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

Anyone dealt with Samuel Thomas Mandes? Claims he is working in Mardin, Turkey on construction. His 4 year old daughter is always sick. Bank froze his credit card and account just when he needed money to bid on a contract in Cambodia. Then, he needed money to get to Chicago to deal with his bank, but got scammed and falsely accused of drug smuggling. Needs more money for a Turkish lawyer.

I'm on words with friends for a couple of years now. From time to time some players would comment on the words we've played. Then exactly on March 2 a guy named David Woods invited me to play which I accepted. The day after, he said hi and I replied like I always do for education. Then he started asking how I was . He seemed like a very nice guy. He said he's american from Chicago and is working offshore on the black sea in Turkey. Since my ex husband worked for oil rigs until he retired and we've been to different places I thought "oh how nice, someone who has lots in common with my past experiences" and so to make it short, we started chatting first on whatsapp (he asked for my number so he could add me up) then he asked me if I had Hangout. I said no and that I didn't even know about it. He then ask me to unload it and so we left whatsapp and shifted to Hangout. So far, he hasn't asked for anything. He professed he fell in love with my smile and all other craps. He sent me love poems everyday (another thing we have in common apparently as we both write love poems). He said he couldn't imagine his life without me! He said he's finishing his contract with Ayazli (Turkish oil company) in May and he's relocating to Italy to be with me. He sent me pics on the rig, in his office, with his mom.... I asked for his identity as I told him I doubt his real identity. After a few weeks he sent me scanned copy of his passport bearing his name David Woods but his signature wasn't David Woods but a different name. I asked for explanation and he came up with telling me he's always used his mother's maiden name as his signature which is Alghanonom (according to him, Turkish origin). Then I saw the validity of the passport is 8 years whereas I know American passports' validity is 10 years! After all these he said he had some problems with his equipments on the rig and has to go to China to buy the new equipments. He then went (according to him). Arriving in China he said he left his wallet on the taxi with his credit card. He didn't ask me for any money though but he asked me to operate on his bank account which I refused in the beginning but then after 24 hours of thinking about it, I agreed. He sent me his bank details and told me how to log in. He asked me to transfer a big amount to a company in China where he bought the equipments. I took screen shots of everything so I have the proof, even all our chats. I have just blocked him from all my devices a couple of days ago. I have two very best friends who were with me in all these and we decided I should write to him telling him I am no longer interested in continuing our virtual "relationship".... I believe I was just in time as I was starting to fall for the image of this Mr. Perfect. Be careful ladies and watch out for this David Woods.

Do anyone know someone name Kenneth Mewhort,Ronnie McDowell or John Adams? I met this so call Kenneth on a meet me app. He told me about his daughter he claims he haves. Things was going good at first then not long he started to have feelings for me. He told me to use hangouts to keep texting . At first i i didn't think nothing of it bad. Then I left him on the app for someone else but after awhile it did not work out so I went back to Kenneth on hangouts. He kept asking me to send me $25 or $30 gift cards & I did. He told me he love me & I said the same back to him then he said he wanted to marry me & said yes. Kenneth told me about his so-called friend Ronnie McDowell. So we became friends. Kenneth wanted me & my son to move to a another state with him in a house, at first I said yes. Ronnie help us out with his agent friend John Adams to get a house for us. I did not make the first payment because I told him I'm on Social security the agent got mad & told me to pay $500 to get out the contract that I never received or sign at all. Ronnie wanted to me to help him with some kind app to send money to get Kenneth in the states. I said no. He said he will tell the agent & I will have to pay $1500 that I did not pay because I knew it was scam,so I cut off all communication with them.

I’ve been talking to Andy Nash says he’s military based out of Lagos Nigeria. He has asked me to open bank accounts, I did this but had bank put security codes on it only I know. Then he’s asked for iTunes cards or amazon cards for $50 to $200 at a time. Then he said someone sent me $500 thru walmart2walmart so I picked it up he wanted me to send it to a country man for him. I tried to call the person that sent the money there was no answer and checked the address and it was a hotel. So I picked up the money and now he wants me to buy amazon cards and send them to him. He said the cards were for his commander and if he doesn’t get them he won’t be able to leave and will get into very bad trouble. He said he is suppose to be back in the US on Friday and here to see me on Monday. So, I’m not sure what I should do.

I have been with a man for 2 1/2 years... HAVE LOST OVER $250 THOUSAND DOLLARS Gregory Bernhard is his so called name!!

Anyone start chatting on IG with @mandessamuel *Samuel T.? He must be operating from the Scammer's Script! Unfortunately, I fell for it all, and am out $6,000.

I resently received messages from a very attractive gent Dr Kent Jones even after explaining I was in a happy relationship and I only do friendships he was charming to the core but was proclaiming his undying love. Claimed to be Gp/surgen on base in Somalia. Daughter schooling in uk, wife passed 2years previous. Wanted me to accept a gift for him to collect before the end of month. I sat patiently for two weeks just knowing he was going to request money at some stage which he did that’s when I find out how to used his profile image on TinEye to do a scam check. The scammer was pushing and pushing for me to raise money to send and kept asking me to sell something or borrow the money to pay his shipping or his life would be ruined without this package. I responded that I’d had a result and simply forwarded the exact same image back to him as his post, that I submitted to TinEye which revealed 3 different date he was caught date scamming BUT under the name Dr Ferdinand Gomez reported this to Instagram the image was removed the scammer withdrew from the page instantly after receiving my capture shots.

About now 3 weeks ago on my Facebook I got a friend request so i went to his massage box and I asked him how did he get my name and was I on some online dating thing and he said no that he was looking for a friend and came across me .So he wanted to be friends.Well me that Im single to a chance.Anyway! This picture of this guy he is very handsome of course I was became friends on Facebook.Then he wanted us to chat on hangouts.So I did .He started out his name was Oscars Samuel then his name had changed to Andrew Mossl .We chatting for a very short time he says that he is on a oil rig living on it for awhile he has a son in a boarding school.Says he is in love we me.Oh he is supposed to be living on a oil rig and he should be done in a few months and wants to come out and marry.He has lots of money making promises. Sends me pictures .Then he tells me that he cant get to his bank account cause he is on this rig in the coastline in the east of Spain.So he needs me to buy him a 100.00 Amazon card.Then about several days later he wants me to go on this online shopping thing and wants my Email and private information.So many things as time from the start a have red flags going up .Still chatting but I won't give a man any thing.He says that he needs this card to complete these documents for his job.I say your job needs to supply.So becareful .So now I will chat with him and Im laughing because he isn't getting any thing from me

I meet a guy on Facebook romance thing. Then he wanted codes from inside itune cards. Said for his computer. I refused then he needs money to get off the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico I refused. Now he is back to needing itune cards for his device so he can call a friend to help him with money. He claims his bank account us frozen. He needs to pay his worker. I had him checked through truthfinder his cell phone is not listed anywhere. Is this a scam?

Someone introduces herself as Sergeant Sarah Abbott who is an American marine in a military base in Afghanistan. She tries to get your detail information by a story that she has big sum of money but she is not allowed to take it out of Afghanistan because of UN. She says she can only send that money through a diplomat agent (Diamond Logistic Delivery ) to your door. Once delivered then she will come & get 70% of it. An identity theft concealed in a love story sergean tsarah a @gmail. com

I caught a scammer out last night by using the 'Google Image' search engine, I discovered that they had several aliases on different Dating Sites. When we spoke on Hangouts later I sent them a link to one of the profiles and they denied placing it. I got suspicious when they asked for a loan. They are now well and truly blocked.

Re Kathy, Apr 27th . John Thomson , sounds like a scam , don't put any money out, RUN as far as your legs can carry you . If it is too good to be true , it isn't, sounds like he'll ask for money in the long run . I too have been scammed , God bless you

Don't laugh - but I think I have a scammer with a heart. Over a year ago I started texting with a US Army Lieutenant nearing retirement. Same sad story of horrible ex-wife and a daughter killed in a drink driving incident. He didn't ask for money for over 6 months and then it was a $50 iTunes card. I complied after a few weeks. He didn't whine, beg, or complain. I sent the card. We chat daily for long periods of time. He never asks for more than $50. There's no grandiose declarations of love and marriage. It really is like a pen pal with a good friend. I've read these scam stories and asked him about it and he confessed! But said he hated the dishonesty and was quitting. Ok. We still texted. I still occasionally send him $50. He admits he's from Nigeria and is 25 years old and responsible for himself and 6 siblings and mother. He still doesn't ask for more money. Just the occasional $50. We chat like old friends. This has now been going on for 16 months! What do you guys think ??

User name lawmangreg4 Whoever this was started commenting on my Instagram profile then direct messaging me. He stated he was from Tulsa Oklahoma lol. It was obvious English was not his primary language. He kept saying the same stuff, I have never felt this way blah blah. This went on for a few days. Then he said he was running out of data and could not get anymore because he was on the high seas lol. I told him I was not comfortable with buying him a $200 iTunes card and at first he said it was fine because nothing was more important than me but then he started getting angry, saying I didn’t trust him. I told him I was tired and going to bed. Then he says I love you hope I can talk to you if my data is “outdated’ but he would find a way awwww lol. I blocked him and his profile is there but all of the pics were taken down. I feel sad for the poor guy whose pictures he stole. It was fun to play with him though. He honestly thought I was buying into it!

Hi. I wanted to share when I found out through this site my uncle went through the same thing do many others have, finding this helped me show him this was all a scam. He began talking to a guy by the name of Kelly Smith who he met through a male dating app, first they began conversing and sharing selfies. He told him he was In Syria in the Army, he was an only child whose parents died and the only uncle he had didn’t talk to him. He soon after started asking for stem cards to use for Internet, then a cell phone and clothes in which he have an address in Tonga. They never spoke on the phone he said the connection was no good. Soon after he started asking for more, then he provided him with some login to his “bank “ account where it showed an account with 10 million ( I logged in myself) under someone else’s name — I’ve never seen a site like this especially that it ended in .org . He said was inheretence from his parents passing. That’s Super strange no one guy in the Army has $10 MM in the bank. He only provided this fake site to show him he wasn’t using him for his money and he has his own monies. Soon after “Kelly” said he was going on a mission and there he found box with gold bars— even went so far to send a video of 3 ppl picking up what a they want you to believe is Gold bars. After asked my uncle for his address and $500 in order to be able to ship it via customs. He paid the money and I put a stop to it When Kelly asked him to pay the company $3k in order for them to deliver and release items. Ther is no company in the world that transports / delivers gold legally. The person behind the phone is a scammer I’m glad I got online and started to research and found this guy was a complete fake, someone was using his photos to entrap people and steal from them. I’m glad it didn’t get worse

He claimed his name was Harry Wilson. Stationed in Syria. Working on an oil rig. Widower from Canada. Chatted for a month. Proclaimed his sweet undying unconditional love. Now he wants to send me $300K because he cannot send money to his US bank account from Syria. He wants to use some courier company to send it to me and I refused. Needless to say he is furious.

there is a fb user name dee johnson tried to sell me a car on a swap fb page-and he is a fake. he gave me his number to call him and the numer isnt even under his name..but someone elses name.

I posted something on here yesterday but it didn't show up. I am now untrusting of anything on the internet, including these sites. I'm probably not on a sucker list since I refused to send any money or naked pictures (that were finally requested by my scammer). This scammer was very good and very attentive. I think these guys are the same as gigilos (older women pay them to give them attention). As soon as he wasn't paid what he asked for (crazy stories about a briefcase holding 2 million dollars in a security company in Australia, needing iTunes to be able to continue to chat with me on Hangout, which he had originally requested I move from FB to Hangout, and then some other gift card request. he "broke up" with me. He said he was originally from Germany and his uncle moved him to the UK after his parents died in a car crash. He said he was a Marine Engineer and was currently out in the Indian Ocean but couldn't call or video chat due to "pirates" being in the area which would put him and all his men at risk if they heard a "cell ping" or whatever. I was made to feel guilty for not falling for his schemes (which I didn't fall for, by the way) but I did fall for the attention and caring that he showed. This feels like a feminist issue!

I have been almost a victim of this scammer. Met him on Instagram. He said he is a US army assigned in Afghanistan. He said he was an orphan, raised by a priest and talking very godly and sweetly. He has photos in IG and also sending me photos when we transferred in Telegram app. He said he is 30 years old. The picture looks sweet and innocent guy. He said both of his parents died in a car accident when he was only 5 years old. He is very poetic when it comes to words and will make you fall hard. He used the name James Rubio Mendoza. Please be aware of this man amd of this story.

Watch out for Michael Cummings. Oil rig scammer on Instagram. The usual - wife and daughter died in a car crash.

I met Bruke Macarty from Boise, Idaho on a Facebook group. He soon had me chat on Hangouts. Said he had a 7 year old daughter, his wife had died. He was an oil rig contractor in Germany. He sent me videos and everything. We quickly “fell in love” and he wanted me to open a bank account to help him get the money for a loan for his supplies. Said without the supplies he couldn’t finish the job and would lose everything and go to jail. Luckily the bank sent back the checks, but he still needed the money. Dummy me gave him $1200 for his “supplies”. Days after he got the money, I never heard from him again. Then I found out he gave me fake phone numbers and address. He had asked me to marry him and was planning on moving to my state. I fell for it all, he was very convincing.

Any one talking to a Muslim guy in his twenties that is or works for a pharmaceutical company ? Name Jitendra Singh Panwar love love love my sister is 30 years. His senior she has two boys and has a grandchild but 4 months into this crazy love affair on line Facebook she told me the other day that he is very very upset and mad. That she is not a VIRGIN! What ? What 60 year old woman do you know in the u.s. that is a virgin? I don’t even know one . She plans to go stay with him in Bangladesh in August for a month! I’m freaked out she k is noting in 4 months about the guy ! Help me if any one has heard this name. Come up on friends request on Facebook girls ! I need to co Vince her not to go ! Thank you

There is a man i met on an online website. We have been talking for almost a year. He says he is A pilot and says he lives in Colorado. I found a pilot with the pictures he has sent me. The man from the pictures is a pilot and stationed in spain. He uses a text mail subseciber to call me. He says his phone camera doesn’t work at all. I checked his number online and it has been posted as unsafe. I just have read stories about military men. Not about pilots. Wondering if maybe someone has had a same experience.

Do you have pictures of scammers who are in Pretoria South Africa?

Anybody talking to a Jimmy Zellner ? I have a copy of his passport..very handsome.American working Poltava Ukraine as Consrtuction Engineer.Divorced with daughter Alice who is living in Boston with his mother Anita Zellner

I'm talking to a woman named Hannah stone or supposedly. She gave me her bank account and routing number all that jazz and told me to make and 1800 payment on my discover then get her 2 separate 500 dollar Google gift cards. The payment just posted and it actually went thru but I don't want participate if it's a scam of some sort and how would I return the money if it's a stolen bank acct

Been chatting with a guy says he is in Syria with unicef. Went from wanting my username and password for my cell carrier. Went to iTunes. To deposit checks to transfers. Did nothing.

I’m not sure if this is a scammer, but it was the first thing that popped up in my head when he first messaged me. Nurse Richard smith, 39 from ks city, goes by the name of richardo_1978 on Instagram. Said he found me on a group for single mothers on Instagram. Wife is dead in a car accident and has a son named Brandon, 3 years old, staying with the nanny, because he is stationed in Iran as a nurse... he is attractive and sweet, but I can’t help but feel there is something wrong, so I’m containing myself.

hi all...Just been scammed from the dating site zoosk.com....just found out that the guy who asked me for money etc etc... was using an another identity!! I am having to remortgage my house....like many or all of you I am a educated woman who just wants a bit of love....FAT CHANCE OF THAT!!!! I am so glad that I am not alone!! I used my heart not my head and didn't listen or see the warning signs. Lesson of life well learned.....And I have got lots of them!!! Be strong all!!!

As I read all the stories here most of them are the same man. Is there anything someone can do to trap this scammer?! Come on ladies, let’s do something about it.