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

Hi! I’m utterly ashamed of myself for falling hard and fast for this man who goes by the name of Steve Crowder, says he’s from Turkey, a businessman who is a Christian. It took me days to really respond to him, and when I did, it was live at first ghost! This man opened up to me about a contract he was working on, involving shipping Mercedes Benz to foreign countries. We prayed together regularly, and he finally won the contract. Next step is to go to Singapore to deliver the cars.. 200 cars. He estimated to be there for 2 weeks, then he’ll be home and on to Hawaii. He income he needs to pick up his earnings from Malaysia So him and his son left for Malaysia. Meanwhile, one of the cars was damaged and needed repair in Singapore so they can’t pay him until that was taken care of..Because he had all these unfortunate things happened to him, he needed my help with money to fix the car, so he can get paid.. I did the unthinkable! I sent him $2500.Then he asked me to send my bank account details so he can ask the management to send $30000,000.00 into my account. I did that, because he said he couldn’t do business with his account because of past fraudulent transactions in his accounts. After sending my bank details, he in formed me that everything was set, and once I received the money he would need to pay his workers so he’ll tell me how to send the money.less than 24 hours I received another document, and it simply says that the funds have been approved to be sent to my account but I need to pay$4850 for COT costs.He tells me that the Government If Malaysia is changed this amount for tax purposes. I informed him that I do not have the money and that’s where things started to fall apart. He wanted me to take a loan, beg burrow or steal. , because this is for us he says. Additionally he wanted my Pass Word to my account, this way he is able to not only monitor the account but to be able to make transactions. I told him I will not give him my Pw because it is against the bank policy, and that if and when the money is deposited I will let him know. I also told him that he needed to use someone else, and that I don’t feel comfortable after all. Then Zi requested a video call, which he has adamantly rejected.. I have never had a video chat with him because he said his phone cannot do video. This man has gotten so angry to the point of throwing F bombs st me, and insists on me sending him my PW.. now he wants me to open up an online account which I have declined. Meanwhile. All the searches I did on him could not find his man anywhere. I had my son check in his address and he does not reside there.Please tell me how I can get my money back. Ps, he also has requested itune cards, in $50 increments, and I have sent him 3 to date. Please help!

Anyone heard of a Kimberly Halvorsen on Instagram Kimberley 123 /44 surname Walters/ Jones twitter account Connie Kayla Hubanks and a few others also seen live feeds intermittent and heard voice calls also but cutting out all the time. Unknown if this is a scam but says she is swelling her father's house we he died but unfortunately her uncle keeps putting obstacles in the way and gets stopped Switzerland can the legal system just take a passport and visa on supposition if you are not s criminal?

I am talking to a guy named John Williams has a son I’ve paid school fees medical bills and lots more he sent me a bank account to send money to his sons pastor but since them he knows I’m broke and can’t send more is not talking to me for a few days the thug is I’m heart broken and in debt I feel hurt and stupid as I’ve given up a man that loves me and has also been hurt over this all I do is cry all day I’m so weak and foolish and long for h to contact me again I need to get strong again but it’s so hard as I still love this on line hangouts lover

I am talking to a guy now who says is name is Dr. BEN JOHNSON hes an orthopedic surgeon. White guy with a beard His wife died 5 years ago and he has two kids and a nanny in Massachusetts He wants me to send him a 200 dollar iTunes card every payday and pay for a round trip ticket from Iraq to Virginia

Mine is Larry Jendrusiak from Instagram. Engineer originally from Texas working in the north of Norway on a ship doing exploration of oil. Told me he wanted a relationship with me because I was the sort of women he was looking for him and his son Jake who was in boarding school and also had a nanny who cared for him on weekends. He resides in Savannah Georgia. After 3 weeks of intense texting he needed 200 in ITune cards so he could do research. Also he had no access to his bank accounts or phone lines. Apparently the ship was robbed but security on board managed to stop it thus the restriction. He took this 9 month contract because it was worth millions. The robbery happened after two months. His crew signed a waiver agreeing to the restrictions. I did not send him the Itune cards. After three more weeks he told me about an incident where he by accident broke a piece of machinery BOP STACK by decompressing it. As it was his fault he needed to replace it. He needed 6000 US $ but only asked to cover 2000 as his room mates wife would help with the 4000. I did not send anything. Now he is pressuring me to come up with 2000 nicely because the work is not getting done and this would delay his departure in early April. In April he said he was going to sale his house in Georgia take his son out of boarding school and in May meet me and then end May move to my country. He is pressuring me to file from my estranged husband so he can marry ASAP. Will to wait the year as long as we are together. My estranged husband and I are working on getting back together now and Im trying to rid myself of this guy. Obvious a scammer. I tell myself to have fun with it and try to take from him what he is trying to take from me. Wish me luck all

I would like to know if anyone has talked to Eugene Reagan or Kelvin Townsend or AJ Townsend?

I think my co worker is being scammed by a guy named Douglas Miller says he is a marine engineer on a ship out of the country has a 14 yr old boy in Africa at a boarding school. He says hes retiring april 30th now she wants to marry him when he gets here. Never even talked on the phone with him or met him.

Hi everyone , I knew a guy from Instagram with the name chuajason039. He told me he will come to my country to visit me. At the end , you know what happen , he said detained in the custom of airport and have to pay fine because he brought excess US dollar to my country . And there was a local lady call me and asked my paid total RM60k to save him out from the airport . He said he is Australian , always travel to UK and stay at US . normally they got few contact number .

Anyone communicating with Major Kennedy Ferguson? Instagram: MajorKenFerguson Stationed in Syria. One son who is 12. Wife deceased. From California but now lives in New York. Says he is 53 years old.

This guy name Anthony Fitzroy Ellis lives in Queens NY, (Jamaican) scammed me over $2000, he pretended he loved me and wanted a future. But after a year I just found out late January 2019 that he was lying the whole time. I need my money back.

I met Major Kennedy Ferguson on Instagram. Very good English. Deployed in Syria. Widowed with a 12 year old son. Started off asking for game cards for his son. Then lead to money for flight to come home. Sent the money. A lot I might add, and suddenly there was no room on the plane for his return. That should have stopped me but it didn’t. A long 10 months later with more game cards, cash, cellphones and care packages I final said I was done. Hoping for the best outcome I tried to continue small conversations here and there instead of daily. He was pulling back after each time I said “no more money”. It was not long after he no longer responded to me. Didn’t block me or delete his accounts. Still very active today. I’m so hurt and feel so stupid for trusting this man. Anyone else scammed by him? Instagram: MajorKennedyFerguson. If anyone has had communication with him or similar experience with him please comment.

So I recently started talking to a guy named Collins, Adams, he stated he is a US Navy Officer and he is deployed at Syria. Speaking with him a couple of days was ok, of handsome pictures, charming texting, but he was not allowed to video or call. He has an Instagram and ask to text in Kik so they won’t monitor him, then he threw me the line that he is unable to access his bank account n only can afford to eat one meal a day. That put a red light on for me. Any truth to this guy???

Beware of a man claiming to be an engineer from Sterling , Co and working in Sweden with his so called son. He texts forever, and asks me to send him an iTunes card for his son. I said no. Said his name is John.

I saved myself from this guy who pretend to be in love with me, sympathied and later ask for help buying iTunes card for him to upgrade his phone due to him being out of job and credit card suspended. I recognize as soon as he insisted on getting my money somehow. I quickly blocked and reported his account.

I've been talking to this man named Frank Collins but he has eventually told me that, he also goes by Smith Collins which I thought was very odd when I found that out. But we have been talking every single day since November . We first met on Facebook but once he had me go on hangouts to talk to him better. He ended up deleting his Facebook telling me, "He didn't want to get distracted from anyone else." I found that strange but I'm just like okay . Then I made the first mistake of offering to pay for his sons bill to the nanny which was 350 dollars because, I felt so bad that he didn't have anyone to help with anything at all . Then every single week of every month, he continued to asked me for money or to buy his son a steam card so he could play his games . But recently I had to put a stop to it because, he wanted me to send him 400 dollars so that he could get a new phone because, he lost it. Now mind you, he works as a contractor in Africa supposedly told me he would be home by the end of march and that he would pay me all the money back that I've ever sent him . Honestly I sent this man at least 1200-1300 in expenses . Which I don't know how I was able to afford because, I'm just a young 22 year old women, working in retail sending this 30 year old white supposedly mixed with German man . He does have an accent but it almost sounds to close to a Nigerian accent on the phone every time we would talk on the phone . But guys I just feel like he might be real because, he had me send that 400 through Walmart to Walmart to his friend that lives in the states named, Brian K Jackson . Gladly I was able to cancel the transaction and get my money back in a couple of business days . But that's when I was fed up because, I was ready to video chat with him for the very first time ever . I was happy that I was going to be able to see the face behind those beautiful words that he sent to me every single day . But now I don't think that's going to happen at all . I just want to know the truth from him that's all because, I feel that we all deserve the truth from these men that try to convey and portray a dream that's never going to exist .

Hi have anyone heard of a peter fredericks

Has anyone had any contact with someone named Wayne Woodcock. He is supposedly in the army and living in Iraq. Needs $100000 to get a secure box back with $2.7 million dollars in it for her to keep until he gets out if service. She has sent him $50000. I know it's a scam but can't convince her. She wanted to borrow the other $50000 from me to send him.

I have been talking to a guy says he's a captain in the US army he contacted me by Instagram name is leonardnoel53 his name is Leo he's 53 and a widow of 4 years his wife died of lung cancer has a 10 year old daughter called rosemary in a boarding school. He hasn't asked me for anything yet but has said his commander took his phone off him and destroyed it and can only contact me through their computer base. He's based in Somalia but from new york

Hi was scammed by a man claiming to be an architect from Florida but in Dubai Thomas Crane I have a partial LinkedIn profile he removed or they and pics and lots of emails and texts Said his wife was unfaithful and died Stupid me send damn itune cards Anyone have a Thomas Crane story I know he assumed the identity of a real Thomas Crane and another woman and I contacted him

I have come across so many of these scammers. They’re always a way to work, which a child between eight and 12, from somewhere in Europe Germany, Italy, France, or Norwegian countries. I think the same guy has contacted me multiple times because he sounds exactly the same on the phone. Right about the time it’s time to meet, they have to go out of town on business, and then some have asked for money from wherever they are working. Right about the time it’s time to meet, they have to go out of town on business, and then some have asked for money from wherever they are working. I have not sent anyone any money and usually trip them up before they even get to the send me money story. One man said he was from Germany and the first time we spoke, I said “Good Day” in German, because I speak German. He said “huh”? I hung up. Then they call repeatedly because they think they can still hook me, and I block them. I just want to find a nice interesting man to live...not all this B.S. Nanci

I have a guy called Edgar Plant and another Michael Casey, the first is supposed to be from Canada stuck here in South Africa and the second from USA.. the first needs money to live and the second is wanting me to do a transfer for him as he is unable to do so because his IP address is different... L have a gut feeling they are scammers....

Well, I see I'm not alone! Fell for the oil rig engineer scheme. He was really good. I think he's part of a network of African or Caribbean men. He was smooth as silk. I'm internet savvy and even after I confronted him about the inconsistencies in hus story line, he had the audacity to get angry and claim HE was the victim of identity theft! Watch out ladies Richard Gustavo is not a Swedish-American, working as an engineer. Reverse lookup photos and cell number before you let them know you suspect the are lying like I did. Someone should start a dating website for people like us who've been scammed! Wow, I feel really stupid.

Please do not beat yourselves up for being duped by these predators!! I am in the same boat - believed the lies of a Matthew Livermore, a”doctor on a cargo ship.” I naively sent iTune cards (about $350 worth) and he tried to get me to pay a customs fee of $2500 for a package that didn’t exist. Just today I found out who he has been stealing photos from and reported him to Instagram and informed the real guy. I was also talking to a “USMC” by the name of William Ferguson Wu. Super good looking and full of crap. Wants me to give him my banking login info so he can send me money and help him pay for a lawyer to get him emergency leave from deployment in Kabul. So full of crap. I blocked him on Hangouts. We may never know the real person behind the scams but please remember the photos they use are real people being used, too. We need to trust our instincts and not our hearts when it comes to strangers online.

My scammer is still trying to reel me in! Richard Gustavo says he's from Pampa, TX and hides in a profile for a guy named Terry Needham. He sent me pictures if an average looking man and explained the Needham picture was his Dad. He's got a daughter attending NYU oh she's keeping his German Shepherd "Terry" for him while he travels to Batumi, Georgia (Europe) to work his contact on an oil rig in the Black Sea. Now he wants me to send him $2600 because his equipment is in custody of customs. When I told him of my doubts he explained as identity theft and asked why I don't trust him! Absolutely nothing he said could be verified and he blows up and blames me for not helping him. I feel for everyone in here, but I was lucky and only gave him $200 even though I knew he was lying. Part of me was really hoping he was telling the truth and part of me really wanted to see just how far he'd go. He didn't know I'm smarter he was counting on me being desperate for affection. Richard.Gus57gj @gmail and his phone is a TextNow number. He's smart enough to use Google Translate and fast which is why I think it's a group of men in a suburban house with a bunch of laptops and cell phones. I think why we are all here us because we want to believe people can be so evil. He prayed and sent sweet wake-up texts that I know were copied from the internet because punctuation and spelling didn't match. He was not born here but I think educated here and between 35 and 60. The pictures he sent camefrom yandex and he's on Christian Mingle, ilijeyou and wanbe that I know of. I think he's deleted those profiles and he's not on FB except for that Terry Needham profile. Darn shame because he's got a voice that would melt butter and game that anyone would fall for. Guard your heart and your money!

Has anyone heard of an Anna Lisa??

Has anyone been contacted by someone using the name Marc Rempala? Instagram handle is @rampala72

Have any of you men out there been talking to a girl names Priscilla who says she is from GA but is in Ghana? She supposedly has owns a Pineapple import/export company. She has been scamming my ex-husband for about 2 1/2 months and he finally got wise.

Has anyone heard of an Irish/ Italian man that says he lives in Chicago , wife died 4 or 5 years ago, has 2 kids boy and girl, has live in Nanny, works off should oil rig as safety engineer? Has not asked for anything and admitted he had an accent before we even thaught about speaking on the phone. This FB name is Berry Hazard. 54 years old. Calls me , My Lady and says he's all Good fearing man.

I'm interested in Cheyenne's comment. Met a guy on OkCupid, said he lives in Canada, is an architect and also is now in Cyprus working. It sounds like we were talking to the same man, possibly. has all the red flags of a scammer and then started asking me to buy him Amazon gift cards.. Man, he was a smooth one...

Beware of a Jack Smith romance scammer using hangout. Scammer. I found out his name is Justin. Nigerian. He uses a famous speaker pictures. Private and professional. He is professional. Stay away from that site and be Leary of social sites.

My mom is being scammed and I keep trying to convince her she is being scammed. I just want to share, that even though you can do a reverse image search it will not always result in finding the photo because scammers will sometimes use a still image frame taken from a video. Another strategy is to find suspicious text from their email, copy into search engine such as google and place within quotation marks like this: "example of suspicious text". Scammers sometimes use templates of text which they use for multiple victims so find the lines of text which sound suspicious or over the top! Make sure you copy every word precisely. Just a sentence or part of it is ideal, not the whole email! I have managed to find multiple scammers this way. Good luck, be safe, don't ever send money or give personal information like bank, family details, etc.

A friend has been talking to a guy from indiana (allegedly ) hes currently in the UK was suppose to be back to Indiana but now he cant until July , He has sent her $300 a few times telling her to keep 30-$40 but to WU the rest back to his "driver" (the guy claims hes rich ) the "driver" is nigerian , he claims he works alot and doesnt have time to send the money himself ,,, now the "rich " guy is asking her to send him$1,000 of her money through WU , are his first WUs to her a "trust builder" to get her to send her own money to him to ultimately scam her ? Oh he also loves her wants to marry her , have a family ,etc. ...

I was in the military , accepting money , gold , anything of value etc. From any foreign official for "job well done " or "defeating the enemy" whatever the reason is against rules &regulations and is subject to UCMJ action , also while on deployments , if lets say an enormous amount of cash , gold or anything like that was discovered by a soldier or unit whatever the case is, cannot be kept or dispersed it is counted , and documented and through chain of custody handed over to whomever the appropriate parties are , also contents being mailed to or from a combat zone have a list of contents , weight etc. A package containing gold bars or millions in cash wouldnt be mailed itd throw up red flags and investigations would begin , soldiers pay shipping for anything they send , so if someone needs $××××× so a package is released from customs or whatever country , Its a scam ,, soldiers are proffessionals and held to higher standards reading these comments about people impersonating soldiers and the outlandish excuses they give their victims is disgusting,, I hope this comment helps people not fall victim to scams

Was anyone scammed by this guy. Posting as Wilson Hayden, widow with 14 yr old. Just need confirmation that he’s a dog. Stated lives in Dallas marine engineer

I have been scammedby two guys over the last 3 yrs. one goes by the name Scott Victor Freeman. The other is Pedro F John. One is pretending to be a marine engineer, stuck in Nigeria the other is pretending to be a surgeon with the UN in Syria. Anyone come across the names I have given?

Does anybody know a Donald Wilson or Wilson Donald from Mrtyle Beach South Carolina ?

I have a doctor claiming name is Ethan Allen from California one 9 yr old daughter , widowed and in UN, supposed to be working in Damascus Syria, sent me a video of money they found in a refugee raid by the UN and he was given a cut of 1.6 million dollars I received an email with him asking my address so that he can send his check to me and I can wait for him to arrive and cash together. A few days later I received a mail stating the following it looks legit and the website has a real person with qualifications for this type of business as president of business or something:WELCOME TO AIRTRANS EXPRESS SERVICE LTD 02/25/2019 Dear Valued Customer! Greetings Madam This is the latest update on the ongoing situation of your parcel. Our attorney spent several hours trying to buy an alternative to avoid you paying the 10% VAT Customs Duty Tax for the Issued Check of one million six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. There was a little progress, our attorney was able to prove a motion that you were wrongfully levied 10% VAT for Customs Duty Tax, he further explained that no business was carried out in USA by the owner of the check therefore you have no reason to pay 10% VAT for Customs Duty Tax. The U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has gone through this motion and found it to be true therefore they have come to a conclusion that you are going to be levied 5% VAT for Customs Duty Tax. The U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said in accordance with the Customs Duty Law No:488, any legal documents signed in Israel or another country where the beneficial interest of the parties lies in Israel or another country will be subject to Customs Duty Tax here in USA because is not valid here. Such documents includes contracts, agreements, notes payable(Check), capital contributions, letters of credit, letters of guarantee, financial statements and payrolls. Madam you are expected to pay 5% Vat for Customs Duty Tax which is a total sum of $82, 500.00 (Eigty two thousand five hundred dollars). Once payment is made you will be issued a receipt which our postal worker will present to the Customs Service at the airport for your check to be release, also upon arrival he will need to show the receipt to the Custom authorities in George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas to make sure there is no further complication. We have notified the first international bank of Israel of this update and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. NOTE!! The U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit (TFIU) has ordered that you must make this payment before 03/01/2019 else you will be sued for Tax Evasion stipulated/ Money Laundry, under Art. 359 et seq which may incur a prison sentence of 18 MONTHS TO 2 Years or Court fine. We kindly await your response as to direct you on how to make payment, once again we apologize for this uncalled incident. We hope you clear this situation as soon possible so we can commence with the delivery of your parcel and make you a happy customer. Thank you, Mr, Daniel Bitton. AIRTRANS EXPRESS SERVICES LTD website: www. airtranservice. com I told.him.i have no money and still insisted he loves me. I face timed with him and he is the handsome guy in the photo with his little blonde daughter, he has black hair. He would sometimes show me the hospital he was walking.around In His surgical scrubs green. I backtrack IP to somewhere in Africa and one day his profile picture changed from a super hunkie doc to a young black male. He deleted the profile we were talking on and added me from another one , during those moments where he dint want the rouge to end but left that younng man's picture up too long I saw it and since it changed into his hunkie self again I didn't ask questions at that time, so dumb and weak lol . Didn't get a dime for me I hope this detailed story will help everyone avoid and remember to report crimes like these on FBI website or directly in the country of of origin you this your scammer is from look for their American embassy website and go to the report area. There are few place where to do this. Thank you for your time

So I met an Amy Smith off of POF and I can't tell if I'm being scammed.... She's very beautiful and sweet and says she a fashion designer. And I thought this was great finally I found some who has a job and is going in a good direction. But then seems like most of our conversations deal with how she needs money to buy the stuff for her job... And then making me feel guilty that I can't give her a large amount of money..

Three and a half months ago I met a man on mingle, he said he was a construction engineer and went by the name McGrady I fell for him he told me he was going away from work and that he in the men that work with him were robbed. He also told me that he had to go to Africa to get his inheritance of 7.5 million dollars. While working in South Carolina he asked me to send him I toon cards he had me take pictures of them and text them to him I did this like a real fool we went to Africa was there for two months needed money to come home ask me for $1,500 he would have me send a check to somebody and then then it would get it out to him because Western Union would not do it for me I had no idea these people existed in the world any needed $750 because the old the hotel money and then he needed $350 to pay for fee to leave Africa. He supposedly came back from Africa we were supposed to admit February 7th just kept texting me all these beautiful things and I would say to him where does this all come from he goes to my head my love I wanted to be in a relationship but I never knew this was a scam.then around the time I was supposed to meet him his aunt had gotten very sick and he had to go to Florida she was raising his daughter,he would always send me pictures but never would talk long on a phone or call me I asked him what kind of exit he had and he told me that he grew up around a lot of people of color, he started not to text me as much and when I would say things I even told him but I think I was being scammed and he checked it like how can I believe that he would do this right now I am heartbroken gave him my tax money it was only like $4,000 by the time I was done with cards then he asked me for steam cards which I never knew existed 350 so I bought them took the pictures of course stupid me . Still to this day I haven't told anyone I'm glad I found this site so that I could at least get it out a little I'm very heartbroken very sad and devastated anybody has any ideas of how to get over this horrible thing that happens to us when we be a man or a woman it's a heart-wrenching disgusting thing that these people do to people who are looking for true love and I hope more people read these before they ever get into a relationship over a computer or never get to meet the person. And yes he did start telling me these stories shortly after we met they did sound like poems to me but then I think sometimes we get side blinded by the idea of falling in Love.

I received a friend request from thomas_alex_mark, claiming to be a doctor from the US, but currently in Afganistan. He claimed to be widow and has a daughter. But he seemed to ignore the fact I am married and kept pursuing conversation with me. When I questioned things, that’s when he ended the conversation with me. Now I don’t mind male friends, but interfering with my existing relationship, that’s where I draw the line.