Scams That Prey On the Lonely

[Lonesome2]

I dunno what your talking about. Perhaps its because I am new here, but I have never been targeted for a scam. Guess I don't come off sexy enough.... **sniff sniff**

If you have not been targeted for a scam yet; lucky for you. It's no JOKE to find yourself a victum of scamming.

---

I hate scammers got scammed once 600bucks.


Edit:Remainder moved here ~Minus

I hate scammers too; got scammed once for $200 bucks.

 

[maudie k]

Great info about different kind of scammers online, I've encountered E-mail, phone and social media scammers and fortunately had the sense to avoid them.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Yeah they are pretty obvious especially when they claim the hot horny babe with lustful desires on me is my next door neighbour....my next door neighbour is actually in her 80s and walks with a stick....oh sod it what's not to like : )

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Think the most dangerous scams are cloned sites...it looks like PayPal but it's a scam to get your info....never respond to a Paypal message unless you know it's absolutely legit always go to the PayPal site itself

 

[Jenncats]

THere is one thing that will set them apart from the rest and that is bad English. I can spot scams a mile away basically from their broken English. Usually they all start with: I will like to get to learn a lot more of you so that we can fall in love. The right way to say it is : I would love to get to know you better. This is particular found on dating sites and fake profiles. So if you've seen this before, you know it's someone not from the U.S. and is a scammer.

 

[mack01]

Just like to point out that I myself will most likely PM certain people if I feel I can help them socially. Saying it's not a scam would be predictable but I do try being as transparent as possible, including having a public thread and encouraging anyone I PM to share general questions on that thread. And also whilst not "strictly business", I do have tendencies to focus on the social help rather than creating online friendships. Oh, and I don't ask for a penny. I don't believe I'm doing anything wrong, neither technically or ethically. But if moderator wants to inquire my intentions, they're free to do so.

As for actual scammers, your original post should be quite helpful. As stated, im not the biggest advocate of online friendships generally, but as long as people keep their wits about them, and know when certain lines have being crossed, they should hopefully be okay.

 

[MortSahlfan]

dating sites

 

[mari1969]

THere is one thing that will set them apart from the rest and that is bad English. I can spot scams a mile away basically from their broken English.  Usually they all start with: I will like to get to learn a lot more of you so that we can fall in love. The right way to say it is :  I would love to get to know you better.  This is particular found on dating sites and fake profiles.  So if you've seen this before, you know it's someone not from the U.S. and is a scammer.

Hey my english is bad because im spanish speaker and im not a scammer

 

[Somnambulist]

THere is one thing that will set them apart from the rest and that is bad English. I can spot scams a mile away basically from their broken English.  Usually they all start with: I will like to get to learn a lot more of you so that we can fall in love. The right way to say it is :  I would love to get to know you better.  This is particular found on dating sites and fake profiles.  So if you've seen this before, you know it's someone not from the U.S. and is a scammer.

Hey my english is bad because im spanish speaker and im not a scammer

Don't worry, mari1969, I can vouch for you ... that you're one of us

Jenncats (and others), I hope y'all realize that we have a lot of forum members who are NOT from the US or other English speaking countries. Let's not rush to discriminate against them, because loneliness does not discriminate ... it affects humans the world over.

 

[Caliguy1965]

Its on every social site pof meetme Facebook its everywhere._

 

[Saulgoodmanfan]

I despise scams that prey on innocent people who already go through enough. And I despise scams in general. Having been targeted by tons of scammers in the past because I seemed like easy prey, meek and lonely, I've grown to absolutely distrust and despise any damn scam/scammers and I'm pretty hyper cautious now due to my experience with them and can tell whether things are fishy or not. They've made me too cynical I think.

Scams also seem to be everywhere on the internet now. On reddit, youtube, social media, and even forums. It's disgusting how some people can actually choose to go out and take advantage of other people's loneliness or naivety.

 

[inmydreams]

I was scammed 4 times, it was funny because each time they had to try harder due to my growing distrust until now I Have no trust whatsoever, I wouldn't go into detail about what happened but its fair to say I was about naïve as they come and in the last case actually believing I was in love, I had no idea about scammers.. the last time I tried a dating site, all I did was report scammers.. which was pretty sad

I remember first time joining a dating site thinking wow this will be a piece of cake lol this is a great tool that can change my life lol

for me a sure sign of an online romance scammer is an attractive woman showing an interest in me

 

[Minus]

I hope that it was pretty obvious to all that received it but we did have a scammer on the forum who never posted publicly but he did spend over an hour sending a scam PM to a number of members.

If you received this PM, this version of the scam is a copy and paste that has remained relatively unchanged at least since 2012.  Ignore it, he is not going to send you money.

Hi,Good morning,

Pls read this mail attentively. A France Based investor who was a business tycoon,a cocoa Merchant and a contractor with Ivory Coast Government who died in a plane crash on Tuesday August 16, 2005 in Venezuela has come to the limelight in our bank because since 2005 that he died his portfolio and investment of 9.8 Million Pounds has not been touch because no name next-of-kin was found in his bio-data form, If you are familiar with Investment Banking affairs,those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity with some levels of detachment from conventional processes-now this investment has generated a huge accrued interest to the amount of 1.9 Million British Pounds because he was operating a domiciliary pounds account.

The bank management has therefore authorized me as the Funds Manager /Managing Director of our bank Investment Banking Division-to locate any living relative of this investor to apply for an inheritance claim so that the funds can be paid to the family of the late Depositor inline with the banking rules,ethics and policies; Pls contact me immediately so that I can furnish you with the detail. Mind you, I do not care whether you are truly related to this investor or not but for the fact that you know nothing about this money before now and I am the one that comes to you - we are sharing this money 50/50. I will see to it that this arrangement work-out perfectly cos it is risk free as I have taken care all necessary steps before contacting you.

Pls if for any reason you are skeptical or see or consider this classified information contained in this mail to be scam, spam. junk or hoax simply delete it and forget I ever contacted you because this is a God given opportunity but if you understand my point in this mail and ready to work with me to actualize this project with me to claim this God blessing pls send to me in your return mail your most direct telephone

number.

Remain Bless,
Didier Kone.
E-mail;[email protected]

 

[user 139760]

Lol. Funny. I get about four of these a month on my personnal email. To the more elaborate ones I actually reply, sending a revised version of their text and suggesting the FBI/CIA/UN/whatever organisation they claim to be would send mistake free letters. Also not from a hotmail, or gmail, or any public address, but rather a .gov or .org or something else official like that. Once kept a guy mailing me back and forth for a month, until I was asking HIM to send ME money for English classes lol. That's usually when they stop writing ;-)

Needless to say, you should never EVER send money to anyone on the internet. Under ANY circumstances. Period.

Except me. Because I'm nice. ;-)

 

[Jessicat]

*walking like a zombie* 
Must wire money right now! 

 

[IncolaVacui]

*walking like a zombie* 
Must wire money right now! 

Especially around income tax season!

 

[SirPanda]

I see these all the time on dating apps. They're so easy to spot with the bad grammer, and immediately wanting to move to another platform to chat or insisting on something a normal person would never do. The profiles are relatively easy to spot too. Many them are really lazy and don't make much effort in their presentation. I had one flat out say they were in Nigeria. I basically LMAO'd that one. I replied with a "ooh cool, I need $100 in iTunes gift card".

 

[Diagnosed]

Romance scam

The scammer is often a male posing as a female, though there are also women scammers and women are targeted also. They will send you a PM or an email telling you how they came across your profile/post and it stirred something in them. These messages frequently have an email address where you can contact them for their picture and to talk, which you are encouraged to do. At the same time dozens of other people are receiving an identical PM/mail. If you respond, they fall in love quickly and almost as quickly, have money problems in which it is hoped that you will help out with.

Africa is one of the areas from which many of these scammers operate. As one example, it has become so common that the Embassy of the United States in Ghana even has a web page with a  "partial list of indicators" that you are dealing with a scammer from there, of this type.

*You met a friend/fiancé online
*You've never met face to face
*Your correspondent professed love at warp speed
*Your friend/fiancé is plagued with medical problems requiring loans from you
*You are promised repayment upon the inheritance of alluvial gold or gems
*You've sent large sums for visas or plane tickets but the person cannot seem to make it out of Ghana
*When your friend does try to leave the country, h/she is detained by immigration officials demanding payment or bribes
*Your correspondent consistently uses lower case "i's" and/or grammar not in-keeping with their supposed life station or education level

This forum has been hit by a few people running this scam.

Internet Love Scams
Romance$cam dot com

I won't dare to say all scammer are women... Yet an hour ago, a woman I don't like, kept on trying to lure me away into a relationship I don't want (with her) and just when she introduced me with her friend, she asked me to buy for her the underware her friend sells... Some ask money, some asked sex or undemanded relationships, and I won't say they are one gender or "race".

 

[xephier102]

They don't prey on the lonely, they prey on the stupid.. If you think that sally floppyknockers, that's like a 10 on the looks scale, randomly wants something to do with you, when there's no logical reason for her to even be contacting you; well, that's just dense..

I don't think scams are good, and if you got scammed, well, that sucks. But in a sense they are good, to keep people aware, and push them to use their brains. If people are that dumb and driven by their dicks (instead of their brains), well, then that's on them for gettin sucked into it.

And obviously anyone that asks you for money within a month of knowing you, scam or not, is an instant red flag..

 

[Beth Griggs]

Romance scam

The scammer is often a male posing as a female, though there are also women scammers and women are targeted also. They will send you a PM or an email telling you how they came across your profile/post and it stirred something in them. These messages frequently have an email address where you can contact them for their picture and to talk, which you are encouraged to do. At the same time dozens of other people are receiving an identical PM/mail. If you respond, they fall in love quickly and almost as quickly, have money problems in which it is hoped that you will help out with.

Africa is one of the areas from which many of these scammers operate. As one example, it has become so common that the Embassy of the United States in Ghana even has a web page with a "partial list of indicators" that you are dealing with a scammer from there, of this type.

*You met a friend/fiancé online
*You've never met face to face
*Your correspondent professed love at warp speed
*Your friend/fiancé is plagued with medical problems requiring loans from you
*You are promised repayment upon the inheritance of alluvial gold or gems
*You've sent large sums for visas or plane tickets but the person cannot seem to make it out of Ghana
*When your friend does try to leave the country, h/she is detained by immigration officials demanding payment or bribes
*Your correspondent consistently uses lower case "i's" and/or grammar not in-keeping with their supposed life station or education level

This forum has been hit by a few people running this scam.

Internet Love Scams
Romance$cam dot com

There are different scams to suit different types of victims. Most are aimed at the greedy.
They tell very old ladies who have no looks that if they help out this gorgeous young man with money he will travel to their country, bring lots of money, jewels, bars of gold, his great job etc and marry her and take care of her and buy her a fantastic house to live in. So she thinks wow. If I spend a little I will end up with a gorgeous young rich man who will spend all of his money on me. Greed.
It never occurs to these silly women that a gorgeous young man who is rich would be more picky.
And he would not be interested in re locating to another country.

Such scams always show the reward to be much greater than the investment.

And of course many of these young women are really Nigerian men etc.

But Ive known of old ugly men who truly convinced themselves that a gorgeous young RICH woman would be with him if he just sends her money for air fares. It really is naive.