Help with authenticity.

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 5

I have come across a girl on Tagged that had contacted me via email.

She said that she was interested in me, based off my profile information and she wanted to talk to me more since she wasn't very experienced with the dating scene.

She gave me her email address and asked me to email her. She didn't ask me for any private information, just stuff about me any date would ask in a conversation. We have exchanged a few emails, but I cannot help but be suspicious.

Its funny, but the reason I'm suspicious is that she was asking me if i was a trusting and genuine person. I am, but that kicked off little alarm bells in my head.

So while I have been exchanging emails and chatting via yahoo I did some research on her. Her tagged profile matches her myspace and facebook profiles, with one exception. Her tagged profile said she was in new york, yet she claimed to be from california. She ended up explaining that to me without me asking, saying she had moved over to live with her mother who had retired.

I did some further research while we have been chatting, and I did an IP address check. She says she's in Santa Rosa, CA But her IP address Routes to Sunnyvale, CA, several dozen miles away. She's on a DSL internet account, and the last digits of her IP changes between emails. though she says she uses the same computer.

I have only seen a total of 3 pictures of her, but they were all consistent, one of which was a fairly mundane situation, not a model shot.

Also, she comes across as really intense of a person, especially how much she want's to find the right guy. I dunno, she may just be a little desperate. She explained it as her parents raised her to be a good woman for the right guy. She's also a catholic and brings up some religious passages and sometimes talks about 'God Willing'. I have no problem with this as I am a religious person myself.

At either rate, I was just wanting to get some feedback before I committed to anything. She lives only moderately far from where I live. I live in phoenix, AZ. She wants to come meet me, maybe just a little too quickly for my tastes, but has no money for the plane ticket cause she has no job atm. I could get the money to buy the tickets. She suggests going through her uncle who apparently is a travel agent. When I offered to just buy the tickets for her she objected but seemed to acquiesce in the end.

I really need some feedback here. I want to trust her, cause everything else I am seeing seems good, but I am not a fool to just be taken in without being cautious. There are enough signs to make me suspicious and enough evidence to make me think she may be authentic.

I would take whatever help you can give me.

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:21 am

You are right to be suspicious, as there certainly are some early signs consistent with a scammer here, but it is by no means guaranteed based on the information you have provided.

Warning signs based on the details you provided:
- immediately going from site to yahoo
- claim of inexperience in the dating scene (even though she approached you)
- the difference in locations
- the trusting and genuine question (you were right to consider this a red flag)
- the "good woman for the right guy" piece (this is a pretty big flag)
- The amount of religious talk (as you mentioned)
- wanting to visit you so soon but no money for plane ticket
Sunnyvale is actually yahoo's headquarters, so the IP addresses you are talking about are not actually representative of her (or his) location--it may be that you pulled the wrong IP address, but I have seen some (and I have never figured out why it happens some of the time) that don't give you the real IP's too.
The set of 3 pictures doesn't mean too much, as scammers do sometimes use pics from social networking sites, and porn stars are very popular too--and if it is someone like Raven Riley or Melissa Midwest (scammer favorites), they will have plenty of "normal" pictures to choose from.

Again, at this stage there are warning signs but it is not definite that you have a scammer.

Where to go from here? There are several things you can do:
1) Post a link to her profiles or her first couple of emails here or you can send a PM to me or any of other old-timer you see frequenting this particular board. We will help you to look for typical grammar/spelling/punctuation errors of Africans or Russians, standard script elements or techniques (for instance, does she call you hunni, sweet, love, or any other term of endearment instead of your name? This is often a sign of a script used by a scammer who wants to send it to multiple people without even making the effort to update the name).
2) take her photos, and search for them using tineye and/or scamdigger. No hits doesn't guarantee that you aren't dealing with a scammer, but hits on scamdigger means you definitely are.
3)recheck the IP or sign up for a free trial of readnotify so you can get a real fix on location.
4) take some of the more unique or romantic pieces of her emails, and google them. Does her English go from bad to good and then back again? In many cases, the sections where the English is good are usually copied from someone or something.
5) look at the timing of delays in her chats with you. Are they long enough that she may also be chatting with someone else?

Of course, if she is a scammer, at some point there will be a problem that only your money can fix...

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 5

I see what you mean. But I think I found my answer.

I signed up for readnotify, and did a search through scam digger. nothing came up yet, but she hasn't read the email yet.

It doesnt matter though, I looked deeper through the complete header (she used yahoo mail.) and picked up the following ip 41.219.206.129. Which when I checked that IP address came up LAGOS, NIGERIA.

... *Sigh*

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:56 am

sounds like we not only have a winner, but you have also proved it is a scammer.

Could you please post up the information at Scamwarners or here so we can alert others.

Oh, and welcome

You may get some benefit out of reading through the romance baiting FAQ, even if you dont end up baiting it will give you some ideas on how to spot the scammers, there's a link in my signature line Wink

If you have any questions please feel free to ask

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 5

How do i post the person on this site? I can grab all the relevant data, I just dont know where to put it.

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 4:20 am

Endrance wrote:

...and picked up the following ip 41.219.206.129. Which when I checked that IP address came up LAGOS, NIGERIA.

... *Sigh*

Sorry, mate. But look on the bright side, you found out before it was too late. Plus, you learned some valuable tips for next time.

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 4:43 am

Quote:

How do i post the person on this site? I can grab all the relevant data, I just dont know where to put it.

Go to the emails you received and post them here with all of your own information removed, these early email will be scripts, prewritten and sent to all of their victims, also any phone numbers, links to profiles or anything else they have told you.

The more you can post the better.

Photos are also good to post but can be a little more tricky, there is information on that in the Sticky but if you get stuck you can email them to ralph @ scamwarners.co.cc please remove the spaces and he will sort them out

If you have any dramas just ask

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 5

okay let me take a bit to compile this all.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Jul 2009 Posts: 5

Original message from Tagged:
"Hello

How are you, You have nice profile.. My Name is Monica... Can I know more about you and also send me more of your pictures to my email because I am new to this online dating stuff.. I need serious relationship with an honest man..can i trust you?

Email me.. sisson.monica {at} yahoo.com

Yahoo IM:: sisson.monica

Email me soon..

Monica."
Tagged profile: http://www.tagged.com/profile.html?uid=5413656111

First email to my email:

"Nice to hear from you baby as for me I am open to anything full of trust and Understanding... I will love to know more about you, and I will love to see more of your pics too, for me to know who I am talking too.....How old are you? Where are you located? What do you do for a living? What are you looking for on the site, What do you want to acquire from this? Did I look like what you are looking for? Do you have a high sex drive and can you satisfy me sexually, I am looking for a good, Loving, caring, Sincere, Honest Man, Open Minded, God Fearing The one that will believe me in anything and have full and total trust in me that will never doubt me because those are the pillar of relationship, I want a man that will be the man of my life and will never dream of hurting me..I am looking for a man who is ready to share his whole heart with me and always make me happy as I will do to him..... I am looking for a man who is ready to satisfy me sexually , and have high sex drive ... I want a man that will never doubt me and treat me good with caring and understanding, ...Do you sound like this ? Are you just looking for online fun or just want something real and want to achieve something good out of this, I am not into games and I guess you are not too because it takes too much energy toplay games and life is too short for that. Are you my kind of man ?

I will be waiting to hear from you,
I care,
Monica......."

Second Email:
"Hello Kris,

How are you today...??? I pray you are doing great...!I read your Very interesting profile, which I enjoyed very much. You sound very sincere and special. If
possible, I would love to get to know you. I decided to join the site because of the lonelness time I experinece last year uptil now, I pray things work out...

More about me I am single never married ,born in San Juan,Puerto rico, obtained my degree in the University of South Carolina ( USC ),and recently reside in NY but right now with my mom in CA after my ex bf cheated one me . I find very much peace and tranquility here .I was into the Sales of Sculptures , beeds , gold , etc...I`m the one and only born child of my parent, 5`7" 130 with a athletic build , mentally stable, physically fit, a bunch of laughs, warm, caring, honest, good listening, God Fearing, and a positive person.I am real easy person to talk to and a good listener. I enjoy chillin` with my love once, I like going to the movies , or watching movies in my room , I like swiming , fishing, listening to music and dance to any kind of music, traveling , going bowling and also a good cook, I can make crepes, pasta, italian, and anything from scrape and my favourite are chips with chicken , shrimp , crab and rice . I am a family oriented person and There is more, but it would be better for you to find some things out for yourself..

I am really interested in wanting to know about what makes you the special person you are today, I want to know more about your family, your background, your life experiences, past relationships, your goals and dreams, your interests, and anything else you want to tell me. So come on and share it all with me. I want to learn about you and what makes up your heart and soul, as the friendship I want to build with you I want it to be like no other you have ever shared in or experienced. This friendship I want to build with you will be filled with substance, quality, spirituality and potential.

I know that there is no barrier too great for God, when He chooses to bring two people together, i am at a point in my life where i would always be honest with the
choosen one, and be there with the one God has for me 24/7.

I look forward to hearing from you with anticipation.
It is better to try and fail than to give up and never know if you could have succeded.
Warmest Thoughts,

Monica...."

... You know, when I look at them out of context, I see what the hell was wrong with it all.

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:12 am

Thank you for the info

Just having a look through and doing a couple of searches

Not an exact match but this search is quite telling Click Here
Another not exact hit but very telling Click Here
But this search result leaves no doubt at all Click Here

Quote:

You know, when I look at them out of context, I see what the hell was wrong with it all.

Yeah, they are all prewritten, the occasional bit thrown in just for you, they will not have answered your questions well if at all and closer inspection will reveal some bad english, especially when moving away from script in the later emails.

Glad you were suspicious enough to ask

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:46 am

Welcome Endrance

I have learnt all sorts of good stuff since joining eater, the 'google' factor is a great way to find things. Google

Quote:

know that there is no barrier too great for God, when He chooses to bring two people together, i am at a point in my life where i would always be honest with the
choosen one, and be there with the one God has for me 24/7.

shows where your lass gets some quotes.

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:02 am

Just noting,

Over the next days / weeks you may see some interesting emails posted in teh Spooners thread Wink

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:53 am

Glad you spotted a scam Endrance and didn't get taken..

I've just checked out the membership number [5413656111] and it comes up as Unknown.. So perhaps they have booted it off.

But Tagged is a hot bed for scammers, I have a mate who thinks it's wonderful.. I got into his profile and there's his personal e-mail address, his home phone number, his cell number, and his address.

I've tried to tell him, tried to show him, waste of time, But now I know why he's always on the phone.. Some people you can't help.. But I wish anyone the best of luck, trying to get anything out of him. I think he's watertight..

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:39 am

@Endrance,
does this look familiar to you

Quote:

Nice to hear from you baby as for me I am open to anything full of trust and Understanding... I will love to know more about you, and I will love to see more of your pics too, for me to know who I am talking too.....How old are you? Where are you located? What do you do for a living? What are you looking for on the site, What do you want to acquire from this? Did I look like what you are looking for? Do you have a high sex drive and can you satisfy me sexually, I am looking for a good, Loving, caring, Sincere, Honest Man, Open Minded, God Fearing The one that will believe me in anything and have full and total trust in me that will never doubt me because those are the pillar of relationship, I want a man that will be the man of my life and will never dream of hurting me..I am looking for a man who is ready to share his whole heart with me and always make me happy as I will do to him..... I am looking for a man who is ready to satisfy me sexually , and have high sex drive ... I want a man that will never doubt me and treat me good with caring and understanding, ...Do you sound like this ? Are you just looking for online fun or just want something real and want to achieve something good out of this, I am not into games and I guess you are not too because it takes too much energy toplay games and life is too short for that. Are you my kind of man ?

I will be waiting to hear from you,
I care,
Monica.......

It should, I received it a short while ago and it is identical to one of the emails you posted Wink

Editing with my reply

SweetCakes wants his poem

Quote:

My name is Murray but all my friends call me Sweetcakes so I hope you do too.

Dareling, I wrote you a poem and I was hoping to get one from you in return

Please write me an poem