Topic : 11/23 Love Scams?

Wow! (I haven't logged on in almost a yr.)  Proud of you and wish you the best, foxiev

I'm receiving email from Gary Wills.  same m/o only from California

I'd like that photo if you have it.

Dee-Dee,

I believe I have been taken advantage as well! I believe its the same man! This guy tells me his name is

Terry Alexandra. Terry was really from Ireland where his mother and son is there. Terry left to go to Nigeria to work for a company called Trinity gas company. Terry told me he was the superivisor over this crew of men. Terry also stated he made a mistake and paid his men first before paying his self and then he had no money for his hotel or food. Now I meet him on the yahoo messenger back in Feburary this year. We have talked for a long time now. I was never ask for money to help him to much time later that we will talking. But Terry wanted money for hotel and travel to get to the nearest airport to get to the states. Yes, to be with me and my girls because he really love me. Now he spoke good English and typed well. I did send him money to travel then he stated he was robbed by some people who shot the driver and he was in the hospital (terry) for few days. The doctors spoke with me too and told me his conditions. Terry did get on the internet at the hospital , he stated. Terry would tell me that he could leave the hospital to go to the airport until the bills there were paid first and he had no money. So yes.......I sent the money but, before I did I sent another guy over to check on him that I talked with in Nigeria. Donald Briggs was his name and he also took advantage of me too. (you think I would have learned by him) Donald told me he did see him in the hospital and Terry was really hurt.......near death. Which Terry told me days after that he was faking when Donald came in because he didn't know who he was. Donald claimed that doctors took him as Terry's next of kin so they took $400.00 of his money and paid Terry's bill. Terry confirmed that to me that day too. Terry said he over heard the doctor and Donald talking about the bills there. When Donald was trying to tell the doctors that he didn't know Terry he was only there for a friend (me) to see how he was doing. Well Donald went back to Nigeria now broke. Terry got some money from me to finish out the hospital bills and traveled to Ghana. Which he is there now, though he says. I sent him money to get food and a flight ticket and he claimed that the employees at the immgration sold him a fake ticket and that was all the money he had. So he went to hire an attorney to get the ticket back. Terry states he made a deal with the attorney that he would give some money now to pay his fees to represent him in court and send rest when home in the states. So I sent money for the attorney! Terry claims now the court has the employees locked up but it is going to cost $700.00 to pay for the clearance of the courts. Terry now wants me to send $700.00 and now hotel bill of $400.00 to get him on the flight to me. I just seen this on dr. phil and now put it all together on this Terry Alexandra. I started searching the my space and found the same picture he sent me and plus the picture you showed on dr.phil.
I did question Terry of this site and he stated that someone is using his picture to take advantage of people and he tried to contact Tom on my space to have it removed. But now this on dr. phil .........I know now I have been used and abused.

I wish I could face this man face to face and beat him to his knees for this. There has got to be some way to get revenege and stop these men from doing this to anyone else? I don't know but I hate I of all woman fell for this! I'm so ashame.

Now I like to focus on pay back some how, some way! Thing is I just found out today so my words may be hard to understand on this email because so upset and not proof reading it.

MK

Dee-Dee,

I have the same picture you showed on Dr.Phil's show. Along with others he has sent me that was

taken the same day, same outfit, but different poses. I also have several pictures of him playing on

a dirt bike, fishing, sitting on steps and etc...

Funny thing is I showed him this site with his picture on it and told him they made a tv show of you

scamming woman! He reacted stating someone stole his picture off this site and used it to con

woman. He promised me he is not scamming me and he will prove it when he is home.

I don't know what to believe after reading dr.phil's site but I have questioned him so that he gives me

some answers. I don't know if this guy Terry is lying or not and the only way to find out is meet up with him

in Ghana. Maybe one day I will. I really would like to know for sure cos he does say everything you wanta hear.

Terry claims he has written several people telling them how he is being blackmailed with his picture. Including the editor Tom on my space. Terry claims once he is in he states he will make it right. Show people who the real person is behind that picture you and every other woman who got his picture. It just amazes me that your story came up and I'm the one who is talking to what is told to me the real person behind this picture! I only want the truth behind this picture now. 

If some one could help me find out the truth? I would be greatful!

MK

You are in love with a Nigerian or Ghana that you wished was the man of your dreams. Unless you have seen him on cam,  and I bet you haven't, then you don't even know what he looks like. He has never been in the USA. They want the woman to come there sometimes and that scam is to get them to marry so they can get in the USA. They own half of everything you have when you marry. Then they take what they can and leave. They can now bring their real wife here, most have one, and/or their family.

Most don't want this but want to make money at your expense. Some have lost all their money, savings, retirement and do you think they care? NO! One person said she didn't have any money to send - another one didn't either so she sold what she could, borrowed all she could and sent it to him. They will lie and say anything to get money. That is their goal. It isn't cheap to be on the computer in the internet cafe. They are there for a reason. Some won't ask for anything for months but while they are working on one with romance they have many others who are sending money.

I have had a lot of them contact me. They use stolen pictures, most from focushawaii.com model site. Some go online as a woman to get the man to send pictures so they can use those. They use stolen pictures of women.  Some are not using pictures of regular every day men, not models to fool women.

The most popular are older women because they think they have money and a house and they want that money - all of it. Some think we "owe" it to them because of the slavery story. I tell them I wasn't born then and they weren't either and it was other Nigerians who sold them into slavery.

Some think our government will reimburse us for what we lost. Sometimes you can file on this. I don't think that many get it back. They are evil and lie and don't care. Sure they will say they are in love with you and how many others?  They use different screen names to contact the same person. They have no feelings. Some of the worst will talk about God and how they went to church that day. If they think you go to church they will think you are an easy "mark" for them.

You are in love with a fairy tale. There is romancescam.com

 online and and another one http://romancescams.org/  There is a support group but I couldn't find them right now.

The scammers work in shifts. They have a script that they follow, just like telemarketers.  That is why they all sound the same; that is why the words are so similar. They are taught what to say and when to say it.  They normally work in groups of six people, and they take shifts. This is why they are always on the computer and at times it seems you are talking to different people. There maybe times that they have forgotten what you talked about before, they call you a different name, and they take time to respond to you because they are talking to other people. When they are gone from the computers for any amount of time they are either looking up the information in order to answer you or they are consulting with a more experienced member of their "team". 

The scammers send sweet words, the poems, and the love letters...all swiped off the internet.  The people behind these scams are men, women, and teenagers of ALL ages.  The male victims, who think they're talking to a real beauty, may in fact be talking to a man or a 13 year old child.

The pictures are stolen off various modeling sites, there are some sites listed in the "Modeling Website's" section. Recently scammers have been using “regular looking pictures” stolen pictures from prior victims and social net work sites.

Nigeria is cash based society, all services, all hotel rooms, all hospital services must be paid for in advance.  If a "true" Nigerian has a problem they call a family meeting, they have family meetings for everything, they do not get on the internet and pick a stranger off a dating site and fall in love within a few days and immediately ask for money. 

Scammers may claim they're being held hostage in the hospital, call the hospital directly and ask about the "patient". If they are asking for money to be released from the hospital, they aren't really in the hospital.  Nigeria is cash based society all hospital services must be paid for in advance.

When they claim they are an American overseas they should go to the American Embassy for help, the Embassy will help send them home.  The American Embassy highly recommends that individuals doing business in Nigeria be registered with the Embassy for their safety.

TOP

New Twist on the Scam

When the scammer is caught by their victim and admits their crime, the next thing they do is swear they actually fell in love with the victim.  Some people walk away, but others do believe what they are being told. After all, the victim has such strong feelings for their scammer, how in the world can he not have feelings for them.  So the victims who believe and stay are sucked into a whole different scam which turns out to be a whole lot more dangerous.  The scammer then works to get their victims love and trust.  The requests start coming for a visit to come and see them. 

When the first visit comes it is grooming time.  They use this first visit to solidify the relationship, so the victim thinks this is real.  After that they suck them into the scam and actually use them to scam other people.  We were informed by the FBI there was a lady they are dealing with now who has visited their scammer four times.  The first visit was a dream come true, after that she started getting sucked in to help her "love".  When she came back from the fourth visit she was petrified with all that was going on and went to the FBI.  She is in this so deep now it is hard to get out.  She is facing felony charges for what she is involved in. Turning in evidence can get her a lighter sentence.  However, she is now under protection as she is so deep in this that her life and the lives of her loved ones are in danger.  As long as victim cooperated they were safe, once they stopped cooperating then they would be in grave danger.   

We are aware of some so called “detectives” who are offering their services, for a fee to track down a person's scammer. They promise to identify who the scammer is and for an additional fee have them arrested and bring them to justice. Many people have been contacted by fake officials asking for money to assist and we know this is just a continuation of the scams.

This is just part of what was on there. 

Immediately cease all contact with the scammer!  Block their email address, ignore their instant messages, ignore their phone calls. I know this might be hard to do but you need to do it. They can send a virus to your computer. Never give them your phone number and never call them. They are using stolen phone cards. The flowers that are being sent are from stolen cards they probably found in a chat room just for that purpose or they have talked someone into giving them the number.

They have tried every scam they can on me, sometimes using two different people. One said he and his son went to Nigeria and he wanted a cloth for his birthday that cost $500 or more. Later he said he had part of the money would I give him the other half so his "son" could have a good birthday. Never found out what the clothe was. LOL

I hope to write a book about my experiences with the scammers. They they will say they are sorry and they will never do it again but could I send money so they could go to college. Scam #2.

A person is putting themselves in real danger by talking to a scammer after you find out that is what he/she is. You will never change them, they know what to say. They have studied this and have a script.

How would you feel if you knew this person was only 13 years old because he might be.

Good luck

Ann

I had a similar situation this past fall.  And yes the man scammed me out of money for construction supplies, medical expenses, travel expenses, etc.   My question is that I went to that romance website you mentioned today and I noticed that it has been in place since 2005 yet every response I receive is that the email account is full or you need to contact customer service.   And the phone # is a long distance call for me and the message said the wait to speak to a rep is over 10 minutes.   I want some relief in what took place. 

I am not happy that I will never see my monies.  I have sent pictures of this man to that site.    The man had a scottish accent, said he lived in New York and had to find work in London.    He also gave me a sad story his father was murdered, mum had died,  and his first wife Rose was killed by a car.   He did not want a model as a 2nd wife.   He lured me with love you.website cards,  he proposed to me and asked for my hand in marriage with these cards.   I never met the man.   I just want some help.   Can you advise.

Oh I found out that the monies sent were going to other people via this man and that he would only call for money assistance and expect me to call him.    Also he would block calls from people or not answer the phone on the weekends.    Can you help or if anyone else can give me support, I would appreciate it.

I am still in the after affects of the hurt..

Thanks for your advice

A soon to be survivor.

Show Idea –

I viewed your recent show on scammers. I’m an unemployed Executive Assistant that gets *daily* emails about Mystery Shoppers and wire transfers which as your show pointed out are all scams.  I also put a disclaimer on my resume which I post on many job boards NOT TO CONTACT ME for Mystery shoppers etc but they still do.

 I’m CONSTANTLY forwarding them to spam@craigslist.org for example and I’ll cc the scammers who wrote me hoping to instill some sort of fear.

You also caught those people who used your identity and Robin’s – bravo to you. Could you do a show where you catch “these mystery shopper scammers”, at least 1-3?  We need to desperately teach these guys what they’re doing is in fact a crime and they continue to do it because 90% aren’t getting caught. For me it’s frustrating and I feel I’m doing my part by turning them over to the spam site however I never hear if anything is done or if any are prosecuted. This is a really messed up economy and it really irritates me that these guys are robbing those folks who really need their money. I don’t want to be on the show but would like to see this type of show if possible?  Let’s turn the table on these guys.  Perhaps have someone from your studio set up a fake resume on Craigs List – then get an email from them, sign up and when they transfer the money to Western Union have your TV crew and the police there to arrest them – that would be sweet!!!

Best –

D