Online Dating Scams - beware!

[adamadamum]

Hi. I just want to warn other women about what has happened to me. On Dating Direct I "met" a "lovely" man called Johnson, said he was widowed 5 years ago, has a 7 year old daughter living with him. Said he was a construction engineer. He wanted to chat with me on hotmail, set up an account for me (he never got my normal email address btw). I've learnt since, that scammers do that as the chat isn't recorded as it is on the dating sites, though I copied and pasted it all anyway!!!

He told me he had just got a new contract which involved a 3 week trip to West Africa, and then went last week. Two days ago he told me he had some trouble with customs and he wouldn't be able to come home until he paid the £900 they were asking for which he hadn't budgeted for.

Of course he couldn't access his bank account from Nigeria! So could I help! Send him the money via western Union!

Of course I smelt a rat straight away, he continued to go on about me sending him the money all last night (I haven't told him how obvious it is that he is a Nigerian dating scammer....!)

I've reported him to Dating Direct and it seems that they've removed him, but heaven knows how many other women he may already be fooling.....I reported him to the police as well, after all it is fraud.

I had been really excited about this man, he had seemed perfect for me (all part of the con I know), I wasn't duped financially because it was obviously a scam but until then I WAS duped emotionally.

Just thought you all should be warned!

internet is an anonymous experience promising much.caveat emptor anything to do with money. as a female on dating sites one must have a healthy cynicism otherwise smoothy blardy blah will con the witless

and frankly the responsibility lies with the individual (assuming they have capacity) to be net savvy

real friendships/love/connection doesnt exist on internet.one cam only establish that face to face,from proximity and contact

I used to get 'cold call' style emails of this sentiment to my AOL account.

I would never part with any cash for anyone, except a family member or someone I was married to or in a long term relationship with! Surely to do otherwise would be foolish anyway??

It's not the asking for money that's the problem - it's the weeks or months of contact beforehand that hurt most of the women who have been in contact with one of these low-lifes!

Most probably won't send money, but in the meantime they can be hurt, sometimes pretty badly if it's gone on for a long time.

do understand it is the false emotional connection.BUT one needs some savvy and a questioning why.and realistically how can you really connect with someone you have never met.words on a screen until you have face o face corroborating evidence.so months spent gassing to MrRight is bitty foolish

Well I've tried online dating and tbh find it rubbish - I always end up with someone I meet in RL. Perhaps I'm unlucky but there always seems to be a catch with online daters.

Not wanting to knock the OP who obviously feels hurt, but this sort of thing happens in real life too - the real message if anything is, sadly, don't be too trusting, take your time getting to know someone - and don't invest time or money in someone unless you're very sure of them. If you're not sure, don't do it - or check them out.

With the net thing, I'd suggest that if you like someone, arrange a meeting asap - that way you weed out the men in Nigeria etc for a start ..... ask for a home phone number - that should weed out the married men - and maybe it's cynical but google/find them on facebook if you have to ...

My friend has just had a lucky escape!

She met an "American" on Match.com, living in Kensington, with another home in Dubai. Supposedly a wealthy, professional man, divorcee, father of one, new business in the pipeline.

She's been sent flowers. He's in love. Wants to marry her.

Now his daughter in New York needs money for an operation.

Cue our suspicions raised! We've both read tons last night on this scam, and the formula is obviously tried and tested.

Most of his emails sent these last few weeks have included chunks of text cut and pasted from sites like Wikepdia (we googled a lot of it last night), passing it off as his own words to describe places he's been in Dubai etc.

Needless to say, she's hurt and embarrassed, but thankfully hasn't lost any money.

So to add to the OP, beware, they have a formula, a script. Don't give them your money!

Bump

Good evening ladies,
Due to my line of work currently in West Africa I can assure you that this is not advice to be taken lightly. The number of people - yes, both women and men from ALL walks of life - that fall for this form of romance scamming is very high and the financial loss to the victims often incredible, tens of thousands of Euros/Pounds/Dollars are nothing unusual! At the same time it has become a sort of industry in itself with some of these scammers simultaneously grooming several victims. I am sorry that I don't have much time to go into details but if typing "romance scamming" into your search engine should give you a good overview of all variations of this fast-growing "business". I used to wonder who all the people in the internet cafes of the capital city of the country in which I am currently working are: The majority are romance scammers.

Mm.
Watch Catfish

Thanks for replying. I also think that there's a whole industry out there, scamming people like my friend. It's a job for them and they do it well, this is why my lovely, clever, professional friend was duped :(
I wish we could find out who he was so we could rip his eyes out, the bastard.

If anyone's interested in the highly amusing stories of those scammers who get scammed, google 419 baiter / Shiver Metimbers / Ebole Monkey Man.

I realise it's cold comfort for those who have been scammed / nearly scammed, but I guess it's nice to see that there are people out there who'll happily give the scammers the run-around. It's also interesting to see how the scammers operate and how things pan out.

Or for attempts at men being romance scammed : www.matrixwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5013