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

Thanks a lot for making us all feel worse than we do. I am not a stupid person, actually very intelligent. But sometimes you make a grave mistake in believing people because you expect that they are as honest as you are. Do not pass judgement and make this comment. You are basically calling everyone who is pouring their heart out and sharing their stories IDIOTS. Thank you so much for that. You made me so much worse.

i totally agree! My friend is falling for the same thing despite all of us telling her she's being scammed.

It's very similar to mine, I met this guy August 15/2015. He popped up in my Skype account. He sent me a friends request. He told me that he is in Military and stationed in Afghanistan but his home base in Kubal. I believed in him cuz, he claims that he is in colonel Army. But also has a Son is 14 years old. He is a widowed and looking for a wife and mother for his Son. He told me his son living with some stranger in Combondia. He wanted me to emails his son which I did. Then a month later his son and I had communications until November then his son stopped emailing me.We Skype 2 times a day.Then,2 mmonths later his Son started asked me money cuz, he claimed that his Dad haven't sent him anything or help him financially. He told me the schools demands to pays his school bills. OMG! I felt so broken cuz, I felt so sorry for his son. Then his son begged me to help him for financial situations which I did. Then, I contacted the school authority and find out how much his boarding and living expenses.They give me the total cost of$2850 for the whole years semesters. I talked to his Dad but, his excuses he can't do anything about it cuz, he is in the war zone and it's hard for him to sent money for sent anything out of those countries. Stopped me I believed in him. But he didn't asked money but he used his son for his dirty scams. Then, I found out in couples later that it is a scams. I texted my ex husband is a police officer and his friends in FBI. I forwarded all the pictures of him and his Son. I files a reports against the scammers people's. The FBI it's working on my case now.They already have a lead on it.It's an open cases.It has to be stopped or caught them and send them to where they come from.

What is his name?

I don't understand your post - you mean he is real and he loves you a lot and he is from Africa? Where in Africa? Ghana? Have you met him?

Don't give your bank account number to a person you never met. If someone has your bank account information, they can take your money.

And if someone you don't know asks you to deposit a check in your account, then withdraw money and send it to them -- don't do it. The check might be fake. If you withdraw money before the bank learns the check is fake, you'll have to repay the money.

Some scammers ask people to deposit checks, but the checks are stolen. If you deposit a stolen check in your account, you'll be helping a criminal, and the bank will contact you when it investigates.

Ive had a Frederick Conte, aka Fred Conte, Freddy Conté sending me pictures and calling texting etc,all the same scenario of evassiveness and lovely dovey shit... the minute he asked about money, my heart sank. ..it was the day he had sent flowers for me and chocolate for my son.... but i ended it and now feel betrayed angry and yet relieved tgat i did not let him fully into my heart but it was close...too close!!! Hang in there!

He is still at it, story has changed a bit but still the same guy. Beware of 1-435-535-1145

Same scammer with the same name and same story, met him on an online dating site on January. Said he is going to South Africa on a project for 3 months from Utah.He is there now and he told me his card is not working and asked me to send him money through Money gram. Derek Conte, same story about his family as he said to you

I think we have met the same man! I recently met a man on match.com claiming to be from Germany and widowed. Your post is almost identical to my story. Except he claims to be in Istanbul working. I googled his name Michael Alssandro and his numbers. I fell for his story and now out 2500 I'm sick over how I was played. I went online dating to get myself back in the dating world. I survived breast cancer and spent 2 years alone. He played me on my vulnerable state of mind. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Chris Fox is messaging me now and i could tell he was a scammer too lo gif messages and he said the same thing to me.. idiot!

I think I was contacted by same guy. Said his name was Kevin Oullette. From Germany, parents deceased, wife deceased, 9 year old son. Has nanny. Owns a building company. Contacted me through Match.com. Professed love within 2 days. 2 weeks later supposedly won big building contract in UK. Day after arriving in UK he contacts me saying he lost his luggage and needed me to send iphone7. I played along until I got address to send it to. The address was in Ghana! Haven't heard from him since I said I wouldn't send it. Said he lived in MA. His phone number was in MA. He also gave me company name. I looked it up and it existed…..after I knew he was a scammer I called company number…..disconnected. I did google image when he first contacted me and didn't find anything suspicious. This guy is good at what he does….cover's his tracts. BEWARE

Sounds almost like a man I have been speaking with.Same 1st name and son same age parents dead,wife dead and he has no family

is it oubridge matthew perhaps. Just had my heart crushed by him very very similar story.

I think I was contacted by this man too, except his name is sgt. Gray Micheal Crawford, from CA. Wife died if cancer, 3 kids in CA with nanny.....then I saw another profile with the same man, only different profile name and pic, but exact same guy and info.....

Yep, I had this guy using Luke Giordana, engineer, wife died in car accident, lives in Rochester new yours. Very sweet wanting my email or phone number. Last month he used a different name with a picture of flower both went to school Oxford. One came up a musician and the name a writer comedian. I have not let it go any further but sound extremely close. Both say they are engineers bla bla and I live in Texas

November his name James Blake and December 2015 Luke Giordano both said they were engineers, dead wife, James Blake said he had a 16 year old daughter and lived in king Bridge England . Luke Giodano talks the same way, engineer, works for Turkish govt and both of them asked to talk offline, email. I unfriended James Blake immediately and 2 weeks later Luke Giordano friend requested with lots of photos of kids, pets, and very charming he just changed hobbies up from cooking, bike riding, long tennis days and added riding horses this time.

Hello I was contacted in early October on facebook by a man named Donald Beez, who claimed to be a Oil Engineer who owns his own company (never mentioned the name) and was currently competing for a big contract with an oil company. Claimed he lived in Austin Texas area and has a 9 year old daughter whose mother died in childbirth. He claimed his mother was Australian, and his father was Norwegian and he died when he was young, yet his mother never married again and she lives in London. He has an odd European accent, and claims he was raised in Norway, went to college in England. He provided pictures of himself and his daughter, and even though I told him I didn't know him and basically told him I thought he was a scammer, he continued to attempt to get to know me. He said he was in love with me, and that he was 3 year older than me, but he looked more like 10 years younger. I told him he couldn't be in love with me, that it ridiculous, that you can't expect any woman to buy that and that's when he applied it thick, saying he was really not a scammer and he was very hurt that I wouldn't let it go. I told him I had read story after story about this type of thing, and it always involved men getting women to trust them, and then they ask the woman for money, and that men do did this were despicable. He kept saying that he wanted me to have an "open heart" and trust him, that he was a legitimate professional 22 years owning his own company, and that he would never hurt me and promised that he would never ask me for money - ever. With a very tight gut feeling, I figured okay, let's see how far this will go before he let's the boom fall with the request for money. I told him I am not rich, the bank owns more than I do, and that if that what is truly motivating him he's hitting a dead end. Well, he told me he wanted to marry me, had his child on the phone to talk to me several times briefly. He told me he travels all around the world working a large number of hours and his daughter either stays with his "mum" or a nanny who he "pays every month" (which sounded like child support to me, lol). He claimed to not have been in a relationship since his wife died, and he is serious about finding someone to spend the rest of his life with. Talked about wanting come move in this area near me, to finish signing his contract in Qatar, get his funding and move here to buy a big house where he plans to build a nice future with me. My response was Really? What about those other ladies who are listed on your facebook friends list? I'll bet you say that to all the ladies. He told me he never talks to them. I said - not my business, he's a grown adult, but don't talk to me if you're talking to a bunch of other ladies. That's when he hid his friends list from me. In the interest of seeing just how far this would go, I had already written down the friends that were listed, in anticipation of that move. He told me I never talk to those ladies, not like I do with you - you are the only one I share my heart with. I almost choked when I read that one. Taking it one step further, I told him that I don't believe he is telling the truth and insisted he change his relationship status to being in a relationship with me so others could know, which he did. mind you he has never even met me! Pouring all of these romantic writings, several of which are stolen poetry from other sites (I googled it), he laid on the I love yous thick. Right after Christmas 2015 came and went, and he sent me messages that he had "good news for you babe" (always called me babe, honey, never by name). My contract has been approved, but I have to go to Qatar to have it signed. Once I get it signed, I will come to meet you. This guys was very good, talked about many things, was very charming and sent a number of pictures, of himself and of his daughter, and I began to get really nervous because I would likely hear about the money request in the near future. Sure enough he has to travel to Qatar -plane departs 10 pm, and says his phone is off (which is a google account phone with a (408) area code - San Jose, not Austin) while he is on the plane but will call when he arrives. I google for any and all flights out of the closest two airports on direct flights to Qatar, so I have an idea of how long it would be before the "I have arrived" phone calll. I have facebook messenger, and he doesn't, so facebook messenger allows you to see how recently the other person has been on facebook. This had been handy while I took screenshots earlier in the conversations, as he claimed was going to sleep, and he was active on line every 1-2 minutes for several hours. Sure enough, he was on facebook for an hour or so after he might have arrived, and then nothing more until that day passed. Early next morning, there are posts of him with several different men, posing together for pictures. This was when his contract was signed. There was only one problem, he had invested much of his own capital in all of the research and analysis involved in obtaining this contract, and because it was a multi-million dollar deal, he was expected to put up part of the money as security. He wanted me to send him $5,000. Five minutes after I read it, the phone rings and he's there urgently telling me how he knows there are other companies who would love to get his contract who have the funding, and even though he asked a friend for $35,000, that would not be enough to help him secure the contract. I refused. I told him no, I don't have it. He asked me to "see what I could do" "help him please" and then he went to "baby...you won't loan it to me?" in a very disbelieving voice, and then asks if I can borrow it from someone. I told him no. By this time, I'm getting really aggravated, and the last thing he said that really ticked me off: "If you love me you will find a way to get me $5,000." How insulting to be thought of as such an idiot or so needy that I would give up my hard earned cash to a low life like that. I let him know not to bother me anymore. He messaged me and asked me if I could please ask someone I know to borrow it - he would pay it right back. I told him no, that he's a scammer, that he was doing exactly what I told him he was going to do from the beginning conversations, and I wanted to be left alone. He pulled all the stops with the guilt trip about how you should be willing to help the ones you love, and he asked for help, not to scam I waited 36 hours, blocked him from facebook. He called me the next day and asked me if I blocked him on facebook. I said Yes, I did. He started in on the you never loved me, you you just wanted my money, OMG drama, you broke my daughter's heart....blah blah Lies blah blah... Then he said - you don't trust me? and I said I don't trust you at all. Go away. I waited for 6 hours or so, and lifted the block I put on his profile. I went back on to see that he had deleted any posts off my wall, and he had posted a new profile picture, this time with his daughter listed. I messaged a couple of the women who commented on there privately telling them to beware, that he's very good, and that he had asked me for money. I tried to re-block him, and facebook doesn't allow that for 48 hours...I didn't realize that or I wouldn't have lifted it to begin with. I received a phone call at 6 am today from this man, who was livid that I told some of his friends about what happened. He said that he wasn't a scammer and that I stopped talking to him, so how did that mean he was a scammer? He also said in a smart ass way that he did get his check for 17.5 million dollars after all, and I finally lost my cool and told him to have a good life, then f-off and leave me alone. He told me he's going to sue me. I told him sue away. I have all conversations saved - facebook messenger, and text messages, promise to not ask and breach of promise - everything. I don't scare easy, mister. Also told him to never call me again or I'll take it to a restraining order status. So yes, that's my story. If it resonates with anyone on this site, then I hope it helps. A friend of mine told me "you have learned an important lesson: you are a strong independent woman and don't need anyone else's approval for your value in this life". I so needed to hear that. Just remember that ladies and gents.

yes some like that but his name is Michael Russell please i have a pictures too help me to see if this person is scan too

It's good that you're asking questions and didn't share bank account information.

In one version of the romance scam, a scammer asks a person to open a new account (but not in the scammer's name). The scammer transfers stolen money into the new account, and tell the victim to wire the money out of the country. A victim may think she's just helping out, and doesn't realize she is aiding and abetting a crime.  

Don’t send money to someone you met online — for any reason. If an online sweetheart asks for money, you can expect it’s a scam.