Topic : 11/23 Love Scams?

hello ladies,,,,,, as you can see my emotjions right now are  high, upset, embarrassed......

i saw this show  and taped it for 2 other friends of mne in ohio. as all others on advise of dr phil and many years waitng to decide to join match.com " which was the only dating site i joined"  with in 2 days i had several hits from the site and only one memorable man contacted me  from Topeka , kansas, why i dont now because i would have never traveled that far to visit or to relocate,  but we talked for 1 week via match .com and then he sent his yahoo email address to me , which ismike_pderoloveu@yahoo.com, within days he gave me another one saying his email was hacked and some one else had gotten his email address , so his new one he uses is mikepedroloveu@yahoo.com, and a third one is  mike_pedroloveu@hotmail.com, Just to let you no he is a true scammer.

same lines as all i have read here on his message board he is a smooth talker and very loving and sweet talking man, his story is he is 47 years old and electrician and contracted to go to nigeria to re-do complete rehabing 3 buildings in lagos nigeria, along with him is his 16 yr old son, has no family, no wife,  mother and father deceased. we talked for along time . before he began asking for money, 

1 st time was for money to get him out of a jam , all money was stolen from he job sites, via a empleyee, who was mexican, and dissappeared, so because he was site manager of the project, he needed 400.00 for atty to go to court with him to get out of this mess  so i sent it 428.00 via western union.

2nd time  he needed 1,200 dollars to pay fine for money being stolen, from job site , and because he trusted the mexican and let him have key to ofice where money and supplies where kept he wa found guilty. i sent him another 428.00 towards that via western union. Job was completed and he was paid 28,0000 dollars in money orders , and he wanted me to cash those here and snding the money back to him i didnt get involved with that becasue i had seen dr phil show, and he says that payment was written  on american money orders and couldnt be cashed there, Thats when a flag went up for me . And he is still needed to get these cashed and come back to be here with me ,

3rd amount of money i sent him was 742.00 for air plane tickets, to come to columbus ohio to get money orders cashed and pay me back, so i sent that via western union and just this

#4 amount of mony just this past wednesday he needs 482.00 for baggage and handling fees to complete  flight arrangements,

and now he needs another 482.00 for second ticket.

i have contacted the  Air France Airlines he tells me he is using to verify bta fees for baggage and handling , they communicated with me there or no such fees, from that airlines, and but did find out that he did make a reservation for two tickets out of there to columbus ohio, and they sent me they iternary, but says no payment has been made on flight tickets as of yet.

i am just so done and feel i have been taken so badly of my giving nature and loving and caring self.

why can't any one stop this fradulant ways of them taking advantage of innocent and loving women here in the states i have reported all email addresses to yahoo and hot mail and msn whom i know he goes thru..... but he remains on them ny way....

i will not stop untill his membership have stopped, completely

but what would keep him from using another name .......

Help me please........ any other suggestions please ,,,, respond to this message board

debbie

it doesnt matter wether you report then or not i have at at least 1000 pages of communication with the man who scammed me on the internet and have turned them over to the authorites and nothing has been done or will be they cant seem to trace them thru yahoo, msn, or hot mail.....

amazing isn't i with all the technology that we have ,,,, today in the states....

I am in your shoes now after 2800.00 i sent and he is still asking for more even today.

But i want to report him in all ways ,,,,,,

can you help me with us embassy in lagos nigeria, and local police for lagos nigeris  i cant seem to locate any thing usful on the internet.

 i have been very frustrated since end of july with all of this ,,,, garbage...... i  intend to win even though have have lost a little bit of money this needs to stop.

i canclled my subscription to match . com where all of this started from and i reported him to yahoo .com and msn, com and both those messangers. and nothing have i heard back from them.

but i am hoping you can help me with all the info i requested

thx

distressed in ohio

d

You misread my comment. I wasn't talking about people that have been scammed. I was talking about people that are smart enough not to be scammed in the first place. When a scammer asks for your address be smart enough to give them a law enforcement agency's address, and not your own. It won't catch them, but it will tell them that you know what they are up too, and it's fun to think of them wasting their time.

 I keep reading stories like yours. They are so sad. I don't understand being as desperate, lonely, or... there is no way to say this nicely... dumb as you. I'm sorry you're hurt, but what where you thinking? How can we stop this? We can't because we're not supposed to say it's your fault, but it is.

 You willingly sent this person or persons money. They did not hold a gun to your head, threaten you or your family. They did nothing but ask nicely. They didn't promise materials or a service in return for your money. I don't even think it's against the law. I can ask for whatever I want from you doesn't mean you have to give it.

 Can I have $500? My Momma needs an operation. I need to go to Toronto to pick up an orphan from Dublin. I have a case of chocolate cookies melting in Amsterdam please help me.

 NO??

 How can you say no... the cookies are desperate, and they are for the Irish orphan in Toronto who is going to sell them to make back your $500 for an operation for my mother of course. I know it all sounds silly and ridiculous, but not any more then the story you related here.

 The money you sent is gone. Consider it an expensive lesson in finance. There is nothing you can do, but not do it again.

 Best of luck, and I think you should consider books instead of the Internet.

I have recently been speaking to a man online -- i did not meet him on match.com like so many others have...i met him through singlesnet.com...this is a free dating service with the whole profile questions, the matches sent to you via email...you can flirt with others for free - however, to email them, either you or they have to be a featured member...that means anyone that emails through the site has to pay for that and there is record of that somewhere

i have been talking to this man and he sounds extremely sweet in messages and emails...however, his english is very bad...he never wanted to tell me much about himself which is very annoying when he wants to know everything about me...and having someone to talk to about things is nice when no one else is around...i will tell you, not everything i told him about me is 100% true, but i never lied...i avoided certain types of answers for the obvious reason....anyways, we were talking for a few weeks and he supposedly lived in the same city as i do (which is what singlesnet does, helps you hook up with someone closer to home - supposedly i guess you could say)...we were talking about meeting, in public, neutral territory, all the safe-meeting stuff...i even had several people well aware of the situation and were going to be in the area of the meeting...i know how safety is a major issue for meeting strangers....however, the day before our first meeting was to take place, he "got an email from his boss saying he had to go out of town for training"...since that does happen, i gave him the benefit of the doubt - after all, i been sent for training from a job before...it took a few days for him to contact me again and when he did, guess where he has been sent --- South Africa...although i still talked to him, and his emails and messages are beautiful and flattering at time, i was no longer believing his story...i guess i should have just stopped talking to him, but at least it was SOMEONE to talk to about something besides sex - tired of that as a conversation online...he was to be gone for training for 3 weeks, maybe 4...suddenly, he can't reach his mother, who coincidentally lives in S.Africa which is where she met his father some 50+ years ago?  and when he finally gets ahold of her, finds out she had a stroke and he has to pay the doctor bills...he asked me for money - i didn't bite...i told him i didn't have it - i had bills to pay and was struggling myself...he gave me the song and dance about he'll pay me back the money plus more when he got back from training...sorry - don't have it...he wouldn't let it go - please, please please....then he had a brainstorm...he wanted to wire me money from his bank account to mine - then me withdraw the funds and wire to him...sorry, don't have a bank account...then he wanted me to open a couple of bank accounts (he said had to be at least 2 accounts so he could wire more money cause the bank limits wire transfer amounts for someone that had account with bank for less than 3 years), and specifically mentioned opening wells fargo accounts....i said no, i can't open bank accounts (not entirely true - but still, hoped it would end the conversation)....for more than 3 weeks now, he asks me at least 2 or 3 times a day how it is going to opening a bank account....he even went as far as asking me to borrow money from a friend or family member to open such an account...i did not open an account, i will not open an account, and i have told him this several times...he doesn't let up cause he says that he is done with training but needs his money from his account so he can come home (to the states) and bring mom with him (he can't leave her behind)...then he says he can't use his credit card where he is at, that is why he needs my account...says that it is not "activated to be used outside the states" -- this was the first time anyone told me that....sorry, no account - can't do it, won't do it

then i receive a check on monday - it is a check for $5,500 drawn on a wells fargo bank in Ohio (i am in nevada) supposedly from a company in california...it looked real, real bank, etc.  i searched for the company online - can't find anything in US - only company close was in London...then i called 800 number on check, they said go to bank and verify it is a check, that it was not a mistake or wrong amount, so on and so forth...i went to a wells fargo branch - and after nearly 30 minutes of phone calls and research, they verified what i suspected - it was a fraudulant check...they kept it, of course, but made sure it was in their system that i received it and turned it in without attempting to just cash it - had i tried to cash it, i could have been liable for that money and criminally responsible for trying to pass a bad check....the check also had a stop-payment on it so could have cost me money had i managed to cash it.

then 2 days after that is settled, i receive a package in the mail via UPS...it is a portable DVD player - i did not order it but it was sent to me by QVC...i called QVC because it said it was sold to someone else and shipped to me - i don't know this person...QVC said that it was ordered and shipped and from what they could tell it was a legitimate transaction so i am within my legal rights to keep it...however, the address for the "sold to" is in OHIO -- is this just a coincidence or is someone scamming others and using my name to do it?  is someone trying to steal my identity or what?  how did someone i never heard of get my address and why send me something i never asked for or ordered?   so many questions and no one seems to have the answers? 

wish someone could help me figure this out -- it's going to put me in the nut-house for sure!

I am not sure how we are supposed to take this other than.....gosh you are completely stupid for falling for lines like these. The people who scam others online are experts at this. They seek out those who care, those who are open and willing to help. Yes, I have been scammed and yes, more than once, but I would rather think I have an open and caring heart than to be callous and uncaring. I have learned lessons along the way, but they have been hard. People and situations come into our lives to teach us lessons, they stay as long as needed and then move on. I will never blame myself for how very devious others are.

I was taken in the states for money and then found he was completely a con artist and had done this kind of thing to many other women. I believed, because I was judging him by my standards. There was nothing there to believe. I lost the money and moved on.

Several years later I met a man from the UK...I am from Oklahoma and we began a long distance relationship. Never once did I ask....why in the world can't he find someone in his own country who is closer. My mistake....lesson learned. Eventually, he came to the states. He had already asked me to marry him and I had accepted. Sight unseen. I had a picture, but did not even recognise him at the airport and he had to have me paged. By this time, I was completely hooked, had sold all in the states and was coming back to the UK with him. He was everything I wanted to believe he was. That was the problem. I believed.....but he was not even close to the man he presented himself to be. My son and I moved back to the UK with him and reality quickly set in. I kept making excuses for him because I loved the .....man I thought he was. The marriage lasted a few years. I thought it would last forever. He left me about the same time I found out I had cancer. He was nowhere to be found and would rather verbally abuse me than help me through this very tough time. I have made it through and love this country. I believe in blooming where I am planted and think that I am here for a real reason. I am using my fight with cancer to help me set up a new cancer charity with amazing people and love what I am doing. I had been duped completely and my ex said...don't blame yourself. I am good at what I do.....and I know now that is completely true.

My son has a fiancee he dearly loves and I have learned so many lessons. Life goes on and is what we make of it.
I was not sure how I would survive the way I felt when our marriage broke down. I always said it was like being knocked to my knees and not knowing if I would ever get back up again. BUT....get back up with style, grace and dignity I did.

What I would like to say is....never judge others. There may be a time when you will need some real understanding, caring and compassion from those you whom you pointed your finger in blame and judgement. Be gentle with others and know that life is full of lessons.

Much love to all and many blessings,

Cheryl Hamilton...

 formerly from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma now in North East England between Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne