Faking it — scammers’ tricks to steal your heart and money

It took too long and too much to convince me, but he was sending songs, poems and pics of flowers frequently until his phone fell in a swamp as he was trying to make his exit..watch out

Yes I had a guy impersonating a girl that tried to get money from me after chatting online along with other stuff. He messaged me saying he would leak everything online unless I gave him 500 dollars. Called the police and they assured that it was a scam

I met todd Williams on wwf, just chitchat to start. He says he's a wealth CA doctor going to somalia for a UN mission. He says he has a teen daughter (all widowed, single dads have daughters! For sympathy?). Says he can't email, but started texting me on whatapp. I have already been hit by a really good scammer so I knew when things got weird. First he wanted me to invest in bitcoins. Although he hasn't asked for anything yet, he is laying the groundwork. We have never spoke let alone met and yet he wants to marry me. The pics he sent of him and his teen daughter were taken on a yacht and creepy! No one hugs their teen daughter like that!! Supposedly he flew on a private jet for his UN mission to somalia, but when he contacts me the time difference doesn't add up. I still talk to my first scammer after calling him out and now actually gives me advice about what to look for. Online game players beware! Scammers are everywhere!

Hi, I need to know about US Army Sargeant Jason Paul Louisiana, he said he is presently stationed at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in DC. and he is from Oakland CA. I suspect he is a scammer. We have been chatting for almost a year and the last time I heard from him was on Valentines day.

The man name is Anthony Murphy,he is in Nicosia ,Cyprus

I have a girlfriend who has been scammed for one year. (honestly it is not me). She has fell in love with an imaginary man, who all her friends know is not the person shown on the dating web site. He had her leave web site, now it is just text (no phone calls). She has been sending him gift cards, even sold her home and sent him 90% of the money. He always claims to be on his way to meet her but something always comes up. She is totally blinded by this person and will not listen to reason. What now has me concerned and I do not understand. He sent her something called bitcoin. She had to go to a certain bank and was able to withdraw $500.00. She took the $500.00 and bought gift cards and sent him as she normally does. I know somehow this money was scammed from another person and I am afraid she is going to get in trouble. So far everything he has done cannot be traced back to him. Anyone out there know anything about this bitcoin and why would he have her withdraw $500.00 just to turn around and send him as she normally does? I would appreciate any information.

Alit of these men claim to be in the military. What a disgrace to our service men.

Jasonne Douglas, Darren Harlan, and Diego Robertson all scammers run to the hills. There probably not using their real names or pictures. They seem to be from Nigeria. They will not show themselves on video chat or talk to you on the phone. Real scammers asking for money or gift cards.

Whach out for guy that goes by Jeffrey or Jeffrey Alton and a girl who goes by Marylan Smith or Jane Good they work together she tell you that she has a brother or uncle that would like to meet a nice lady and then he wants you to go on Hangouts and then he will try to get money from you for ticket to come to see you and if you tell him you don't have it and he will try to get money by saying that he needs it for bills food and meds and if that doesn't work he will say that he is living in the streets if that doesn't work and he will want your bank account details and credit card information I didn't give him any things look out for them

My sister was on plenty of fish.met a man said his name mark Burke.he was a antique dealer.he told sis to leave the date site and text him on WhatsApp.he told her he hasn't a bank account and needs money to realise 3 grand and pay his creditors shipment ECT.she is daft enough to have sent him nearly 4 grand.he lives Cyprus.but is from usa.has anyone else heard of this name ECT

Has anyone been scammed by someone who goes by the name of Gonzalez Narvaez. He states that he was residing in Accra Ghana and is now hospitalize in Dubai... If anyone has any information regarding this would you please contact me.. Thank you...

his name is samuel james johnson he told me his wife was nurse practicnor and works and fountain valley hospital living at newport beach, ca does anybody have his picture?

I had a guy Using the name ‘huntrob’ on Instagram... Saying he loves me within 2 days, then he wants to send me something, he wanted all my personal information, and then when I asked him for for his army ID card the name was different, not the name wasn’t even spelt right.. he got very aggressive and started abusing me..

I met a man that said his name Stephen Luico Marcos I thought he was I nice person until he started ask me to send him money for this and that. Does anyone recognizes this name he said he is French and lives in Texas

The person who claimed to be sergeant esther patric arrived 3 days ago from my mail address. She said that she was working for the United States Army in Afghanistan and would send me a lot of money.He told me not to touch the money, when he came, I had to hand it over to him. I live in turkey.he just asked me my name, home address, postal code, country and city. what kind of fraud can this be?

I met this guy on Plenty of Fish, after I had left an 18 year marriage. He wanted to meet in person, I didn’t. About a week after meeting him on line he said he was traveling for BUSINESS... He was the smoothest man I’ve ever met in my entire life. Needless to write within a few weeks he stated he was stranded over seas in Austria he bags were lost. He needed $ to get back to the USA to see me. He was on business his bank was frozen in the USA, he had no one to help him, as he was a widow and had only his daughter who was in Russia. Blah blah. He tried to get me to open a bank account for my independence, he wanted me to open an account with a different cell phone company. During all his requests my heart gets unsettled. No I did not send $, I thought about it, but I didn’t. We continued to speak, he has an accent. It sounds African, although he is white. I informed my sister about the guy~ she said he was a Catfish and explained what yah entailed. He will video call, perhaps that’s different from some scammers. After explaining to the guy what my sister told me, we spoke less. After reading this post on FTC. Gov, I’m absolutely sure he’s a Catfish. As I wrote he’s smooth! Ladies beware~. I will too.

I was initially talking to someone who was supposedly from the states but was sent to west Africa by the WHO to treat patients with some kind of disease. Anyways the best advice I ever got was never give any money or any bank account access to people that I chat with or meet, and this person I picked up right away when he said he went out one night and lost his passport and wallet. He asked me for money and I said no (cause I just had surgery for my ankle). Then he backed off and the deal breaker the other night he asked me for my bank details...I knew right away this person was a scammer and I not only ended things with them, but I blocked them so they could no longer contact me again. The best advice I will give anyone is DO NOT TRUST ANYONE...even the people around you, for there will always be someone who has ulterior motives...especially when it comes to money. I was glad I picked that up later in life and given the bad luck I have had with trying to date people my own age I think I may go back to dating older people again (since I have had no bad experiences of them)

Has anyone been contacted by Daniel Westgate. He claims he is from London and work as a Marine engineer on a cargo ship in Europe. He has several IG and FB acct and following several women. I believe he is a scammer.

Watch out for Daniel Westgate- this guy is a scammer. He has dozens of IG profiles and FB and follows thousands of women. Don't fall for his sweet words and concerns. He is only after your home address and personal information. Do not fall for him. Watch out! He claims he is from London and works on a cargo ship.

Hi I’m Nicole and I’m praying this new found love I’ve found through Instagram isn’t what I’m afraid it is. I recently was sent a message from a man claiming to be in the military stationed in Illinois, now deployed to Afghanistan. We talked everyday for a solid week when bam he asked me to send him a “steam wallet” card. I told him i didn’t know what that was and couldn’t get my hands on it. He then asked about an amazon gift card. Stupid me, i did so and of course we continue to talk. Constantly, during the day when he claims his unit if off duty. He did give me his rank in class saying he’s Private Second class Lance Alejandro Williams 44 and even went as far as giving me his birthdate. That’s it. I’ve done my research after a little speculation and worry that i was being scammed. Hoping this isn’t the case but it’s worth a shot to open up on here

Says his name is Phillip Wright, has a daughter, Melissa Lorenzo. His mum supposedly passed away in December, there’s no obituary for her in Key West. Says he wants me to send him $1200 from my income tax return, which hasn’t been done yet.

Been talking to a guy called Mark Williams claims to have 5 houses working as a Construction Engineer in Florida also a Pastor sent me loads of photos but his voice does not match his face. Got me onto Hangout sent him £50 ITune gift card yesterday now he is asking for another one. So thankful to find this site he has also told me that he wants me to put £20,0000 into a teddy and sent it via FedEx clearly I am not going to do that but I don’t want someone else to be conned by this guy - has anyone else come across this man?

Has anyone ever been scammed by a man named Blair Pedersen from Norway. Very handsome and is an electrical solar engineer. Has a daughter named Marie. He said he lives in Vancouver, Canada.

I just block the guy his name was Bernhart Bauer We find eharmony dating site. He was medical engineer from Germany came to Canada 6 month ago he has one son 16 in boarding school going Istanbul for business then have accidents end up he will ask you to open bank account by that time I block him he talk very sweet long nice writing lot of poem call darling all the time he want get old together etc. He send lot of video images about his work MRI machine I end up find that image from YouTube he just put his voice . Don’t west your time !!!!

I was in a dating app call CHISPA for Hispanic. This Guy name Michael Albert , 42 that he said he was from the army. He was a sergeant and he lives in California. Right after that he try to tell me sweet things that we were going to get marry that he had a daughter that lives with his aunt in California. He send me sweet things like " Imagine that I'm a water falls that you need. I will give you everything you need, I will Mary you and put you in a pedestal . " He said he is in a mission and he can't talk and bu he was wheeling to move to Chicago. Were Im from . This guy will text me all day and thinks were not right. He send me picture from a army guy. I ask him for his name and he said David Celestine Albert Michael . Then he said he was 47. Everything was fishy . I told him that I was going to report him here and he stop. Don't trust all this dating apt you don't even know who is in the other side.

I'm talking to a brian stevenson. Deployed to Nigeria. From panama city. Been talking since Oct last Yr. He's sent me loads of pics of him. He wants me to send money over to him. I feel stupid, because I have. Plus mobile phone. Now he wants 900 sent to him for an upgrade. Which I haven't got. He txts me through the day. More so at nite When's he's back in camp. He says he can't wait till he gets home to me in Dec. That's when he can leave. It made it all sound so real. He fou d me on Instagram. Now he wants me on hangouts. No other apps. Prob because I know I will find him out.

The guy that's been emailing me and texting me his name is Thomas Samuel John and there's another one his name is James Lawson there's another one Kevlar George I have pictures of every one of them I have every email they've ever sent me every text message they've ever sent me every picture they have ever sent me they are creeps Liars thieves and scammers

If any never come to a name Alexander Harrison, living in uk work as supervisor for a shipping company. Wife died 2 years ago with cancer

Anyone hear of a firefighter, Thomas Bob? In Australia?

Anyone know JOHN PETER VASQUEZ, 40 years old Date of Birth 02-22-1080?? Scammer??

I was approached by a man called Richard Langham supposedly lives in Alabama originally from Australia. He had a job in Turkey and needed extra money to buy equipment and I send it to him. It’s been over two years he was supposed to come back home last year but something always seems to happen like an accident or him being robbed by people. I don’t believe anything he says anymore and he will not get any more money out of me it’s really sad that the person has to do this.

Has anyone been involved with a man goes by the name Eric Brendon? Or a Tom Dave??? Or a Roy Jason?

My story started about 8 months ago when my husband and I broke up! Well I thought it would be good to talk to someone so I signed up for the relatie planet as soon as I joined I had a combination with someone named Robert George who says he is a sergeant in the United States and is 41 years old and has two children, a girl and a boy! He says he's on duty in Nigeria! In Oryo.

Anyone had anybody going by victoria antos, or eleaonora jerold, or any combination of these names try to ask for their trust, then chat on Google hangouts an give them gift cards? This is my experience right now

I never thought I would get scammed. My wife had passed away less than a year ago. I finally worked through most of the grief and wanted to see what was out there and IF I even had the ability to move forward. Within an hour after I signed up for HER, I received a "like" and started talking to someone. She asked me to quit the app, exchanged numbers, actually talked on the phone which made it VERY real for me. Asked me to marry her within a week. I thought it was moving quick HOWEVER My wife & I met online, immediately started talking on the phone and met within a few weeks. We got engaged after 22 days, married on day short of our 6 month anniversary. We were married for 12 1/2 years until she suddenly passed away in her sleep. Therefore, a proposal after a week was NOT a red flag. It started with low sums of money $300 to help with sister's rent. Then she went on a business trip.. all the stories were very be3lievable and I thought I was investing in a future with this person. I send money for an airline ticket. I sent fake boarding passes and she never showed up. I was devastated! A week later I get a call from Dubai that she is in the Hospital. It has been a recurrent nightmare! I have not sent any more money. "She" keeps trying. I just say I cant afford it. I filed a report since the second amount of $400 was send to her sisters "landlord" and this person is a real person living in WA. I actually send her a text to find out if she received the money, she immediately contacted my scammer. The conclusion is that the actual person in the USA KNOWS my scammer. I hope they all get arrested and thrown in jail;!! This is the lowest form of deceit!!

Was recently scammed by guy met on wwf - oil contractor out in Black Sea - parted with about $4000 for various rig emergencies then got very suspicious as wanted to send me all his money. Special courier service wanting $28000 to deliver! Pulled out and called him as scammer. That is when it got really weird.... The scammer contacted me with photos, real name the works .... straight from Lagos! Claimed had fallen in love with me during the scam and was so sorry at what he had done. Kept trying to call and video and wanted me to either go there to him or he would come to me. Didn’t ask for cash - just forgiveness. And if possible a chance to meet me ...... he is now fully blocked, but I just hope he never turns up on my doorstep! P

Hi. I read the comments here and I must say I experienced the same thing. The guy named Jason Wu added me on Instagram. After accepting his request, he messaged sweet words to me on IG and telling me he wanted us to become friends. I felt weird and thought the guy was a bit sketchy but continued on replying on him on instagram. He said he is a Chinese American, lived in China until the age of 2 but migrated in the US. He said his father and sister died but never mentioned the causes, and his mother went back to china. After a few days he told me that we should just continue chatting on Whatsapp since he doesn’t use Instagram much and he mostly use Whatsapp for his job. He claimed to be a Petroleum Engineer of Hunt Oil in New York. He also told me that he is single and 39yo, previously engaged with his girlfriend of 5yrs but discovered that she cheated on him and was pregnant with his bestfriend that is why he broke up with her. He is very good in making up stories so honestly I believed him. One day he told me that he needed to go back to work at the sea (since he claimed that he is a petroleum engineer) and told me that cellphones are not allowed inside so he asked me if we could just continue chatting through yahoo email. I agreed because I thought it was a harmless conversation. Until one day he told me he wanted to send gifts/valuable goodies for me. So he asked for my personal information such as address and contact number. Then he told me the courier of the package was asking for an added delivery charge to the receiver since it is overseas. So I told him ok fine. After 3 days a courier named KARGO EXPRESS contacted me on Whatsapp and asking for 2,500 US Dollars for postage and import charges, and told me that they will not deliver the parcel to me unless I pay them through bank transfer., and they demand that the payment should be deposited within 24hrs. Thats when I started to feel odd about the situation and told myself that everything was a scam. I asked for their bank account and to my surprise, The bank account is not named after the courier (Kargo Express), the account was named after a russian guy. Thats when I decided to block contact in whatsapp. I messaged the guy and he told me he was offended because I told him that he is a scammer (which I think is part of the plan) Im just happy I trusted my gut feel about this whole situation. It is my first time to experience this but honestly, I can tell that Those scammers are really good in getting your trust. They really know how to make themselves believable. I remember he also send me Bible Verses just to get my trust. So Let us all always be careful.

Can someone please help me..meet a guy on IG..profile is thomas leon..talked for awhile on I G then asked if we could talk on skype..We've videio chated a few times. Even gave me a tour of the ship he was on..Now he asked for 500.00 dollars to be sent to a bank account .so he can get his aunties child out of Italy because of corona virus..I want to help him buut I feel I'm being scammed..we're not on anything besides IG. and skype..asked me immediately to do video chat so he knew i was real..what's your thoughts..do I help him

I too never thought I'd fall for a love scam! There is a very romantic French man who knows what to say to win your heart lurking on the internet. The man in my case went my the name of Franck Buys. He said he lives in Nice. Sad life story indeed......adopted, no relatives alive, wife died 5 years ago, raising an 11 year old girl alone. He claims to be an "Orfevre", or goldsmith. We exchanged messages for a month on Instagram and facebook. I resisted and laughed about his lavish compliments. Eventually I actually believed this guy! He loved everything about me and said we were meant to be together and he was going to make that happen. He went on a business trip to Africa and decided to bring his daughter with. I thought was a bit odd being an 11 year old girl on a business trip to The Ivory Coast. The second day he was in (or I thought he was) The Ivory Coast I received desperate messages from him. He and his daughter were attacked violently outside a restaurant at night. She had head injuries and needed stitches. She was under observation in a hospital. Of course all his money, credit cards, passport were stolen during the attack. Added was the fact that the French health insurance would not work in The Ivory Coast. He requested that I sent him $3,000 so his daughter's doctor could be paid. I did not send it, but the story broke my heart. I knew at that point that I was under the spell of a crafty scammer. I really felt like a fool. Eventually I told him I would not transfer money and he let me know how uncaring I was, and that he now had to tell is suffering daughter that I refused to help. It took me a day to recoup my sense of well being. I'd like to think that I am well educated on the scammer's art, but this one was just too good at it. Fortunately I didn't lose money just a small part of my heart.

I am only a weekend into a scam with Christian R. Ackerman. Very handsome guy. Silver Grey hair, chocolate lab called Dex. Wife cheated on him 15 years ago with his best friend and she did drugs. No kids as wife couldn’t get pregnant. Masters in structural engineering from Melbourne, Australia. After divorce he left Australia and moved to Alabama. Here he has a remodeling business for both commercial and private. He contacted me in a networking group in Connecticut of all places. A place really where I thought this wouldn’t happen. He said he had plans to move up here and retire in about 5 years. He is 56 now. Long story short he is no where to be found online and that made me curious. There is no way anyone doesn’t leave a single trail online. We talked on the phone. Clearly he has an Australian accent but his voice doesn’t fit his picture at all. Sounded like an insecure 30 year old. Today I asked for a picture where he holds up a sign with today’s date. Clearly the picture that came back was photo shopped and I told him and he delayed our conversation on Telegram. Anyone know of him? How on earth can this scammer have so many pictures of a random guy?