Sunday, October 30, 2011

Beware of scammer Rhonda Moline

From: Rhonda Moline <ro_mo1972@yahoo.com>
To: XXXXXXXXX
Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2011 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: Hi back!

Hello XXX,
How are you doing?? I am so happy you got interest in me,I have never talked to anyone like you before,Your Picture and Profile is very nice...I just want to be loved and have someone to love back the way I've always wanted. I want to find my best friend, my soul mate, my lover and my Prince Charming and you just seem like my perfect match,but no one is perfect but we try our best to be. My intentions have always been to meet someone who is kind, caring and considerate. Someone who is not selfish and when he says he wants to be with me,he means it but that seem to be hard to find. I want to travel for pleasure while I'm able, but want someone to share not only the special moments with, but also the 'not so special' moments. Someone who'll be there for me without question, as I would be for them, always.
I'm presently in South Africa doing antiques shopping and I hope to be back to the states in two weeks time week time...I love a sense of adventure, traveling, hunting, fishing, I like to take part in interests of my partner.I love to be outside and doing things, just a walk down the road or beach would be fun or sitting and watching the sunset or sunrise or just talking with someone special. I love to watch football, music etc,I listen to all kinds of music , jazz, Classic,Country and Blues.I love kids, they are my heart .Thats how much I can say for now and will be looking forward to hear back from you later today and hopefully I'll tell you more.....I learn from my parents that communication matters a lot in a relationship and helps get to know each other more better....Tom I would love you to Get a Yahoo Messenger Download so we could talk better and have a nice Conversation,If you don't have a yahoo messenger Download you can visit the website and get one Downloaded,I would be looking for you online Do have a nice day and stay safe.
Sincerely Yours,
XXXX (this idiot actually wrote the name of the guy "she" was writing to as "her" name)

Beware of scammer Melinda

This was sent in by a reader. She admitted to trying to scam him and wanted him to send her money once a month or whatever he could afford.
Subject:
Melinda From Match!!!
I'm Melinda by name and am an Antiques dealer..I'm currently in Nigeria On a business trip and i will be back in 2weeks time And am willing to relocate for that special me..I I realize that I am 34years old and that you are somewhat Older than me, if you would still like to correspond, that's fine...we'll see how things go after we get to know each other. Well, I hope that this lets you know a little about me, and I hope I don't come across as being too cynical, harsh, or resounding. I will give anybody the benefit of the doubt (we're all human, we all make mistakes), but I also don't like being taken advantage of. I'm just asking you to keep it real and be honest from the beginning; that way, nobody is wasting their time or getting their feelings hurt. I also realize that at times two people are just too different to be in a relationship together, it doesn't mean that it's anybody's fault, it's just that they're too different to be compatible. Hope this finds you in good health and that things are well with you. (and I hope I didn't scare you off)
Everybody makes mistakes and I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, but if the same pattern keeps emerging, it's over. I do not want to meet someone who may think that they will take advantage of me, or lie to me and cheat on me under false pretenses.. Sorry if that sounds harsh, and I'm not accusing anybody of any wrongdoing, but I'm being upfront and honest about that, so you know where I stand from the beginning. With all due respect as well, I hope that you are upfront and honest with me, as well.

I have been described as someone who love's to experiment in the kitchen, and hopefully it will turn out to be something great! I am not a gourmet cook though, but I sure do try to come up with something new, and exiting for that special evening. I do appreciate, and love, home-cooked meals, as well as a fine dinning experience. Friends have told me that I am extremely loyal, approachable, honest, and down-to-earth person. I don't take myself too seriously since life is to short. “Let’s go to a wine tasting or a jazz concert” is typically of weekends or maybe just a casual walk on the beach. Well reading is my favorite type of activity as well as listening to the music
Tell me more about you..

Melinda

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Letter From a Reader -- Iraq Gold Scam

Hi,   I signed up for  a membership on "Match.com".  Big Mistake!  While on this site,
I met an American solider by the name of Brian Gair.
He was a major, and from Maryland, so he said. He was stationed in Iraq.
When he would email me, his word choice and sentence usage made me believe that he
was actually from some country in Europe. We viewed each other on a webcam.
He told me that he loved me. Later, he told me that he and some of his buddies had
found some hidden gold and money. He needed my help to get it out of the country.
All I had to do was to contact the special UN courier that would be delivering
the package to me. I needed to provide my name, address, etc and a copy of the
front page of my passport to this man, who was Arabic. Needless to say, I did not
do this. I told Brian that I felt uncomfortable doing this. I also told him that
I wanted to date someone closer to home. This broke my heart. I really liked him
and I miss chatting with him. I know I will never meet anyone with whom I felt so
comfortable with. But, I could not trust him. Did I do the right thing? I felt
in my heart that this was a scam or something illegal that I did not want to get
involved with. was I right?



The answer to your question is YES, you did the right thing, and YES this was a
Major scam and a total lie. Try not to miss him or dwell on this, all of your
chatting
was done as an effort to get you to like him and trust him, so he could
hurt you financially.
No point in missing someone who had no real feelings for you.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Lonnie Adams / Jimmy Adams - A Scammer in Illinois





Lonnie Adams aka Jimmy Adams


Lonnie Adams is not a Nigerian scammer. As a matter of fact, he is right here in the United States in Illinois.
Lonnie Adams got into trouble a while back with the law in Florida, and rather than go to court, he fled to Mexico. While in Mexico (the Cancun area) he decided to "set up shop". He would put up profiles on dating sites and wait for his victims to come to him. They did, unfortunately. He puts on his profiles that he is looking for a serious relationship, but what he really wants is for you to pay his bills. In Mexico Lonnie Adams did not hold down a job, his victims paid his way. He would start out romantic at first, tell the women to come visit him in Cancun Mexico, and little did they know the place they stayed at (allegedly his) was actually paid for by another woman. He would have one woman paying his rent, another paying for his food, etc. Lonnie Adams would then start his shtick of how he wanted to have a motorcycle business and would give tours to tourists. Did he have the money to start this business? No. That was for some helpless female to pay. He didn't want to work for his own money, he wanted to scam for someone elses. He had numerous women coming and going to Mexico to visit him at the same time. One would leave Mexico and another victim would be on their way to see him. He never told them about each other, and gave them the impression that is was just the two of them. He would ask them for money for his rent, utilities, food, all while going to "meetings" (yeah right) and trying to get financing for his business (yeah right) from investors. He is not the best of con artists, because it seems he cannot behave himself and actually treat someone nice for more that 24 hours. When Lonnie Adams would get money from women, if it was not enough, he actually had the nerve to yell at them for not sending him more. He would tell these women they should quit their jobs, sell their houses, and move to Mexico to live with him. He wanted their money, not them, and had no intention of living with them. Can you imagine how evil you have to be to tell someone to quit their job and sell their home to move to another country with you knowing full well you have no intention of going through with it? Well, meet evil personified. Lonnie would actually tell numerous women to do this at the same time! Cancun, Mexico was like a safe haven for this guy. He figured there was no way these women could do anything after they were scammed, because he was safe in Mexico and they could not convict him of any crime. Well, Lonnie Adams forgot about one thing. When he fled from Florida to Mexico to avoid trial, he used someone elses passport. He was using the name Jimmy Adams. The US Marshalls came and got him and brought him back to Florida in shackles. He went to prison for a few years, but is now out. Since his probation is over, it seems Lonnie / Jimmy Adams is back at it again, trolling the internet dating sites. Now he is telling women he was a businessman who is so rich he does not need to work. He is in Chicago, Illinois, and now is telling women on the dating sites he only came there from Mexico to take care of his sick mother. (He doesn't mention the US Marshalls or being incarcerated lol) One would think he is finding it more difficult to do this here in the US because he can be found and he can get into trouble much easier than when he was in Mexico. Also, it was one thing to not have a drivers license in Mexico or a car.......but when you are over 45 and living in Chicago? Most women would wonder why such a "rich" man doesn't have a vehicle or drivers license. That, plus living with his mother = loser in most women's eyes. If he was so well off why isn't his mother living with him in his house? Why doesn't she have a full time nurse? Since Lonnie Adams can no longer use the bike business idea of getting women to invest, his latest shtick revolves around stem cells. His "idea" is to go after pro athletes and organize a surgery for them, their flight, and hotel rooms. Like pro athletes don't have a staff to do this? These rich athletes couldn't put that together with their own doctor? Of course they can. And pro athletes would do a background check before they handed over money to some stranger, and they would find out he has a criminal record. If you happen to come in contact with a guy named Jimmy or Lonnie Adams on a dating website (or anywhere) run for the hills. He will send you pictures of his bodybuilding glory days, spin his lies about how wealthy he is, his business ideas, and his time in Mexico, his clothing businesses etc. If you think you have come in contact with him we would love to hear from you. Lonnie Adams likes to quote the bible and refrigerator magnet-type sayings to sound spiritual. This guy does not even possess a conscience and obviously has no fear of karma.
He likes to talk about his glory days of bodybuilding, fitness, and put down as his occupation recently : health. (Obviously not mental health)The pictures are not photoshopped, he really is that short and has really short legs. Since he does not hold down a full time job (God forbid) Lonnie Adams tends to use free internet dating sites like plentyoffish.com (he is on there at the time of this posting)
His email addresses tend to have his name in it and usually a reference to Mexico, sports, etc. For example: cancunjimmy@yahoo.com and

Here is a link to where he was deported: http://apostille.us/news/diplomatic_security_helps_return_fugitive_from_mexico_to_face_passport_fraud_charges.shtml

Friday, October 21, 2011

More on Gerald

I had not heard from Gerald for 5 days now and decided to look him up on the internet as a scammer and saw your article on him.

He has scammed me too from Christian Mingle.com alias “divineloving” from mid-July up until this past Friday, Sept 30th. He has 15K of my money sent through Western Union (I still have the receipts and MTCN #s) to assist him buy fiber optic cables for a iZZinet company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which they had paid him some 520K for the job in the USA but he had to pay income tax before leaving Malaysia and he was held by customs before coming back to USA (copy of ticket included, payment services check and Ministry of finance letter/bill attached). I also saw Giovanni Daniels during an IM conversation on Yahoo.com. He had phone numbers for a Nigerian cell phone saying the company gave the phone to him because it would be cheaper to make phone calls from it (I did not suspect because iZZinet has a company in Africa but my phone company had called to warn me about money scams with Nigerian phone numbers as that one he had, I even told him about it….he managed to “drop them off the roof of iZZinet when he was adjusting their satellite dishes”—how convenient!). That’s the story in a nutshell….I have all of his emails and IM from him as well.

I would like to get the FBI and Western Union after him too and would like assistance on how to do that—I would think he should be charged with Grand Theft and Extortion at the very least!

Scammer Paul Jenkins on Guardian Soulmates


Hi,
I was contacted by someone calling himself Paul Jenkins on Guardian Soulmates.
He uses this email id: pauljenkins80@yahoo.com.

I'm attaching pictures of him.
He didn't ask me for money, but then I didn't give him the chance.

His story is that he's a widower, an independent oil-rig contractor working with Shell. He said he's based in the UK, at the moment in London/Manchester, and was on an oil-rig in the North Sea. Said his wife was killed in a road accident and that he's got a daughter.
First he said his wife was killed a few months after his 14 year old daughter was born. Then he said his wife died 5 years ago. he said his daughter was living with her grandma in Texas, then last week he said she was studying in Scotland.

He said he was trying to win a contract that would bring him to the UAE (where I live) for two years. first he said he'd got the contract. Then he said he hadn't. He said his daughter wanted to talk to me, and put her on the phone. I can swear it was him, trying to put on a little-girl voice. His daughter by now was 12, going on thirteen, and was off to do a two month dance course at the University of Aberdeen.

Please do let me know if you've got him registered anywhere else!


Help Him Fall In Love With You - Learn The Secrets

Beware of Albert Morgan on BlackPlanet



Albert Morgan
DOB 5/03/1968
Has yahoo messenger and yahoo email which is albertmorgan123@yahoo.com
Blackplanet profile name is wonderfulalbert111
BEWARE - Real charmer
asks you to send money via western union
Last contact Phone number is 0011447045787701
I met my scam artist on BlackPlanet.com a dating service online. Actually he found me, just 3mths ago. He sent me a lovely message, than I replied we exchanged email address and messenger details. Where we had been chatting and building a relationship, well that is what he led me to believe, we even exchanged phone numbers. We rang each other many times and he would leave messages on my voice mail how he really missed me and I was everything to him and meant the world to him and soon we would be together.

He said he lives in Jacksonville , Florida and was traveling to London for work. He was trying to sell a self funded project to the government over there. After a short period of time he told me that all his funds had been used up due to registering for licenses and permits etc and he needs funds to able to finish the deal and receive a large sum of money. I fell for his manipulation and he continued to carry on with stories of the project and I continued to send money to help him. Finally he told me he had received the cheque and was ready to travel to Australia and how we where going to be together and he was going to cash his cheque here and reimburse me all the money he took from me. However of course he needed money for the airfare, he sent me flight details etc and was having a stop over in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia once he reached there he started ringing me again saying he needed money to get through customs, for 2 weeks this continued as he was robbed and needed more money and than had to use that money for renewing his ticket to Australia it just went on and on. He kept promising me we would be together any day now. If I ever questioned him on anything he would say that he was hurt that I would think that, and he would says things like his word was his bond, he even swore on his mother's grave that he was telling me the truth and he would return my money and we would be blissfully happy together. He managed to scam over $6000 from me. I am a single mum with 3 children, I work 2 jobs and just wanted to find love and my life partner. Now I just have to find a third job to recover from all this mess. He has profiles on a lot of sites Netlog, my space, HI5, twoo and these are only the ones I know of.
He is very convincing and doesn't care how his deceit affects your life and what financial mess he leaves you in.




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Scammer Scott McKay on Christianmingle

This is my nightmare story. I met what seemed to be a wonderful young man on christianmingle.com. It started out simple, a few e mails through that site, then started e mailing me personally. Then eventually chatted on line, regularly. His story was so real sounding, that he lived about 45 min from me and owned his own company. He had a website for his company, showed that he was the CEO. Everything seemed believable, we chatted a lot on line, talked about church, our kids and every day life. He called me on the phone (of course I did not write the number down) and spoke to me. June 10th, he was taking a trip to London for his company, was to be gone for 3 weeks. After there, we continued to e mail and chat regularly. He was very polite and sweet sounding. He sent lovely e mails that any girl or woman would love to read. He called me his sapphire. Then it wasn't long until he started calling me babe and other sweet names. Then I love yous started coming. I first told him how can you say that you love me when you have not met me. He said he had been praying for a special person in his life and that he knew I was the one. I fell for every bit of it, all because it started from christianmingle.com. It ended after me losing lots of money, I am ashamed to say how much. I just can not believe that I fell for it, after all of the stories I have heard from shows on tv about this.
He claimed to be from IL and that he had a daughter (Kimberly) in college in Italy. He had a sister (Nelly) who lived in Italy as well, who was married and had 3 boys. His name was Scott McKay and was to be born in Merret, Georgia. His e mail address was scott2mckay@yahoo.com, work address was mscott@migacorps.net His daughter's e mail address mckimkay@yahoo.com His sister's e mail nellykay96@hotmail.com They probably all went to the same person. The final straw was that he collasped and had to have emergency surgery and the hospital in London was demanding payment for the surgery. I told his friend who was Nigerian (according to Scott) that I knew that medical care was free in the United Kingdom. His answer was yes for a public hospital, this is a private hospital. I contacted the US Embasy in London and the lady said there is no hospital by that name and the phone number that I was given was a cell number. He did not get any more money, but I am sure he working on the next victim now.
He is probably Nigerian that did not sound Nigerian on the phone, had more of a spanish-european accent. There was a family that used to go to our church that was from Nigeria. His accent was nothing like theirs. I since have had a phone call where they I was threatened to be put on a black list. He pronounced my last name correctly and had the last 4 numbers of my social security number. I will live past this, but it will be very hard and difficult for a long time, because I sent money to him instead of paying my regular bills. I also took out 2 loans for that idiot, believing that he was buying plane tickets and could not be renewed when he tried to use them. He e mailed me copies of the boarding passes and pictures of him doing different things, one at a beach with scuba equipment and one in a church playing the saxaphone. He was a very nice looking man, making it even easier to believe what he was saying to me. I have saved all of the emails and pictures although it probably will be useless to do, but perhaps it will save someone else from their scam.

Scammer Bill Arthur on Match.com


Ladies beware a very handsome man named Bill Arthur, working in Nigeria purchasing textiles, gold, fabric, antiques to bring back and open his antique store in Boston., claims to be from Boston. He says he's a widower for 5 years now. He moved to Boston from California one year ago to start a new life and leave his sad memories behind. He claims to have been born in Austria to an Austrian Dad and a mom from the Bahama Islands. But, sadly, he's an only child and his parents died together in an auto accident 8 years ago...
He slipped up and sent me an email that I had received a few days ago from another man on Match.com. I recognized it immediately and called them both on it. I reported both user names Pete000000NEW to Match.com and Bubblesmileyman9. They both sent me different pictures. One man had a child, one did not. One was a widower, one was divorced. One was from Boston, one was from NJ. But, I got an identical email from Bubblesmileyman9. He will immediately ask you off of the website IM and uses affectionatebill1957@yahoo.com for email and chatting. Luckily I caught on before things went too far but he had me hooked a bit with his lovely lines and romantic talk. He will call you baby, hun, sweetie a lot and very early one, I mean within the first or second email.
My advice, as the dating sites warn, don't give out any secondary email or IM addresses until you have spent weeks and weeks getting to know someone or you have met them in a public place to verify who they are.
The old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.....Go with that, it is very accurate.
Mostly, follow your gut and instinct. if it goes too quickly and sounds too tragic, get out!!



A SAMPLE OF ONE OF HIS OH SO CHARMING LETTERS!!!!

You sound like all I want, you are my perfect match. I am really going to put a lot of effort into writing this letter to you in hopes it will provide you with a good understanding of who I am, what I am all about, and what has made me the person I am today. The reason I am going to write a letter rather than just send a message is because I am serious about wanting to establish a quality friendship with you, and because of the fact I rarely contact anyone on here, so when I do you can be rest assured I am serious about my intentions. Smiles, you are welcome darling, i am blushing right now. I am sincere man, and i will never do anything to hurt my woman. I'm really a honest, caring and trustworthy man. I do not tell lies, I'm very simple too.

I decided to move here because of my business and I need privacy for my future due to the memories of my late wife at my former home. I have lived here close to a year now, the worst part of it is I have been unable to meet the right woman yet because of my wants. I believe that our faith is the very foundation of our lives, and also of a great relationship that will endure the test of time, I am looking for a woman that will be able to listen to me , communicate his feelings to me , make me laugh, hold and comfort me in need, stand by my side, respect me, passionate lover in every way, support me in every way, love me and only me, make me smile, protect me when needed, romantic time to time ,constantly reactive, and treat me right, I hate cheating/double dating for that I am one woman man... I know you will think what is a good looking man like me doing on here... Yes the reason I came on to the internet to find the special person who deserves all the love and passion that makes up my heart and soul is because I do not have the time to meet others out in a public setting, and the fact I feel you can learn so much about someone through letters, as a person has to take there time and think about the words they want to express, so it allows you to gain a better understanding of someone than you would probably otherwise.

Yes i got into the US when i was 10 years old, and we moved to the states It was really a great move, cause I've always wanted to visit the US. My parents passed away some years ago, and i really do miss them a lot, they mean a lot to me. I am the only child of my parents, and i miss them so very much.

About my work, well i have stores i sell all this things too, but once i get back home i want to set up my own store and i am so glad i want to do this. I'm going to name the store Arthur Antiques & CO. I really can't wait to get back home anyways, cause i want to meet you too. You really caught my attention sweetie. am into Sales and Marketing. I am into buying and selling of antiques, fabrics, Sculptures, and Gold, other things like Textiles. I am currently in Nigeria right now as we speak, i came here to purchase this items, and i want to set up my own store when i get back home. I got here 3 weeks ago, and i will be coming back to the US in a couple of weeks time, next week i should be home i think, because i would love to meet you. You really caught my attention, and i would like to know more about you. My work has never take me out of the states for work before, but this time, It seems to take me far miles..

Dear The very reason I am interested in establishing a friendship with you is because I feel I have a lot to offer you in the way of a friendship and I know I have a lot to share with you that will be of interest to you and even some things that will surprise you. I am very much a man of substance and I am very unique in today's society because I live my life through my spirituality and through the word of God and because I have such a strong understanding of what I feel my role in life is suppose to be. I am a man of integrity and my word is my honor!. I have very high standards for myself and my life is all about providing love, peace and happiness to others. For you to get a better understanding of me picture a waterfall in your mind and instead of all the water overflowing it is all the love and passion I have in my heart to give to others who are deserving, as the love and passion has an endless flow coming out of my heart.

Where others write many people and keep there messages short because they are all about how many they can write, I am the opposite and very selective in whom I choose to write and I like to give them my very best even if it is in a long letter such as this. I know the type of person who I want to build a friendship with so I am willing to put the time and effort in my messages to show that to you.

It is better to try and fail than to give up and never know if you could have succeeded.
Hugs and Kisses,
Bill



Pick Up Lines That Work

Scammer Mark or Marc Woodruff - he can't decide and uses both



Hi , I viewed your profile and wanted you to know i am interested in you .I can see that the distance between us is great but i do believe We can overcome the great distance as distance should & does not come between two loving hearts but it does make it inconvenient. However I also believe Where there is a will there is a way.Have been on this for less than 1 week now and i'm in search of my Soul & Dream Mate,Lover,Wife and Life Companion,let me give you a brief introduction of me.My name is Marc Allen Woodruff White/Caucasian.I'm Self Employed Electrical Engineer studied the course Electrical Engineer with a Master Degree, I have a good sense of humor...I live in Baltimore, Maryland. .Age (51 yrs).I'm a widower been widowed for 17yrs now, Collins ( my son ) goes to college here in the city, he goes from home. you know what it takes to be together for over 18 years now and wouldn't love to miss each other so much.After the sudden and devastating death of my wife,Who was a wonderful,sweet and caring wife and mother..Have been single for the past 18 years, am a man with a strong heart,loving, caring, honest, compassionate,affectionate, i also believe in God.I like swimming, camping,fishing,reading & writing,tennis, Football,Basketball,Baseball,golfing,swimming etc.When i read through your profile i was really amazed and motivated. Hope to get know more about you soon. Marc
Mark Woodruff <woodruffcares@yahoo.com

and this is the beautful home he lives in





Catch Him & Keep Him

Scammer Michael Dami Brown

I have just been scammed. Am so embarrassed and feel so foolish but want to share my story with your readers so they are not scammed too!

HERE"S THE CONDENSED VERSION:

The name he gives is Michael Dami Brown, from Mechanicsville Virginia. Email is michael.brown05@yahoo.com. Gives US number as 804- 442-6221 ( when I called, it has fast busy tone or get recording saying number not available right now. When I tried to call via Skype credit, it kept saying the number not available. I just assumed it was a fault at my end). He’s supposably 46 years old widower that only now has the courage to get on with his life. He’s a petroleum engineer with 14 year old daughter Sandra who lives in the UK ( London, or Scotland) with maternal grandma since wife died 5 years previously. He says he visits her every 2 months( appearance of jet setting lifestyle). Says has 2 cars, a Chevrolet Cruz and Honda Pilot( both of which are newer release models within last few years).
He is working on a contract that takes him to UK after which he was going to bring Sandra to come visit me ( I live in Asia). While there, he gives number as +44 7045720390. ( NB +44 is UK country code, but ‘70’ is a personal number which can be redirected to another number even outside country, calls to this number are very expensive, whereas the redirected calls are cheaper and service provider pockets the difference. I have lost USD55 because of one 20 minute call!). He says can’t fulfil the contract as the terms are no good and has to go to Nigeria to get the oil at the prices he wants. And he mentions that he is concerned re the security there and has to hire security for the week – any bet, that he is going to email me telling me he has been robbed, or having trouble accessing his money to pay for security? Something that involves either me sending him money, or cashing a legitimate check for him that was scammed off someone else. This is the final red flag for me. I have blacklisted his email address from my account, though he still has my gmail account details- I want to see what story he spins next. I feel like I’ve been emotionally assaulted but am grateful that I am not in love with him (I have to thank my God and Saviour Jesus for protecting my heart, there was something stopping me from falling in love with this guy). Now I just feel a bit stupid and foolish for not heeding the red flags sooner.

The FULL SORDID STORY-
I paid for a profile on a matrimonial website www.shaadi.com ( although one can also have a free profile) and he sent an expression of interest. His profile didn’t have photo. I accepted interest as we seemed to have a lot of similarities from the profile and I gave him my gmail account address ( not my regular account). He sent me 2 photos – one a close up and one a full length shot with his first email. The photos didn’t look like models or were unnaturally posed but could well have been downloaded off someone’s social networking profile? I’ve included them below as well as a photo he sent me several days later.

Two discrepancies that I ignored to my peril:
1) 1. He said he had been ‘widowed’ for a couple of years and then in a later email said his wife died 5 years ago ( and I didn’t want to ask details via email, trying to be sensitive, silly me)
2) 2. He told me his daughter is currently living with her grandma from her mother’s end in London because she was asking a lot of questions and needed a mother’s advice. He said he went to visit her every 2 months. But in a more recent email, he tells me he is in Scotland to execute a contract. And that he was spending the weekend with his daughter in Aberdeen.
These discrepancies weren’t obvious to me at the time, only now as I reread his emails.
I asked him to Skype me and he said he wasn’t good at online things and could we just chat on Yahoo Live Chat instead ( another red flag – if he knows how to download and install Yahoo Chat, it’s just as easy to install Skype! And he was obviously savvy enough to get a profile online on the matrimonial website)
After about 3 emails, we had a Yahoo Live Chat conversation ( or attempted one anyway). The line was very bad so we ended up IM’ing most of the time though I did get to exchange a few words with him ( he had a credible American accent, I work with a bunch of Americans and I was fooled). It was during our 2nd IM conversation that he said he was definitely planning to come to where I live ( across the other side of the world) to see me. And he wanted to bring his daughter too. He said he was trying to get a contract finalised for the UK, then he would go over there to execute the contract then fly over to see me. Of course I was very flattered that he would spend all that money to come visit me so I think I was willing to overlook certain things.
By the end of the first week I had trusted him enough to give him my regular email account to email me ( moved off gmail)!
By the end of 2 weeks ( about 8 emails later) he was professing his undying love to me ( we hadn’t even really spoken to each other beyond a few words at this stage). I was wondering why he was thanking me for ‘shining the light of love on me’. I had never told him I loved him and it seemed that he had developed these feelings of love very quickly and also assumed I was in love with him when I never told him that.
Then a few days later he writes this email below which I am reprinting here to make it searchable for the future ( in response to one I had written saying I couldn’t reach him on the US number he had given as kept getting a message ‘this number is not available’, he didn’t actually respond to that). I have blanked out my first name below but he was writing to me as if I had his surname. I did ask him what his middle name was and what kind of car he drove and he answered those questions. If you Google Michael Dami Brown, you get a hit for Michael Dami Adegbuji on Facebook, a Nigerian man – red alert warnings right? BUT at this point I had only googled ‘Michael Brown Mechanicsville VA’ and while there was a few Michael Browns in the area ( incl one who was 60 and married), none were ‘my’ Michael. And the phone number seemed legit ( the area code was definitely for Mechanicsville VA). I even paid 10 euros on my credit card to buy 400 minutes of Skype Credit so I could call that landline phone using Skype – but Skype always said ‘the number is not currently available’ and I assumed it was a problem my end ( I didn’t even think to try calling any other US phone number just to see if it worked).

Hello xxx Brown,
How are you doing? Sorry i wasn't able to write you any sooner my love, been tripple busy honey. Hope everything is fine. Glad you are having a wonderful time there. My sunshine and my love, you are everything i dreamed of, you take my breathe away. My middle name is Dami, and i have 2 cars, a honda pilot and a Chevrolet Cruz.
Well I have been thinking about you all day and that has filled my face with smiles. Ever since I met you there has been no trace or doubt of feeling blue, rather it has been rejoicing and celebration all the time. Really we do learn everyday because love is a learning process and I have learnt a lot since you came into my life.
There were times i thought i could never fall in love again but you made me fall in love with you and not just that you offered a love that was true. My soul feels glad today because i have you, the feeling is so sweet because it is. I think my search is done and I dont have to look in the deepest corners or edges for love because you have given it to me. You have cleared the black clouds in my life and lightened up the darkness.
Even if I am not right there with you now , I want you to know you have my heart and it will always be yours. This is the moment I have long awaited in my life, the chance to fall in love again and I have it. It feels like I saw the vision . I am glad I found you.
Your heat will always be my resting place because I find comfort and peace in you. Nothing can hold me back from loving you, you are and will always be the angel in my head.
It felt like light shone on me when I thought about you today, there was a glow on my entire body and i could feel it , it was a bright light of your love make me glitter all over. I sat in a corner waiting patiently waiting on heaven to send me angel that would meet my heart desires and there you were, you showed up right in front of me as the answers to my prayers and made me quit my search. What good would it do to a man looking for silver when he has gold.
Now you have set a sweet sail on my heart and made my soul come afloat on a river of love. Though the tides keep rolling and the whirld winds blow my love for you will not change. I would do any thing just to see that my smile on your face because you have given me sweet love and fun all in one. I wonder who said love sucks, bring that person to me I will
give him/her a big knock on the head to get his/her mind right. Honey, please feel free to ask me anything. I'm all yours and yours alone

At this point ( reading about the ‘ bright light of your love make me glitter all over’ I was a bit concerned that Michael was getting a bit carried away as I had not professed my love to him. Also at this point, I felt that he might be in love with love or with the idea of who I was rather than the reality of me. SO I did warn him that I was only human and not to put me on a pedestal.
Perhaps warning bells should have gone off here. No one falls in love within 2 weeks to someone they never even met, and with whom they had only exchanged about 6 words during some attempted phone calls. When we tried Yahoo Live Chat, the voice quality was so poor that I suggested that we don’t use video for that call because it would compromise the quality even more ( I bet he was rejoicing that he got out of making an excuse why video wouldn’t work).
I was rationalising to myself that as a 46 year old widower, he knew what he wanted in a wife and therefore there was no reason to delay the inevitable. I know that after many failed relationships, I knew what I wanted in a man and in a relationship and Michael seemed to fill that criteria.
The weird thing is that 2 weeks after we ‘met’, a pastor from a church in Mechanicsville VA visited my church (I am on the other side of the world in the Asia Pacific region!) on the invitation of some friends from my church who had met him in Richmond VA while travelling there. It seemed such a co-incidence that I would be meeting someone from Michael’s hometown, though not from his church. I remarked on it in several emails that I was going to be attending a concert given by this pastor but he never responded to that comment or asked me how it went.
By this time I had told about 15 friends about Michael. One close friend was initially sceptical about the speed but in the end trusted my judgement. My other friends told me to guard my heart but were overall pretty pleased that I seemed to have found someone who was so enamoured of me that they were willing to overlook any discrepancies or at least rationalise it away like I did.
I think the overriding factor was that he has said that he would be coming for a visit within the next month. So we were just going to wait til we met him face to face to ask a bunch of questions and suss him out.
One thing I was hesitant about was that he said he was a member of AoG church and I had heard some things about what they believe which I didn’t think was Biblically based. ( Michael and I established we were both church attending Bible believing Christians.) Anyway I emailed him about it because I wanted to clarify that before he came over. He then emailed back and asked me to call him in Glasgow where he has just arrived. The phone number +44 704 572 0390. I NOW know after all my reading on another site that while 44 is definitely UK country code, the 70 prefix indicates a ‘personal number’ and is often redirected to a different number which could be outside the UK ( like in Africa!). Anyway I called him ( from a hotel phone as I happened to be staying in a hotel that week for a conference) and the 20 minute call cost me over US50!!!

I just assumed it was the hotel overcharging but now realise that the service provider probably charged high rates to the caller but the redirected number would have been cheaper and they pocket the difference. I realised that he was just echoing my opinion ( so it appeared we had no theological conflict) and I even asked him to pray for us which he did first, but the words resonated/were similar to something I had written in the past in an email to him). And he even had an American accent. Though I have many American friends and I even know what some Virginians sound like, I assumed Michael’s accent was just a variation of the southern accent. He was certainly charming and a smooth talker.
I am just grateful that while I was googling something a few days later, I came across a website on Nigerian dating scams. It made me sick to the stomach to think that I might have been scammed ( though I hadn’t really lost any money at that point except for that one phone call). What was worse is that Michael has photos of me outside my house and on the beach which I sent him ( and which could well be used to scam men, just as the photos I had received were obviously of some poor man whose photo had been used for these purposes).
I called ‘Michael’ again on Thursday( this time from my cell phone using VoIP and it was a short call) and asked him to Skype me on the weekend. I said I had some very important things to talk with him before he came over the following weekend (according to his proposed plans). He said he was very busy that weekend and all I said was that if he loved me, he would make it a point of finding time to download Skype, register as a user then to organise a time to Skype me.
As I had friended on FB that pastor from Mechanicsville, I sent him a message on Thursday and asked him to investigate based on what I thought I knew about Michael, and also gave him the phone number. The pastor reported that the phone number was giving a fast busy signal which might indicate a non operational number and that his level of sceptism just went up a notch, as did mine! I wonder if Michael realises by now( if he actually bothered to read all my emails) that I actually have a contact in Mechanicsville Va who can do some background checks.
Today I actually googled ‘dating scam michael brown’ and came across a site full of scams, many different photos, similar stories. Of course it all makes sense now.

On Saturday afternoon ( my time) he emails me ( I didn’t read this email til Sunday morning) to advise that he couldn’t get the contract prices he wanted and was recommended to travel to NIGERIA to get the oil. This was my final and very loud warning bell. I was immediately suspicious because of all the email bank account fraud involving Nigeria from many years ago. He says that he will finalise everything in 1 week and come to visit me, bringing ‘our baby Sandra’. But he also says he is concerned about the security over there and has to hire security – which sounds to me like he is setting the scene so that he can later claim he was robbed maybe or have some other disaster befall him where he will need me to send him money or have me cash a check for him ( legitimate check scammed from someone else).
I am thankful that since this all started I have really felt God working on protecting my heart and reminding me that only He is my true Beloved and to not get too distracted by a future with Michael. I have been flattered by Michael’s attentions and the idea that this successful jet setting engineer wanted me for his wife ( and that his daughter was willing to accept me too- according to him – I had never had any contact with her in any form). BUT I was also waiting til he got here and actually proposed with a ring, before I started planning a wedding. And although I said ‘I love you’ on a couple of emails, I was really only responding to his declarations of love because really I didn’t know this man well enough to be in love with him. And the handsome face and toned body I am smitten with is someone I don’t even know. The words sound formulaic now and as if it’s from a website of love letter samples.
I am totally embarrassed to have been taken in like this. I can only be grateful that he hadn’t yet asked for money and that I hadn’t yet lost my heart to him. I want to write and record this because I want it to be known so that other women don’t fall prey to him in the future.

French Scammers are out there too

Have recently looked on your website ,to my horror I can recognise that I too have been the victim of a Nigerian internet dating scam.  I recently met a  46 year old man online who promised me the world, love, marriage, happy ever after, you name it. He was French, not American and not Nigerian. Three weeks in to this daily contact he said he had to go to Accra, Ghana on business. He told me he was a freelance civil engineer. After the first day there he told me his wallet had been stolen and he needed £300.00 to pay his workers. I refused. Then he kept asking me for T-Mobile phone top up vouchers, which foolishly I sent £50.00 in total. He then asked again for £220.00 to get a return flight home because his friend had already given him £2500 because he lost his wallet and he still did not have enough money?!!! I refused, thank god.  The very worrying thing for me is that this man text me, phoned me and used his webcam to talk to me and his son was there. He sent me flowers, chocolates and a soft toy. Should I be suspicious I ask my self time and time again. He also told me that he had a 4 bed house with a swimming pool. I had the foresight to look up his address on "street map" and I found that the address was some semi detatched ***t hole in an urban street somewhere.  I am more than happy to share this with anyone who has been a victim as I have, my message to those is "be very careful" 



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