My mum

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

Hello, my mum was recently contacted by a man on facebook - she has started to chat with him on msn. He says that he's from Ghana, but lives in the U.K. and is now currently in Uganda (through his work). He has sent some pictures of himself and his family.

I instantly thought that this must be a romance scammer. The latest development is that he has lost his ATM card - I'm just waiting for him to ask my mum to help him out with money or by some other means.

I acquired his IP from one of his e-mails, and it's originating from Ghana. How do I go about exposing this character for what he (most likely) is? I have further details, if someone would like to help me out on this.

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:09 am

^^^ Try to google his email address and you can see if he is known on ScamWarners.

Showiung your mum some of the scammers on SW might alert her too!

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:39 am

And if the adress doesn't pop up, try putting some sentences of his initial mails in google. The first mails are the scripted ones, and the odds that those are online are bigger than the email account itself.

The story sounds familiar though, Odds are big that it is a scammer.

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:22 pm

Welcome here, BTW! I know you've been registered for a while, but this was your first post. Wink

I recommend that you point your mother in the direction of this thread on Scamwarners. Click here. It outlines some of the red flags that pop up when corresponding with a romance scammer.

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 12:15 am

^^^^You said he is from Ghana,my bells are starting to ring every time when I hear someone chatting whith the person from Ghana.

Try to find out,if your mum is sending any money,if yes,
this guy is a scammer for shore,smells like that anyway. Confused

Google is good as well,just ask his name from your mum.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

Thanks,

been away over the holidays. I've been able to look at both of the emails that my mum has in the inbox, and they are originating from Ghana, although he doesn't claim to be in the U.K. or Uganda at the time they were written.

His name or anything else doesn't come up on searches, but from what my mother tells me he has a strange behaviour sometimes when chatting (not answering questions, changing the subject etc).

Also, they have been talking on the phone and she says that he sounds younger than he claims to be. Which leads me to the next thing, she has his phonenumber and that it has the prefix +44, which is the UK.

I'll see what I can find with that clue.

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:28 am

+44 isn't necessarily UK. If the phone number starts with one of the next:

+44701
+44705
+44844
+44870
+44871
(..and probably some more I can't remember at the moment)

it's a redirect phone number. Basically that means it looks like you're calling to someone in the UK, but in reality that person could be anywhere in the world.

I'd really advise you to tell your mum to drop this guy. It just screams LAD!!!!LAD!!!!!LAD!!!!! to me.

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:11 pm

When it seems like he's taking forever to answer a simple question on chat, it probably means that he is chatting with two (or maybe even more) women at the same time. He has to pay attention to each of them in turn, but he sometimes loses track of what he was talking about with the others.

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:15 pm

Or he just doesn't know. For instance, if she should ask "how's the weather in London?" he can't know because he isn't there, even though he might claim to be. So to avoid getting caught on lies he'll just ignore the question for a minute, then come back and change the subject so he doesn't have to answer it.

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:29 pm

^^^^

Quote:

but from what my mother tells me he has a strange behaviour sometimes when chatting (not answering questions, changing the subject etc).

They have made scripts allready,they don´t want to get caught by lies.
So they try to avoid those personal questions.
Even they are chatting,those scripts are there,
They are avoiding those questions and changing subjects,it takes too much memory work if they just chat,too risky. Confused

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

Caligula wrote:

+44 isn't necessarily UK. If the phone number starts with one of the next:

+44701
+44705
+44844
+44870
+44871
(..and probably some more I can't remember at the moment)

it's a redirect phone number. Basically that means it looks like you're calling to someone in the UK, but in reality that person could be anywhere in the world.

I'd really advise you to tell your mum to drop this guy. It just screams LAD!!!!LAD!!!!!LAD!!!!! to me.

Phonenumber starts with +44703, which probably then is a redirect number?

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:43 pm

Indeed. I believe all +4470 numbers are redirect numbers, so it can resolve to a number anywhere in the world.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

Caligula wrote:

Indeed. I believe all +4470 numbers are redirect numbers, so it can resolve to a number anywhere in the world.

Right, thanks. What a coincidence that he's using that type of number Rolling Eyes

I also have a phone number to Ghana, but I guess there's really no chance extracting any useful information from that?

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:28 pm

Caligula is correct - and ALL the advice you have been given is first rate.

Quote:

Telephone used +4470 - UK redirect service to any cellphone worldwide and favoured by scammers.

Please read these guides;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3607

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=530

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25

Scamwarners support team will gladly help you and your Mother.

You may also PM me - I will help.

This is definitely a scammer.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

Cathartic Kate wrote:

Caligula is correct - and ALL the advice you have been given is first rate.

Quote:

Telephone used +4470 - UK redirect service to any cellphone worldwide and favoured by scammers.

Please read these guides;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3607

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=530

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25

Scamwarners support team will gladly help you and your Mother.

You may also PM me - I will help.

This is definitely a scammer.

Thanks, I really appreciate all help! I think I got my mother pretty much convinced now (specially with the phonenumber).

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:12 am

If you mother has made any calls to teh scammers, ask her to check her phone statement, it will not tell you where teh call redirected to but you will see how expensive the call was.

When calling redirect numbers you pay for teh call to UK as well as teh price of teh redirection to the scammers actual location which makes the call obscenely expensive.

The others have already given you some great advice, please tell your mother to stop communication immediately, ignore all emails, hang up on his calls and eventually he will go away.

Please also ask your mother if she can forward these emails to our Friends over at Scamwarners who can create a profile on this scammer which will help prevent others from being scammed.