Don’t Be A Target Of A Romance Scam
A Nigerian Scammer On Facebook Stealing Someone’s Photo
A Nigerian Scammer On Facebook Stealing Someone’s Photo
A Nigerian Scammer On Facebook Stealing Someone’s Photo
If you are on the internet, chances are, you might have been approached by a scammer hoping that you would fall prey to their tricks.
There are thousands of scammers sitting in other countries hoping that you will be the next one to take their bate. They all have one objective in mind, – that is to steal your money. There are many other ways scammers take your money, but lets focus just on the romance scams in this article.
The steps a romance scammer generally follows:
1. They tend to steal pictures of attractive white females or males, especially men in military uniforms .
2. They also take photos of men who are well off. A rich man always seems attractive to a woman. Men are usually widowed engineers, building contractors, military, vet doctors, surgeons or antique dealers. Women are usually nurses, models, charity or antique dealers.
3.They will probe you about questions regarding your internet dating experience. They are wanting to ascertain if you are aware of romance scammers.
4. Romance scammers mass-mail everybody on dating websites. Real people are quite selective who they email. They may contact dozens of people at once hoping to get a response.
5. They fall for you quickly, and appeal to your ego. Within 24 hours they are in love with you. They will complement you hoping to appeal to the side of you that needs to feel wanted. Depending on how you are receptive to their flattery will determine how long the romance will last.
6. They move the conversation from a dating website immediately to an instant messenger.
- Notice how they want to instant messenger at unusual hours of the day
- They never seem to be around on the weekends to talk.
- If you go back to the dating website, you may notice their profile is erased.
- The details they give you on IM are often different that what was stated on their profiles. Look to their birthdate, height/weight, and age
7. Look at their photos well. Do they have a wedding ring on the photo yet they claim to be single? Look at the example above, if they appear in uniform, does the name tag show to be the same name they claim? Foolish mistakes sometimes can be easy to catch.
8. Watch for the same old catch phrases. They say they are “God fearing“, “honest” and “caring“.
9. Common names they use are Cole, Moore, Smith, Martins, Williams, Kevins, Waynes, (instead of Martin, William, Kevin, Wayne). They tend to mistake first name spellings. Jenifer instead of Jennifer. Ashly instead of Ashley, or Marry instead of Mary.
Improper grammar
- They say “am” instead of “I am”, for example: “am Williams by name…”
- They say “hope to read from you soon”
- “i will like to heer from you soonest“
- “Do you have anyman you care to meet”
- “Do you have any man you planning to meet “
- “Am cheerfull in life ” (who uses the word cheerful?)
- “Ok so how will you feel if i says i dont mind you”
- “You are so pretty for my likeness “
They consistently use webspeak or abbreviations: u r ur cos pls/plz ma sry brb div acc
10. Keller, VA is often a place they will say they are from. Why? Because it has the same zip code as Nigeria: 23401. They often misspell the towns they claim they are from. When you ask them about local landmarks and attractions, they won’t be aware of them.
11. Pet names are used almost immediately as a term of endearment. hon/hun baby/babe sweety/sweetie
12. Ask them a typical question that most Americans, or Canadians would know, and chances are they won’t be able to answer it. Notice when they go to look up the answer to your question, they will be offline claiming they had a phone call or had to go to the bathroom.
13. You may catch them calling you a different name. These scammers often have more than one person at a time that they are chatting with. Sometimes you may catch them distracted, or appear as though they cannot remember the train of thought of the previous conversation.
14. You are asked to get a webcam, yet they never seem to have one of their own.
15. They send you a cheesy quote. Poems they send can be traced back to lovingyou.com, (1000s of Love Poems,or I Love You Quotes) and often times they have so many women they are scamming, they forget to change the name in the poem or letter to match your name.
16. They want your address right away to send you a gift. Flowers, teddy bears or candy are all purchased with stolen credit cards.
17. You are talking to him while he is on business traveling. They claim to be a United States citizen or your local area, but they just so happen to be overseas on business or family matters. They don’t know the correct time difference between where you are and where they claim to be.
18. They ask for laptops and cell phones to be sent to them.
19. They ask for you to open a bank account for them. Wells Fargo is a bank they target.
Their Money Scams:
1 They are on their way to meet you, and they fall victim to something. In other cases they could be almost on their way to meet you, but something will happen to them. They want you to feel bad that you were the cause of the accident. They may fake a robbery, be beaten, or land themselves in the hospital. You will be their only contact to ask for financial help.
2. They are broken emotionally – They have lost a spouse, a child or a parent in a horrific traffic accident.
3. Some scammers never ask for money, they wait until you offer . When they believe you are taken with them, a disaster of some sort comes up where they are needing finances. Often times they don’t come out and ask for money, but they wait for their victims to offer.
4. They provide you with options of how to send them the money. Western Union, Money Gram or bank transfer are the most common examples.
5. You cash a fake check, send them the money, and your bank account is out the funds. In the past, many scammers have sent fake cashiers checks. The victim cashes the check, sends them the money overseas, and about the time it is sent, the bank calls to inform the victim the check was fraudulent. They frequently send fraudulent checks though Qchex.com
6. Once the victim sends money once, the crisis never ends. They will always need more, or more events take place where they are needing money.
7. Re-Shipping Stolen Goods- They will ask you to re-ship goods for them, where these goods are purchased with stolen credit cards. Never re-ship anything for strangers, especially to Africa. Many online merchants usually don’t ship there because of this reason.
8. A Recovery Scam is also when a scammer re-contacts you pretending to be FBI, EFCC or any other authority. He tells you he can help you recover your money, but for a fee, of course.
If you have been fooled into a Romance Scam, please leave a comment below.
“We spent some time writing, then he called from a UK number.”
“After three months of communicating, the man agreed to come over and visit her in Sweden. But before that, he and his son needed to make a quick trip to Nigeria for a job interview, he said.Johnny called to let her know that he was at Heathrow Airport. And to say that he had landed in Nigeria. He also got her to speak with Nick. The next phone call was to tell her that he was in a Lagos hospital.They had been mugged, his son shot in the head, and they were without money and papers.”
Read more of this account at BBC.com