Weird and Different Scam

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

This is what i wrote to the dating site i met Laura on, they think its a Nigerian Scam. I dont, what you think?

We went off this site as you saw she gave me her email address, we then went to mobile and over a 5 day period we sent each other over 100 texts, i was hooked.
She also said she had a hearing problem, and was also very rich. And a ex model
Wanted to settle down and start a family.
Then she has to go overseas to sort out some family business and will text me from Malaysia. A day goes by and i get an email, she has been robbed at the airport in Singapore and lost her money and phone, i offer her £100 to sort her out and get a cab to embassy or her solicitor she had planned to see, she comes back with wanting £800 as its an expensive hotel i say i dont have that money. She says she is sorry for asking and was not my place to lend her money, we keep in contact by email she wont go to the embassy says they would laugh at her and so i manage to get her mates mobile number from Laura which goes to voicemail and Laura cant remember her Mum's home number.
I also get the address and name of the solicitor to try to find a phone number, the solicitor does not exist on the internet.
She kept saying how much she needs money but never asked me again for money.
The hotel she was meant to be staying at finally on the 3rd time of asking told me they have never heard of Laura.
I told her my friends think she is fake, she said she can understand that and will prove she is real when she gets back.
2 weeks back her tone had changed and she said someone has lent her £800 to pay for the hotel and will lend her more money to fly home. Now to me thats BS she has been out there for 6 weeks, will need a lot more then £800.
But its a very unusual scam:
1. These texts were sent from the UK would cost too much to send from overseas, and if sent by email which you can do now, the answers were too quick and knew too much about everyday things in the UK.
2. To send money overseas would have to be wired Western Union as she wanted, but then Laura Black would have to be Overseas, even if its a fake passport this person would have to be overseas, so its a 2 person operation?
3. Why stay in contact with me when she knew i was giving her no money and that i suspected she was a fake, and i even told her that i know people in the Police as i need to find out what is going on?
4. Why tell me she now has money and will be coming back soon, whats the point, there is no point she wont get money out of me she knows that.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

Her name is Laura Black, anyone heard of her?

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:43 am

The fact that you have offered them some sum of money is probably keeping them interested, sounds like there is more than one of them involved so they may well play you along and see if they can get something out of you.
I'm sure the other guys might have a better take on this.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:45 pm

Not all that unusual, I'm afraid. This is 100% African scam.

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Then she has to go overseas to sort out some family business and will text me from Malaysia.

There is a large cell of African romance scammers operating out of Malaysia these days, mainly due to lax regulations regarding student visas.

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1. These texts were sent from the UK would cost too much to send from overseas, and if sent by email which you can do now, the answers were too quick and knew too much about everyday things in the UK.

There are several possible (and realistic) explanations:
a) the source number was spoofed, which is pretty easy to do.
b) the scammer has an accomplice in UK. I would say the scammer himself is in UK (there are African scammers operating in UK), but as soon as Malaysia entered the picture, that became much less likely.
c) The scammer is using email as you suggested. Scammers commonly have scripted emails and pieces of text that are ready to send. It may have been fast simply because it is a cut/paste.

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2. To send money overseas would have to be wired Western Union as she wanted, but then Laura Black would have to be Overseas, even if its a fake passport this person would have to be overseas, so its a 2 person operation?

Again, something we see frequently with 3 common scenarios.
a) As you suggested, he has an accomplice in another country. Often this is another scammer who works as a paid mule for several other scammers; i.e. he/she runs around picking up and forwarding money in exchange for a cut of the total.
b) He has an innocent mule who is another victim. Scammers often use fake job offers or romance scams to recruit mules. The victim may think he/she is a representative of a business collecting payments as part of a work-at-home position; or he/she may be another romance scam victim who is convinced that he/she is picking up legitimate money for the person he/she loves.
c) He has an inside man at WU. It happens--an accomplice who works at WU changes the pickup information.

3. Why stay in contact with me when she knew i was giving her no money and that i suspected she was a fake, and i even told her that i know people in the Police as i need to find out what is going on?

Because he (and the truth is, it is most likely a "he" behind this) has heard the same thing before from other victims, and ultimately they have ended up sending money anyway. He still thinks that if he backs off on the money request for a while and lays on the guilt/love/romance, he can get money out of you down the road. Your very post shows that you still doubt this is a scam. As long as you have those doubts and remain in contact with him, he has something to work with, so he is willing to keep trying.

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4. Why tell me she now has money and will be coming back soon, whats the point, there is no point she wont get money out of me she knows that.

Like I said above, the scammer has heard this before. He has heard doubt. He has been told that the victim is contacting the police. He has been called names. And, he has backed off on the money request, laid on the guilt, sent a few more photos (maybe some porn photos if he is using a porn model--if so, he may even use recorded video to create some fake webcam footage to prove "she" is real), and ultimately worn the victim down enough that money has come. This is actually quite common in the course of a romance scam. Almost every victim who has lost large sums of money suspected at one point and challenged the scammer--and the scammer simply kept playing and manipulating until he got past it.

Presumably this scammer has your real life information. Continuing with him is not safe baiting. It is best that you drop this scammer and cut off all contact now. It will also help if you post this scammer's details at scamwarners to help prevent others from falling victim.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

thanks for the email. So i was right that its a 2 person operation. As for having my real life details phone numbers, name and a few face photos. And that i live in Essex.
As soon as i offered £100 and the person come back and said i need at least £800 then my guard went up.
As for the Police and stuff, this person knows i am for real, as we texted each other i told her/him that i have a important job and do work for the government so the scammer knows im for real, as why would i lie when i believed she was for real?
Reading a lot of stories over the past weeks its shocking how much money people will give a complete stranger, yes i fell for her bigtime but the £100 was when i believed she was for real. After that i never offered a penny. It hurts that I let her / him get into my heart and it makes me angry, very angry. Told people at work and feel stupid. One question as she / he has not been on the website for over a month, would not they come back on looking for more victims?
I suppose even with the 100 texts part of me was still wary, as i said to her many times "this is like a dream" the hearing problem was clever it meant i could not hear her voice, and also i would feel sorry for her, and sort of explained why she would go for me as the age difference was so vast. And yes she sent a few pics of her as a model Sad

I suppose you live and learn, and for me at least he never got a penny from me.

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:37 am

Quote:

So i was right that its a 2 person operation.

As I said, it's definitely possible that there is someone picking up money in UK -it's possible but less likely that they are actively participating in communication. But, it is equally likely that this person is a victim, not a co-conspirator. This is something we see all the time. These scammers typically have multiple scams going at the same time, often different kinds of scams, and they frequently use victims to collect money.

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As for the Police and stuff, this person knows i am for real, as we texted each other i told her/him that i have a important job and do work for the government so the scammer knows im for real, as why would i lie when i believed she was for real

In reality, he didn't care if you did contact the police. Even if he couldn't get you hooked again, what's the worst that would happen? He is in another country, using a fake name, and photos of someone he has never met. Your local police can't do anything as he is obviously way out of their jurisdiction, and he knows that. International investigations are expensive and complicated, and won't be initiated for a small loss. So, while the police might reiterate that he is a scammer, he won't be in any material danger.

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One question as she / he has not been on the website for over a month, would not they come back on looking for more victims?

For most of these scammers, scamming is a career. They often have multiple profiles, sometimes using the same names, other times using a wide variety of names, on several dating sites. They may be playing both males and females simultaneously.They will open multiple email addresses for each identity, in case an address is reported and closed. They will abandon a particular identity or profile for a variety of reasons. For example:
-if it is a paid dating site, they will either use a free trial or a stolen/phished credit card to sign up. They will establish a profile, harvest as many victims as possible (lure them off the dating site onto chat, email, or phone/text), and then abandon the profile, knowing that either the trial will end or the fraudulent card use will be detected anyway.
-if a free dating site, they may be aware that another target or victim has reported them, or they may already have been warned by the site for policy violations (e.g. mass mailing members, soliciting offline contact). Again, they may choose to walk away rather than be exposed, especially since some (not all) sites will alert all contacts when they ban a scammer.
-The profile might just not be drawing paying magas,so the scammer abandons it to focus on profiles that are drawing a better response.

It's normal to feel like an idiot, and to want to pinpoint why the scammer got to you. In reality, when you take a step back and spend time dealing with these scammers, you will usually find that the scams are pretty much the same. They follow the same course, use the same tactics, and often there is only one scammer. For me, looking at this from a distance, it looks exactly like hundreds of other romance scams--but I have dealt with romance scammers for years so I have a basis for comparison.

But--you have to look at it another way. The scammers use the same formula again and again because it works. It has worked on normal, intelligent people time and time again. They have netted millions of dollars using this formula, and they have lots of experience applying it. They may not be psychologists, but after years of dealing with victims, the scammers have learned how to anticipate reactions, and how to use them to their own advantage. Falling, or starting to fall, for a scam is not about intelligence. It is about emotional reactions, experience, and about the fact that most of us still try to maintain some level of faith in our fellow human beings. If you don't have prior experience with these scammers, you don't join a dating site expecting to be targeted by a cold-blooded thief who is comfortable playing with your heart and telling any lie necessary to get his way!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

I suppose the worst thing is, part of you knows this is just to good to be true, but you want it so bad you believe it. For me when he asked for £800 when i offered only £100 his words changed, and become angry and the language changed using words like "I need to feed" and "will pay you back in fold" it was out of character, and that was his biggest mistake, he soom come back and said sorry, but it woke me up, and i never offered another penny after that.
You still dont feel this person was in the uk? the texts come back very quickly and we spoke about stuff that could not have been pre-planned. He was good, i made sure i asked lots of questions about the area and the shops and even car she had, and got a photo. If not for that change of words above, he might have got at least £100 out of me.
I suppose the worst thing for me and many others it destroys your trust in people and makes it difficult to open up to someone. I really opened up to this person about my family and how i lost my parents and to know that this person is pure SCUM, in a way cheapens their memory. And that makes me very angry.
thanks for a wonderful helpful site

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 3:24 am

Quote:

Then she has to go overseas to sort out some family business and will text me from Malaysia

When a scammer announces he is "traveling" to Nigeria, Ghana, or Malaysia, that is a sure sign that it is the scammer's true location.

If a stranger approaches a target on a dating site, and immediately tells them that he/she is in Malaysia or Africa, halfway across the world from the target, there is a good chance the scam will never get off the ground. The target may recognize those countries as common locations for scammers, or become suspicious of why this person is looking for someone so far away, or he/she may simply decide starting a relationship with someone so far away is not worth the trouble.

So many scammers pretend to be in the victim's country, or at least another country that is less suspicious and easier access. This helps to reassure the target that there is a real relationship worth pursuing.

But, the longer the scammer pretends to be in another country, the greater the risk he will be caught in a lie. What if the victim decides to send a card, flowers, or a gift, and it is returned undeliverable? What happens when his information (and believe me, some scammers do have a lot of information ready to cut and paste, some are really quick to search and paste, and some will actually use other victims to provide information) is used up and the victim is still asking questions? Worse yet, what if the victim starts really pushing for a meeting? He can only stall for so long before the victim gets suspicious. What if he forgets to use a proxy one day, and a suspicious victim checks his IP? (Some scammers are either too lazy or too inexperienced to use proxies at all). And, he may have accomplices or mules that can help him collect money sent to that country, but if a victim, he can lose them at any time, and if an accomplice, he has to pay a cut every time he receives a payment.

So as soon as possible in the scam (often within the first few days), the scammer will "travel" to his true location. Then he doesn't have to worry about any of these things. His IP's will be explained, he can't receive mail or flowers, and when it's time for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th money requests, he can have the money sent to his own location (to the supposed hotel manager, hospital when there is an accident, etc.), and he doesn't have to trust (or pay) mules that are halfway across the world.

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the language changed using words like "I need to feed" and "will pay you back in fold"

Another key sign of an African romance scammer. Their English goes from good to bad, or even goes back and forth, when the scammer is switching from cut-and-paste to his own language (the word "feed" points squarely to African too, as that is how they use the term).

Incidentally, here is a perfect (and funny) example of a chat involving scammer who was trying to use one victim to help him scam another. Unfortunately for him, he was completely unaware of the fact that both "victims" were actually a baiter. http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150769&highlight=easter+bunny But you can see how this scammer was actually using the first "victim" as a source of information he thought he could use to convince the second.

Most of us baiters are here because we know that these scammers are scum, and we know how much damage they do. Stick around and read a while, and you will probably be amazed at just how low they are willing to go for a buck, and how often and easily they lie. Since we know the odds of getting them arrested are slim, we do what we can to cut into their business and prevent them from making a profit from innocent victims.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 7

Worse yet, what if the victim starts really pushing for a meeting?

That was me, as soon as i kept hearing all the babe, darling, stuff i pushed for the meeting. And we was going to meet then suddenly he /she has to go overseas. Dont think i give the scammer much time to get info from me and build up a level of trust. I asked outright if she wanted a text relationship or a real realtionship.
One question you seem to know how to spot the scum, and it seems that they can lose their cool as he did with me. Why dont you post a series of questions for people to ask, so people who are not sure can ask these questions. Now with my head clear its like a bright light that it was a scam.
One thing i would do in future and should have done, is asked her to send me a picture from her phone NOW as we speak, get these Barstewards off their guard.

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 4:44 am

A number of things can throw a scammer off guard. I was in chat with a scammer and my character (a 40 something housewife from the back of beyond), suddenly mentions that her husband left her for a 19 year old... Man!

I could actually imagine the cogs turning inside this guy's head for a good 30 seconds before the best he could come up with was "what?" I burst out laughing at that one, not a good look in a public library.

And if they push for a meeting, maybe it's the opportunity for a safari! I've only ever pulled a safari off once, but that Lad was offline for 28 hours, while hitchiking to the country next door to his!