M.O. as others (method of operation) – once i let them know one of my best friends was an FBI agent and a US immigrations agent…currently a Private Investigator, they ’sign off’ IM real fast! ROFL
this guy goes by “From: Ryan Gutenberg [mailto:ryangut75@gmail.com]”
another on is Eric who claims to be from NY…works out of the country a lot in Art.
I wish i could remember that one guy who actually had 2 profiles on facebook (are you interested) with 2 different ages. I called him out on it and he said it must be a facebook error. LMAO!
ok….so, what out for these guy, too.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Hi guys, I am also writing to warn you of a man who goes by the name Gary Goody. It was only thanks to Val’s comment that made me see sense and I am forever grateful to her.
Two days after he fleeced £10k from Val he contacted me using the same alias, sob story and presumably piccy.
He befriended me by email and very nice and said the right things, that his wife had died in a car crash and that his daughter and Mum lived in Japan.
He also stated that he was a construction worker in Nigeria and that he had knocked down a little girl who desparately needed money to finish her treatment otherwise she would die. The pressure was put on me to hand over this money.
He even had the gal to call me and I got quite a shock when he sounded very Nigerian
Alarm bells had been ringing but my compansionate side got the better of me.
Thankfully due to all my friends, family and particulary to my brilliant son he found this website before I parted with anything!
I will be handing over the information I have on this guy to the Police.
LADIES BEWARE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED TWICE NOW.
Alli
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Susan: I have been having an online relationship with David Williams since feb 09 and also have sent him money can you e-mail me I’d like to get more information my e-mail address is countryheart4@yahoo.com thanks
October 24th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
To all the ladies who have posted on this page:
I have been reading your comments for the last month or so. It has become clear that the online romance scamming syndicate is in no way slowing down. I have been “online dated” by the Terry Hargrave scammer mentioned numerous times on this site. He used a different name, but the story was the same – born in Europe, civil engineer in England, widower, gorgeous photo, loves me to bits and pieces, goes to church every Sunday, daughter named Lucy, both parents dead, no family or relatives, travels frequently to build big construction projects, has a big and beautiful house, multiple expensive cars… yet need to borrow a few thousand Euros from me for a medical emergency.
I refused of course, as I had been watching the red flags waving at me the day we started communicating. After putting me on a guilt trip, he tried again a week later, finally “dumping” me because “we cannot build trust”. “Trust” is the key word here – the word that will get us to part with our money. I think they even “blacklisted” me as a waste of time now. Several scammers (I can spot one from a mile these days) contacted me after him, then promptly blocked me from their profiles. One tried to pull a fast one asking me to view his photo album from some site that required me to download a .exe file. I asked why the need in this day and age when he can use the dating site’s backstage gallery, or Picasa or Flickr etc. No answer back of course. Knowing they can’t get me to “trust”, they try to use a .exe file to hack into my computer and steal my financial information. So be careful. They don’t just stop at first rejection.
There is no “love” with these scammers aka Boiler Room Boys of Nigeria. Every word in their story is part of a well-orchestrated setup, right down to the fictitious hotel manager – to get our money one step at a time. It takes a special form of low-life, scumbag and sleazeball with no heart or soul to use the name of God and young children to lie their way into a woman’s heart then trick her for her money.
I did IP traces on ALL the emails received from my scammer. The first was from an ISP in California, with headquarters in London, England. All the in-between ones romancing me were from Lagos, Nigeria. The last one just before the supposed trip to Europe was from Australia. Why Europe? Because Nigeria is the only African country that transacts in Euros other than the local currency. To tell me he was going to Nigeria would have been a dead giveaway, as he may have been remotely suspicious I was on to him.
Ladies, please wake up. We are not dealing with “a” scammer. It doesn’t matter what name or email address or dating site handle. It is a whole international network spanning the globe as this is turning out to be such a lucrative business for them, all thanks to our kind but lonely hearts. The first contact is from some entry-level first-tier scammer who sends out boatloads of emails to whomever. Upon a response, the “Romance” scammer takes over to build trust, using everything he’s got – God,young child(ren) to tuck at our heartstrings, sexual overtures etc. When time is ripe, the “Closer” steps in to help us find our way to Western Union.
This is organized crime. Because they operate outside of N. American soil, there is no way our authorities can indict them. So ladies, please forget about responding to someone out of country. This is the only way these scammers can get us to send money without first checking them out physically to verify the facts. This is why most of you ladies reported having met the scammer on Match.com. It is because Match does such a fine job of shooting off profiles internationally several times a week, practically delivering fodder fish to the piranhas.
I have met numerous good local men online, with real jobs, real homes and real lives. A number of them have become friends or given me business even when a romance did not pan out. There is no need to respond to anyone out of country to find a mate. If we want to use the internet to find a man, we owe it to ourselves to use it wisely and with caution.
Here is a good site for info on scammers: http://romancescams.org/. I learned a lot from there. Just be patient ladies, and all the best. – Helen.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:06 am
don’t be scam by a toni c moore from charlotte,north carolina sending fraud money orders from money gram thru united parcel and has connections in nigeria this person is causing alot of heartaches please be aware…..
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:51 am
I too was scamed by David Williams (donecool27@yahoo.com) after 2 weeks of talking he was leaving to go to London to try to win a contract. he also told me he had a daughter that lived with his dead wifes mother in the UK he said while he would be in the UK he would visit his daughter. later he told me he was awarded the contract and was worried as it was in Africa and it was in a dangerious area. I begged him to give the contract back and not take it but he insisted he was doing this to secure our future.
The next day he left for Africa we talked a little on I M after he arrived and he said he was booking a room then and that he was at a internet cafe.
a couple hours later he came back online and said that he was robbed at gun point by 4 men. and wanted to know if I could send him some money to cover his motel and for food. He and his daughter were suppose to meet me after his business contract was finished. I sent him some money and kept sending him money a little here and there while he was on contact figuring he’d pay me back when he came in. Then the day finally arrived for him to come meet me. he said he’d call me from the airport. but he didn’t.
I was worried as he always made contact.a day later I get a phone call from a plan claiming to be a doctor saying David was in an car accident on the way to the airport and that the had him unconsious. the doctor claims to have gotton my number off of Davids cell phone. he said david needed 3 different surguries on his leg. and that they could not do it without payment 1st. He said I could make installments and would get back to me on the amount needed.
The surgury was another $3,000 that took me months to pay for.then when he was finally discharged months later I sent him another $1,000 to refresh his ticket and get Erika’s ticket. after i sent him the money he called me very upset and crying saying the hospital would not give him his passport cause even though the surgury was paid for he still owed for his room.
that would be another $3,000. He claimed to be from Southlake Texas I in the mean time came accross this site and saw Susans report. I was involed with David for 8 months and have lost at least $5,000. I’m glad I saw Susans report before I spent another $3,000. so beware of David Williams parents died when he was 17 he told me he only had a daughter but told Susan he had a daughter and son.
here are 2 other e-mail addresses he uses as well.donecool27@gmail.com & dwilll38@rocketmail.com I met him on Christian Mingle.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:15 am
ALERT ALL LADIES!!Today is Nov.5,2009 and I have uncovered a scam at the dating site PlentyofFish.com THIS GUY IS ALSO MENTIONED IN A POST HERE..ABOVE MINE BY “PAMELA” ON OCT.9,2009: On 11/03/09 a guy by the name of Ryan Gutenberg contated me there. His e-mail is ryangut75@gmail.com. We exchanged e-mails..I never give out my phone number, real e-mail address, or anything that someone can track me on..you have to be safe..right? Long story short..he sent me an e-mail saying that he lived in Sherman Oaks,CA..which is also listed as his place of residence on his profile on the Plenty of Fish site. He said that he worked for IBM in the past,his occupation is an IT Engineer,has a 2yr old little girl that is almost 3yrs,her mother died of cancer,wants to chat on Yahoo Messenger,wants me to send pictures,will be home in a few weeks hopefully, but at the moment he is on contract work in the Republic of Benin. That was the red flag for me because I know where that is(West Africa)and I read alot..so I had a gut feeling this was crap. This morning I searched Intelius for him..nobody by that name in the state of California. So then I do a Google search on him and he has another profile on the site called Allsinglesmeet.com. It shows he joined there on Sept.8,2009, left one comment on that date to some woman in Michigan,then a woman from the site left him a note on the 9th.His profile says he lives in Wynne,AR..kid lives with mom in Hawaii..blah..blah. Just go read both profiles at both sites and see what I mean. The Intelius search obviously came up with nothing for him in AR either.He has no Facebook page either.The photos on both sites of him are of the same person but who the heck knows if it’s really him..lol!I am reporting him today to BOTH sites.I found this place by searching his name on Google and his name was highlighted in a post here by Pamela..as I mentioned earlier in this post.There is also plenty of hits on Google for Republic of Benin Scam. Be safe everyone!
November 5th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I meant to tell you in my previous post what his USERNAME is at Plenty of Fish BUT when I just went back there to look…he is gone! I have not even reported him yet..maybe he found this place at the same time I did (laughing but serious) His profile and photo are still up at Allsinglesmeet.com though!
November 6th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Ladies, all of these men are Nigerians! How do I know, I went the big step further and MARRIED one! I met him in Malaysia (note to BITTER: Malaysia is full of Nigerians without visas and money who are on the net courting women to marry/or just to get money. They particularly target women in the UK, US and Australia. They spend roughly 20 hours a day on a computer ‘working’. It is their business. They get in through business schools who they pay money to for an initial visa. Nigerians can get into very few countries which is why they need wives and girlfriends). Note to LUCY and HELEN: Western Union is their playground. It is really the only way they can receive money. Also lots of them are Western Union agents and make their money intercepting funds. I note names like Williams and Kenneth – very common. In fact Williams is one of the most common names in Nigeria. I met many nigerians with that name in Malaysia. The other way Nigerians make money is to send shipments of cars and electronic goods back to Nigeria…also mentioned. A favourite pick up line is that they want to help poor children and build orphanages (thats how mine got me!) They are also heavily into Christian sites and churches…joining to make more contacts and setting up their own christian sites to meet vulnerable people. They are very persistent and will call incessantly. Also they always have phone numbers from other countries like England etc easily obtainable over the net or from girlfriends ‘wives’ who buy the number for them and pay the bills! (I know one such girl in UK). I was persuaded to marry mine in Malaysia (rushed into it), sponsor him into Australia, send lots of money to his family in Nigeria, help bring his son out here, pay for his brother to go to Malaysia (who now does the net business and is marrying a girl from here so that he can come in too). He kept me so busy working and looking after his son and him plus paying for everything. Then a month ago a baby turned up to a young muslim girl….plus several other women, some on the net, some helping him with the baby. All never knew he was married. One site he advertised on was Afrointroductions.com where he was a 31 yr old single man named Larry. He is often Larry or Larry Kingsley; or Reverend Kingsley or Larry King or Larry Anos. He also has arabic aliases. His brother is Danial and his friends are Williams and Zion. Kingsley Anosike, or any Anosike is also very common. Once found out they will become violent. Keep up the good work, keep passing the word around. I live in fear and still have to go to court. These men have no conscience, no concept of love – it is just a way to make money and get what they want. Yes their country is in a terrible state and they have all come from poverty but this still does not justify the terrible way they treat vulnerable women.